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Overview
Sexism has kept generations of women on the sidelines of history—but in every era, there are women who refuse to sit back in the shadows. Fabulous Female Firsts is a celebration of those women—the role models who proved that with enough daring and tenacity, the impossible can become possible.
From the first woman to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor to the first female candidate for US President (it wasn’t Hillary Clinton!) to the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director, this collection of biographical profiles celebrates the trailblazers who persisted—in spite of being labeled stubborn, improper, or worse. This book is written in praise of “difficult women” who made the world a better place, and offers the inspiring stories of: Aretha Franklin • Sandra Day O’Connor • Lucy Walker • Sally Ride • Kathryn Bigelow • Misty Copeland • Viola Desmond • Pauli Murray • Emma Gatewood • Brig. Gen. Anna Hays • Junko Tabei • Gertrude Ederle and many more.
“Effervescent stories about diverse groups of female creators, entrepreneurs, and dynamos . . . every page gives the motivation to strive for greatness.” —Becca Anderson, bestselling author of The Book of Awesome Women and Real Life Mindfulnes
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781642501810 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Mango Media |
| Publication date: | 07/22/2022 |
| Series: | Celebrating Women |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 277 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
| Age Range: | 11 - 17 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Black Magic (1987)
In 1973, the Doobie Brothers crooned, “I wanna get lost in your rock’ n’ roll and drift away.” Thirteen years later the lyrics, rather than a paean to romantic fulfillment, alluded to women who had to drift away from their dream of becoming the Founding Mothers of Cleveland’s newly instituted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The gender gap reared its head when the music emporium listed its first ten inductees: Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and the Everly Brothers. Apparently, the museum did not abide by First Lady Abigail Adam’s admonition, “Remember the ladies.” The decision did not sit well with those who had spent the last two decades consecrated to the Women’s Liberation Movement. Had society not read Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch, perused Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Magazine, listened to Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman”? Perhaps their struggle finally bore fruit: in 1988, Aretha Louise Franklin received her R-E-S-P-E-C-T when she became the first female inductee in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The Queen of Soul was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1942. Her mother, Barbara Siggers Franklin, was a gospel singer and pianist. Her father, Clarence la Vaughn, C. L., preached black-liberation theology, and his career as a pastor led the family from Memphis to Buffalo and then to Detroit where he traded his pulpit for the New Bethel Baptist Church. Her parents separated over C. L.’s wandering eye when Aretha was six, leaving her in her father’s care. Barbara remained in contact with her children who were devastated when she passed away four years later after a heart attack. A rock star among preachers, C. L. was known as “the man with the golden voice.” His sermons, often delivered beneath a neon-blue crucifix, were broadcast on radio and released on vinyl. With his celebrity status, he charged $4,000 for appearances. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stayed with the family when he visited Detroit, and C. L. helped him organize the historic Walk to Freedom.
The Franklin household door was always open to gospel and secular musicians such as Mahalia Jackson who served as Aretha’s mentor. Future Motown artists such as Smokey Robinson and Diana Ross lived nearby. After hearing Clara Ward perform at her aunt’s funeral, Aretha taught herself to play the piano-there were two in the house-before she was ten, where she emulated songs from the radio and her records. Proud of his daughter whose voice was already magnificent, C. L. placed her on a chair in his church, and she became a star soloist. C. L. told her with her God-given talent she would one day sing for kings and queens. At age twelve, Aretha became pregnant and had son Clarence two months before her thirteenth birthday. Baby daddy was Donald Burk, a boy she knew from school. At age fourteen, she had a second son, Edward, whose father was Edward Jordan. She dropped out of junior high after having her children, and ditching diaper duty, went on tour with C. L. Big Mama, her grandmother, was left with baby rearing responsibilities.
Aretha took off for New York City at eighteen, hoping to become a star in the music industry. John Hammond, the Columbia Records executive who had championed Billie Holiday and would one day bring Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to his label, signed Aretha in 1960. The following year Aretha met and married Ted White, who became her manager and the father of their son Ted Jr.
In 1967, after her contract ended, Aretha moved to Atlantic Records. For her first session, Ms. Franklin travelled to FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to record a smoldering blues ballad with an all-white group of studio musicians. Their song, “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You,” detailed a woman’s devotion to a no-good man. Ted got into a drunken fistfight with the trumpet player, and husband and wife returned to Manhattan. The song recorded that evening went on to sell a million records and launched Aretha’s reign as the Queen of Soul. On Valentine’s Day, Aretha recorded “Respect,” a demand to be treated with dignity and the instruction to “give it to me when you get home.” The daughter of the preacher man’s song caught on with the black-power movement, feminists, and human rights activists across the world. In 2018, it became a symbol of the #MeToo Movement. Ms. Franklin stated, “I think women have to be strong. Some people will run all over you.” The signature song surged to Number One and garnered Aretha her first two Grammy Awards for best R & B and for the best R & B performance (an award she won each succeeding year through 1975). By the end of 1968, she had made three more recordings for her label including the wildly popular “I Say a Little Prayer” and “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.”
Table of Contents
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Dr. Mary Walker (1865) Congressional Medal of Honor
Chapter 2: Marie Curie (1903) The Nobel Prize
Chapter 3: Ella Anderson de Wolfe (1905) American Interior Decorator
Chapter 4: Gertrude Ederle (1926) Swim the English Channel
Chapter 5: Hattie McDaniel (1940) African-American to Win an Academy Award
Chapter 6: Alice Coachman (1948) African-American to Win Olympic Gold Medal
Chapter 7: Golda Meir (1948) Prime Minister of Israel
Chapter 8: Emma Gatewood (1955) Hike the Appalachian Trail
Chapter 9: Kathrine Switzer (1967) Run the Boston Marathon
Chapter 10: Muriel Siebert (1967) Securities Broker on The New York Stock Exchange
Chapter 11: Nichelle Nichols (1968) First Inter-racial Kiss on American Television
Chapter 12: General Anna Hays (1970) American General
Chapter 13: Diane Crump (1970) Jockey to Ride the Kentucky Derby
Chapter 14: Carol Channing (1972) Perform at Super Bowl Half-Time
Chapter 15: Junko Tabei (1975) Climb Mt. Everest
Chapter 16: Pauli Murray (1977) Episcopalian Minister
Chapter 17: Sandra Day O’Connor (1981) Supreme Court Judge
Chapter 18: Sally Ride (1983) American in Space
Chapter 19: Wilma Mankiller (1985) Female Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Chapter 20: Aretha Franklin (1985) Inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Chapter 21: Whoopi Goldberg (1994) Host the Academy Awards
Chapter 22: Madeleine Albright (1997) Secretary of State
Chapter 23: Kathryn Bigelow (2010) Best Director Academy Award
Chapter 24: Misty Copeland (2015) African-American Principal Dancer: American Ballet Theater
Chapter 25: Viola Desmond (2018) Woman on Canadian Postage Stamp