Ruth Benedict

Ruth Benedict

Ruth was born in New York City on June 5th, 1887. Her father died when she was only 21 months old and she grew up with a morbid fascination with death and had long periods of depression as she grep older. She excelled in school and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College in 1909.

In 1914 Ruth married a bio chemistry professor from Cornell Medical School, Stanley Benedict. Ruth occupied herself with social work and writing a book but by Christmas of 1916 she had come to the realization that she would never achieve personal happiness or fulfillment just being a wife.  For the next four years she saw her husband only on weekends and from 1930 on they ceased meeting all together.  Neither remarried and Stanley left her his entire estate upon his death.

In 1919 Ruth had begun taking anthropology courses at the New School for Social Research.  In 1923 she earned her doctorate from Columbia University studying under Franz Boas.  From 1922 to 1931 she made many field trips to the West and Southwest in order to study various indian cultures. This resulted in two books of folktales and mythology of various tribes. 

In 1924 Ruth published what is still considered the definitive introduction to anthropology, Patterns of Culture, establishing her as one of the leading female anthropologists of her day. 

From 1943 to 1945 she was special advisor to the Office of War Information on issues of peoples of occupied territories and enemy lands.  Her long standing interest in Japanese culture bore fruit in The Chrysanthemum and the Sword published in 1946.  She returned to Columbia in 1946 to teach and in 1947 was president of the American Anthropological Association.  By this time she was being acclaimed as the most outstanding U.S. Anthropologist. In 1948 she achieved full professorship at Columbia.  

Mabel Therese Bonney

 Mabel Therese Bonney

Born sometime in 1894 in Syracuse New York, Therese grew up there and in California. She graduated from the University of California. She earned a master’s degree in Romance languages from Harvard. She studied at Columbia for a while but earned her doctorate  of letters at the Sorbonne in Paris. 

In 1919 she settled in Paris with a goal of pursuing photography and promoting cultural exchanges between France and the United States.  She founded the European branch of the American Red Cross Correspondence Exchange. Later she established the Bonney Service, an illustrated press service  supplying feature stories to the press of 33 countries. 

Her photographic career included highly acclaimed works on antiques, guidebooks, and a large accumulation of photographs that were widely exhibited at various gallery shows throughout the world. In 1934 she was awarded the Legion of Honor for her work on the centenary observation of the death of the Marquis de Lafayette. Bonney was also a sought after model.  She was "acclaimed as the most perfect da Vinci model in the world."  (Syracuse Herald)  She modeled for artists in France and Spain. 1935 she moved to New York and became the director of the new Maison Francaise, a gallery in Rockefeller Center. Her photos were featured in Life magazine.  In 1939 she traveled to Finland to photograph the preparations for the 1940 Olympic games but found herself the only photojournalist at the scene of the Russian invasion in November.

The outbreak of World War II appalled Bonney. War’s mindless uprooting of innocent civilians provided the principal subject for this photographer/photojournalist. She was also involved in many relief efforts. Bonney’s images of homeless children and adults on the backroads of Europe touched millions of viewers in the United States and abroad. Of her "truth raids" into the countryside to document the horror of war, Bonney said: "I go forth alone, try to get the truth and then bring it back and try to make others face it and do something about it.”

She traveled extensively and in her 80’s returned to the Sorbonne to study for a second doctorate in gerontology. She was the recipient of innumerable awards and had her portrait painted by many including six times by Georges Rouault and three times by Raoul Dufy. 

Laura Gilpin

Laura Gilpin was born on April 22, 1891, Colorado Springs, CO daughter of Emma and Frank Gilpin. Frank was a cattle rancher fromPhiladelphia, while Emma grew up in St. Louis and Chicago.  Emma did move to Colorado to be with her husband but longed for the more cultured surroundings and lifestyle of big cities.  

Laura enjoyed exploring and being outdoors as a child in the Colorado landscape.   For her fifth birthday she received a Brownie Camera and for Christmas, that same year, a developing tank.  This was the beginning of a life long love affair with the camera.  

At one point in an attempt to support her growing interest in photography, Gilpin started a business raising turkeys at her family's ranch. Her poultry business was widely successful and was featured in a Denver newspaper in 1913.  Her passion remained photography though.

In 1916 she moved to New York where she met Gertrude Kasebier. Gertrude became her mentor and life long friend. While there she became quite ill with influenza.  She was so sick she had to return home to regain her health.  Her mother hired a nurse, Betsy Foster, to help care for her and this was the beginning of a life long friendship; one of dedication, devotion and sharing.  Laura regained her health and Betsy returned to her visiting nurse duties in the far reaches of Arizona. Laura accompanied her often and it was through these visits they both became totally obsessed with the Navajo.  She photographed and wrote the story of these people. She respected and had a great love and understanding of the Navajo.  They returned that respect. Of these great people she said that two qualities really stood out, dignity and happiness. Both sprung from their vital traditional faith, faith in nature and faith in themselves she said. 

There is so much more to be said, known and seen of Laura Gilpin.  Martha A. Sandweiss has written a book about her life including photographs; Laura Gilpin: An Enduring Grace. 

Midge Kirk is a slightly eccentric artist, writer, bibliophile, educator, feminist scholar and historian.  She can be reached at eurydice4@yahoo.com and she has a blog, wildheartwomen@blogspot.com. HerStory focuses on stories of women whose contributions to history need to be remembered. 

Franc Johnson Newcomb

Franc Johnson Newcomb was born March 30, 1887 in Tunnel City, Wisconsin.  Her father died when she was two and her mother when she was twelve, and she was then raised on her grandmother’s farm. 

In 1912 she accepted a teaching position at the Navajo Reservation at Fort Defiance, Arizona earning $25 a month and living and taking meals with the students in a dormitory.  The students taught her Navajo and it was then she because a successful teacher. 

In 1914, at the end of the school year, Franc married Arthur Newcomb (AJ) who was a clerk at the Fort Defiance Trading Post. She assumed the typical role of a hard-working trader’s wife, and by the summer of 1915, their many invited, as well as uninvited visitors, created a need for additional rooms beyond their original quarters. Her responsibilities increased as she provided food and facilities for travelers, whether on horseback or in chauffeured touring cars. Over time, prominent guests such as European royalty and government officials visited the post. One such couple was Mr. and Mrs. King C. Gillette of the Gillette Razor Company who, with a group of friends en route to Mesa Verde National Park, dropped in between 1919-1920. When they saw the “Whirling Log” rug that Navajo leader Hosteen Klah was weaving, they immediately wished to purchase it. A.J. convinced them to wait several months so it could be displayed in the upcoming Navajo Ceremonial in Gallup. Mrs. Gillette was so pleased with the rug that she ordered two more.  At another time, Newcomb received an unexpected visit from the Swedish Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Crown Princess Louisa in 1926. Franc was notified on morning by a reporter that the prince and his retinue of twenty would be at the post in two hours for lunch. Indicative of her ability to handle a difficult situation, she prepared a fine meal on short notice served on her best tableware.  On yet another occasion, in response to a government request from officials in Washington, D.C., the Newcombs provided escort services to a Navajo ceremony, as well as sleeping accommodations for a British Lord and Lady. Busy working at the post and providing for the needs of guests, the energetic Newcomb gave birth to daughter Lynette in 1918, followed by Priscilla in 1923. 

Franc and Hosteen Klah, a Navajo Medicine Man, became fast friends and he invited her to attend his healing ceremonies. At the completion of each ceremony Franc would paint sand paintings that she had committed to memory in an attempt to describe the symbols and their meanings, thus becoming the first white person to record Navajo symbolism.

During the flue epidemic of 1920 when one tenth of the Navajo population died, Franc used her knowledge of the Navajo religion and healing ceremonies and became an honored and respected medicine woman. She was inducted into he tribe, the first white woman to have such an honor bestowed upon her and given the name Atsay Ashon. 

Franc wrote numerous books about the Navajo.  She and her friend, Mary Wheelwright established the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art in Santa Fe.  She donated all of her watercolor re-creations of sand paintings, almost 1,000, plus her potter and basket collection to the Museum. 

Following Arthur’s death in 1946 she lectured widely on Navajo religion, history and rites, writing poetry and books on the Navajo as well.  Her final book, Navajo Bird Tales was published in August of 1970. 

Marguerite Milton Wells

Marguerite Milton Wells

 …there must be a nucleus of people in each community who would carry a continuing responsibility for government and would give an intelligent and disinterested political leadership on issues as they arose. —

It is a political climate of late and I am always grateful to the League of Women Voters for their tireless and critical efforts to keep us informed, aware and exercising our hard won privilege to vote!  A big shout out to you all today and this woman feels like just the right one to spotlight this month. 

Marguerite Milton Wells was born on February 10, 1872 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  At a very young age her family moved to the remotest corner of the Dakota Territories.  It was here she grew and witnessed firsthand the creation of new towns and eventually a new state. She saw many strangers come together to create laws for this new state and their work for the community left a lasting impression on her and was the foundation for her fervent belief in democracy. 

In 1895 Marguerite graduated from Smith College and began teaching, volunteering and serving on many boards of charitable organizations.  With no explicable reason, one day in 1917 she simply resigned from every office she held and presented herself at the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association to serve wherever needed and in whatever capacity. 

She participated in the final battle for suffrage when Minnesota finally ratified the Nineteenth Amendment.  While attending the National American Woman Suffrage Association Convention in St. Louis in 1919, Marguerite heard the presiding president, Carrie Chapman Catt, call for a new league to be formed to educate voters, particularly new ones. The result was the creation of the National League of Women Voters in 1920. Wells was the organizing force behind the formation of the league and took up its mission with gusto and directed its course over the next 25 years.  

Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas, in 1892. Her mother was African American. Her father was part African American and part American Indian. Her family was poor. Bessie had to walk almost four miles to go to school. When she was nine years old, her father left the family. 

Bessie had to pick cotton and wash clothes to help earn money for her family and save small amounts for her education. Bessie was proud of her race, something she learned from her hard-working and religious mother.

She managed to save enough money to attend one year of college in Oklahoma. The money ran out and she had to leave after only one year, but in that year she learned about flying.  She read about the Wright brothers and the first American female pilot, Harriet Quimby.  She thought more and more about flying.  At the age of 23, living in Chicago with her older brothers, she heard stories from pilots returning from WWI. She decided she was going to be a pilot and worked several jobs to save money to learn how.  It was a herculean task as a woman and a woman of color. Finding that there were no opportunities for her in the United States she decided to head to Europe.  She studied French at a language school in Chicago. She also took a higher paying job supervising a restaurant in order to save more.  Soon after the war ended Bessie went to France and attended the famous flight school, Ecole d’Aviation des Ferres Caudron in northern France, where she completed seven months of flight training and earned her international permit to fly in 1921. She was the first black woman to ever earn an international pilot’s license.

She returned to Chicago as the only black female pilot in the United States. Bessie soon learned that it was nearly impossible to earn enough money to live.  In 1922 she returned to Europe to complete four more months of training, learning impressive tricks, with French and German pilots.

Coleman returned to New York where she gave her first public flying performance in the U.S. Before a large gathering she rolled her plane among other breathtaking feats such as stalling the plane and starting again just before it landed.  The crowd went wild. She became famous and performed across the county.  She was a huge success but Bessie wanted more.

She knew she needed a plane of her own and she wanted to establish a school for black pilots in the U.S.so Bessie traveled to Los Angeles where she enlisted the support of a company that sold tires.  They helped her purchase a Curtiss JN-Four airplane, commonly called a Jenny. In return she was to promote the company in public events.  An air show was organized in Los Angeles but the Jenny’s engine stalled soon after takeoff and crashed.  Coleman suffered a broken leg and other injuries. She was made of tough stuff though and sent a message to her public…”Tell them all that as soon as I can walk I’m going to fly!”

In 1925 she traveled to her home state of Texas where she gave speeches and showed films of her flights.  Soon she had enough money to pay for another Jenny and continued her speeches, organized more air shows in Texas, Georgia and Florida hoping to earn enough money to open her school.

On April 13, 1926 during a flight the controls of the Jenny stuck and with no safety devices in place, such as a safety belt or parachute, she plummeted to her to her death as the plane rolled.

Her powerful influence continues today.  “Because of Bessie Coleman, we have overcome that which was much worse than racial barriers.  We have overcome the barriers within ourselves and dared to dream.”  Lt. William Powell.

In 1992 Chicago City Council passed a resolution praising her.  It said: “Bessie Coleman continues to inspire untold thousands, even millions of young persons with her sense of adventure, her positive attitude and her determination to succeed…”

Sarah Breedlove Walker

Sarah Breedlove Walker was born on December 23, 1867 in Louisiana, the daughter of Owen and Minerva  Breedlove,  recently freed slaves.  Sarah, who was their fifth child, was the first in her family to be born free.  She became an orphan at the age of seven and went to live with her sister in Mississippi.  Presumably she picked cotton and did household work to earn her keep. 

At age 14, to escape both her oppressive working environment and frequent mistreatment by her brother in law, she married Moses McWilliams.  In 1885 she gave birth to a beautiful daughter, A’Lelia. Two years later Moses was murdered by a white lynch mob and Sara and her daughter moved to St.Louis.  She found work as a washerwoman earning $1.50 a day, which was enough to send A’Lelia to public school.  Sara herself attended night school when she could. While in St. Louis Sarah met her second husband, Charles J. Walker, who was in advertising and later assisted her in promoting her business.

In 1905 she had dream that revealed to her a formula of pomade to straighten Negro hair. The idea was first conceived in Cherry Creek, a prosperous mining town in Denver CO.  Sarah traveled from Pueblo, to Trinidad, to Colorado Springs and back to Denver selling her product. She mixed the ingredients herself in washtubs and sold it door to door.  She was very successful and “The Walker Method” and “Madam C.J Walker”were born.  She built a factory, recruited sales agents who dressed in starched white shirts and long black skirts taking the Walker products to homes all over the U.S. and the Caribbean. 

Sarah organized her 3,000 employees into social and philanthropic clubs, held national conventions that were attended by delegates from these clubs.  She rewarded her employees for high sales and those who did the most charity work.

By 1910 Sarah was a millionaire and one of the best known black women in America.  She made large donations to Black and Christian charities and endowed scholarships for women at Tuskegee Institute, She founded philanthropies that included educational scholarships and donations to homes for the elderly, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the National Conference on Lynching, among other organizations focused on improving the lives of African-Americans. She also donated the largest amount of money by an African-American toward the construction of an Indianapolis YMCA in 1913.