Happy Thanksgiving and a little history..

[boston bean]

Thanksgiving and Women’s History



Did you know that it was a woman who pushed for Thanksgiving to be recognized as a national holiday?

Sarah Josepha Hale’s name is not familiar to the millions of people who sing “Mary had a Little Lamb…”

Yet, she wrote the words to the well-known nursery rhyme.

Likewise, when most Americans sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, few think of Sarah Josepha Hale, either.

It’s true, President Lincoln was the first President to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday…

But it was at the behest of Sarah Josepha Hale, who had, in fact, spent 40 years writing to Congressmen, lobbying five Presidents, and writing countless editorials in her campaign to create an official Day of Thanks.

Yet, these are only two of the many accomplishments of an extraordinary woman, unknown to most Americans.

This Thanksgiving, take a moment to think of and be grateful for the countless quietly accomplishing women who came before us, and all those who remind us that Women are truly remarkable.

http://itsallaboutwomen.com/news/thanksgiving-and-womens-history/

author asks for story to be shared. no copyright violation.

[ismnotwasm]

1. Thank you

Thanksgiving only means family get togethers for me, the holiday and what represents means very little. But family is no small thing for those of us who have them (or have one we can stand)

I would also like to take a moment to recognize Native American women as well as Native Americans in general--to acknowledge their suffering and accomplishments under and after genocide

Mary Brave Bird, Lakota Sioux (1956-?)

Mary Brave Bird dictated her life story in the two books Lakota Woman and Ohitika Woman to Richard Erdoes, a photographer and illustrator who himself became involved in political activism through having taped and transcribed her story. In these two books, written 15 years apart, Brave Bird told how the American Indian Movement (AIM) gave meaning to her life. Lakota Woman, written under the name Mary Crow Dog, portrays her life from her birth to 1977, and Ohitika Woman written under her current name of Mary Brave Bird, covers events up to 1992 and adds new details to the earlier history. Mary Brave Bird's mother, Emily Brave Bird, had been raised in a tent in the village of He-Dog on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, then taken to St. Francis Mission boarding school where she was converted to Catholicism.

While she studied nursing in Pierre, South Dakota, her four children were raised by their grandparents. Robert Brave Bird trapped in the winter and farmed in the summer. He was a descendant of the legendary warrior Pakeska Maza ("Iron Shell&quot , who became chief of the Wablenicha ("Orphan Band&quot of the Brule or Sicanju tribe of the Lakotoa Sioux.


Growing up on the Rosebud Reservation, Brave Bird faced poverty, racism, and brutality from an early age. Although she descended from a distinguished family, she was not taught a great deal about her heritage. Her mother would not teach her her native language because, she said, "speaking Indian would only hold you back, turn you the wrong way."

http://www.aaanativearts.com/native-american-chiefs-leaders/famous-native-american-women/1096-mary-brave-bird-lakota-sioux-1956.html#axzz2CyTphESs

[Little Star]

2. Wow. I had never heard of her before...

She spent 40 years writing to Congressmen, lobbying five Presidents, and writing countless editorials and I bet few of us ever heard her name before. That's sad. Good post BB!

[ismnotwasm]

3. So many women

With great contributions lost in history.

[CrispyQ]

4. A day after T-day kick!

Thanks for posting.