Hey Bolden Beauties!
Our mamas raised us to know better than to use profanity, but when we heard the vile words that were spewed at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez--a female member of the House of Reps, by a male colleague, we had to chime in.
Here at Bolden, we care less about half-baked apologies uttered through gritted teeth or the sudden claiming of Christian values. Rather, we choose to focus our attention on the myriad contributions of illustrious women whose accomplishments are often undervalued and unappreciated.
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Sacagewea (1788-1812): A bilingual Shoshone explorer who successfully led the Lewis and Clark expedition from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean and back. Historians will suggest she “helped” or “accompanied” Lewis and Clark, but we all know that the expedition could not have happened without her translations, navigation of the difficult terrain, and diplomatic skills when encountering other Native Americans. Remarkably, Sacagewea led this expedition while caring for her son, whom she bore only two months prior.
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Harriet Tubman (1822-1913): An American abolitionist and political activist who although born into slavery, escaped and subsequently made 19 missions to rescue more than 300 enslaved persons. Pay not attention to recent unfounded claims that try to downplay her contributions; we know that few would have the courage and gumption to do all she did with severe physical and cerebral infirmities and a bounty on her head.
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Ida B. Wells (1862-1931): An American journalist, activist, educator, pioneering leader in the civil rights moment, and one of the founders of the NAACP. Through her writing, she confronted and challenged sexism, racism, and the violent lynchings that were rampart during that time. She was once kicked out of her first-class ladies’ train car after refusing to move to a segregated carriage. She sued the railroad and won $500, but more importantly wrote several newspaper columns about the injustice. She showed us all just how powerful the pen can be!
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Maya Angelou (1928-2014): A civil rights activist, educator, poet, author, screenwriter, and dancer, Angelou was nothing short of a global renaissance woman. At the age of 7, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and traumatically stopped talking for five years after the perpetrator was subsequently killed. Her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is the first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman and showed us all how to triumph through adversity in grace.
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Wangari Maathai (1940-2011): A renowned Kenyan political, social, and environmental activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize. She founded the Green Belt Movement to promote the reforestation of Kenya’s forests and lands and highlighted the negative impact of deforestation on the country’s environment and population. This movement is responsible for the planting of more than 30 million trees in Kenya and providing roughly 30,000 women with new skills and opportunities.
These are simply a drop in the vast ocean of women who have changed the world. We believe that our customers are living equally exemplary lives, in both small and major ways.
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