Influential Women of Color: Week 4
Hello andieanderin community,
We started andieanderin to celebrate women and to educate ourselves on those who have paved the way for so many of the freedoms and rights we have today. The women we have showcased are diverse in background with contributions that have spanned sports, activism, entertainment, science, politics, and more. Women who have shaped and are continuing to shape the world we live in. Like many others, the Black Lives Matter movement has made us stop to listen and learn. We are motivated more than ever to continue our mission of celebrating influential women and will be funneling our energy towards sharing stories of influential women of color for the weeks to come.
Join us on instagram to follow along or check back here weekly.
See our previous weekly stories:
Daisy Bates
Daisy Bates was a civil rights activist and newspaper publisher who played a leading role in the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957, supporting the Little Rock Nine.
At the young age of three, Daisy’s mother was killed by three white men. This unfortunate event left an everlasting imprint on Daisy to confront and dedicate her life to ending racial injustice.
After losing her mother, Daisy was placed in a foster home. At age 15, Daisy met her then future husband and began traveling with him in the South. Settling in Little Rock, Arkansas, the couple started their own newspaper - The Arkansas Weekly. The newspaper was one of the only African American newspapers that was dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement. Daisy was both an editor and a contributor to the newspaper.
Daisy serves as the President of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP; her work with the NAACP made Daisy a household name through her influential work with school integration. Daisy published her memories in 1962, The Long Shadow of Little Rock, which won an American Book Award.
In 1968, Daisy moved to Mitchellville, Arkansas, a majority black town that was impoverished and lacked economic resources. After arriving, Daisy used her organizational skills to pull together residents and improve the community.
Daisy passed away on November 4th, 1999. For her work, the state of Arkansas proclaimed the third Monday in February, Daisy Gatson Bates Day. She was posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1999.
“No man or woman who tried to pursue an ideal in his or her own way own is without enemies”
Frida Kahlo
Talk about R-E-S-I-L-I-E-N-C-Y. (slam that period) Frida Kahlo endured polio, a life-threatening bus accident, amputation of a leg, bedridden for months on end, marriage infidelity - and that is only part of it. She is a woman who endured more than your fair share of tragedies. And she took those tragedies and made them into some of the most provocative paintings the world has seen - showing her brutally-honest attitude towards pain and her right to confront and glorify it.
Some people become artists for pleasure, while others have the ability to perceive art in a deeper sense than what is being presented…Frida Kahlo emerged as one such artist. She used her life as her canvas and we are so thankful that she did. Through her unique blend of bawdiness and profound emotion, she put brush to canvas for 143 paintings, with 55 of them as self-portraits. For a person who had to experience a staggering 30+ surgeries in her lifetime, it is no shock that she was able to paint herself as if her body was something separate altogether. She stated herself that, “they thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my reality.”
Pushing boundaries in all aspects of life, Frida was a feminist who today, happens to also be infamous for her unibrow and unkempt natural body hair. Pushing past traditional labels, she struggled with the cultural demands on her gender, at a time when women were demanding change from the antiquated roles of pretty and submissive wives and mothers. She would not be the docile woman expected of her and instead was often crude, drinking, smoking and cursing like the men. Her no-BS attitude was perfectly on display when she stated, “I drank to drown my sorrows, but the damned things learned how to swim.”
Monifa Bandele
“Right after the moment I gave birth, I realized that I could do any and everything.”
@monifabandele
@momsrising
Reference: https://www.momsrising.org/blog/users/monifa-bandele?page=3
Sucheta Kripalani
Sucheta Kriplani was India’s first woman Chief Minister, in the country’s largest province. She played a significant role in the nationalist movement and founded the women’s wing of Congress. Sucheta was also among the 15 women chosen to draft the Indian Constitution as part of the legendary Constituent Assembly, following India’s independence from the British in 1947.
Sucheta was born on June 25, 1908 in a Bengali Brahmo family living in Ambala, Haryana. A shy, intellectual young girl, her influence from her father, a government doctor, instilled patriotism in her from an early age. A brilliant student, Sucheta completed her higher education from New Delhi’s Indraprastha College, followed by higher studies in St. Stephen’s College. Thereafter, she became a lecturer of Constitutional History at Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
As an Indian delegate, Sucheta visited many countries and started writing on international policies, including press regulation of the then USSR to East Germany’s desire for peace, to Kemal Ataturk’s labor laws. Sucheta served as Minister of Labor, Community Development and Industry prior to being appointed Chief Minister.
In 1970, Sucheta retired from politics and permanently settled down in Delhi with her husband. Having no children, the couple generously donated their wealth and resources to the Lok Kalyan Samiti, established to aid the economically disadvantaged groups in the national capital.
Sucheta passed away in December 1974, having previously survived two heart attacks two years prior, a third attack took her life at the young age of 66. The Government of India renamed one of the two hospitals associated with New Delhi’s Lady Hardinge Medical College, as the Sucheta Kripalani Hospital, in honour of this illustrious politician.