Why do
history textbooks fail to share the contributions of so many amazing women? I
have witnessed the frustration that girls experience when they study social
studies in middle school. They feel excluded. Two or three lines are not enough
to share the struggles of women throughout history, for women had to work
harder than men. Most women received little or no recognition for their accomplishments.
Have you ever heard of Susan La Flesche
Picotte? She was born in 1865, shortly after the Civil War. She saved lives and
delivered babies, but she was not allowed to vote or call herself a citizen
because she was Native American.
Dr. La Flesche Picotte made house calls on
horseback in all kinds of weather, risking her own life to reach her patients.
Yet she earned around one tenth of what her male colleagues made.
Dr. La Flesche Picotte educated patients on preventative care and personal hygiene; she advocated for public health and
promoted respect and cooperation between races and cultures.
Dr. La Flesche Picotte belonged to the Omaha
Reservation of Nebraska, where she was the only physician to more than 1200
patients in an area of 1350 square miles.
April Riverwood put together the engaging stories of various Indigenous women. Their experiences will inspire the readers to persevere despite the
setbacks and obstacles imposed by prejudices, discrimination and social
rejection.
Maria
Tallchief (1925-2013) was a ballerina who did not allow public humiliation and
rejection to deter her from following her dreams. Her incredible spirit will
find its imprint in a coin in the year 2023. I was in awe to learn about her challenges
and how she persisted throughout her ordeals, even after she retired.
Have
you ever heard of Mary Golda Ross? She was a Cherokee woman born in
1908 in Park Hill, Oklahoma. Mary Golda Ross was proud of the Cherokee
tradition of equal education for boys and girls. Her passion for math and science
propelled her to work toward her goals. In addition to being unstoppable
herself, she supported other women in her field.
After
spending ten years teaching math in a public school, she went back to college
and earned a Master’s degree in mathematics in 1938.
Among other accomplishments, she contributed
to create the first fighter plane to exceed 400 miles per hour during World War
II. You can learn more about her from April Riverwood’s book.
I was
fascinated to learn about the life of Wa Wa Chaw, a poet, artist and activist whose
works are blatantly ignored by the educational system.
April Riverwood’s book is an invaluable
resource for educators, and it should be present in every school library. Girls
deserve to learn about these women and many others. It is the students' right to
celebrate their lives and to explore their views and experiences in depth.
We are used to listening about the same women
as if they were exceptional cases, and this situation creates a bias
against the female gender in the study material.
Knowledge and respect are the tools needed to
discard old prejudices and stereotypes that limit the perspectives of people and their
opportunities. We can build healthier societies when we acknowledge the beauty
of diversity, and the need to embrace the wonder of what the future can hold
when we treat everybody with equal respect.
If you enjoyed
this post, have fun reading my writing on Hyphened Nation, a book by Nicole
Draffen.
Here’s a list
of articles related to the need for an inclusive comprehensive
school curriculum:
