A Recap of our meeting

The date of our upcoming exhibition is set for September 10, 2007.

In preparation, each one of you is expected to research 2 women featured in the triptych. Because some of you had originally expressed interest in the same women, make sure to post your 2 selections by next Saturday to avoid duplicating searches.

Based on the poster template provided here, your findings will be divided into four columns, or three areas of biographical research and one personal essay. These columns, under headings of Biography, Context, Contribution, and Reflections, Discovery will run 500 to 700 words in length and will correspond to four separate assignments for each one of the women selected. The columns' contents are to be organically meshed.

Your research will also include finding two quotes per woman for display in your poster presentation. One of these will be chosen for the companion book to the triptych.

1st & 5th Assignments: BIOGRAPHY – This column should consist of an overview of each woman’s life based on your own interpretation and analysis of the basic facts, events, influences and anecdotes that shaped her life. But really, you are telling a story. Make it a compelling one. Your lead will be important in setting a first tone and in engaging the reader.

Due dates: March 3rd (1st woman)
April 28th (2nd woman)

2nd & 6th Assignments: CONTEXT – This column should define the period in which the woman lived and worked. Consider all aspects: historical, political, cultural, intellectual, social and economic. Think in terms of a global stage. “Context” will inform both the women’s biographies and their contributions.

Due dates: March 17th (1st woman)
May 12th (2nd woman)

3rd & 7th Assignments: CONTRIBUTION – This column should be about the women’s impact and legacy through their accomplishments. Questions to think about: What impact had society on these particular women? How did their cultural, economic and political background affect their development, their actions? How did they advance various issues/causes in their own field, time, and for future generations? What motivated them to take risks, to challenge the status quo, to contribute to their time? How did these women impact the lives of their contemporaries? Were they aware of being role models, of paving the way for generations to come? What did they sacrifice to achieve their goals? How can their contributions help change the course of peoples’ lives in the future? These questions and the answers they yield will inevitably help you choose the most defining quotes.

Due Dates: March 31st (1st woman)
May 26th (2nd woman)

4th & 8th Assignments: REFLECTIONS, DISCOVERY – This column must be a personal, reflective essay on your experience of having researched these extraordinary women and should include a justification for your quote selections. If you wish and as discussed at the meeting, you could also present a part of an interview you conducted, a song analysis, a poem, or whatever else your discovery has inspired you to write.

Due Dates: April 14th (1st woman)
June 9th (2nd woman)


For those of you leaving before the final deadline, you must turn in your work at least a week early so that we can review it and edit it before you go. Your poster presentation has to be perfect for display.

Your contribution to the mission of this project matters. You will be proud of your accomplishment.

And remember, Smart Women make a difference!

Progress Report - Gloria Steinem

I have to be honest – my interest in Gloria Steinem was partially piqued because of a made-for-TV movie I saw on Lifetime once, entitled “A Bunny’s Tale.” It stars Kirstie Allie as Gloria Steinem when she famously went undercover as a Playboy Bunny at the magazine’s New York club in order to write an expose about the deplorable working conditions bunnies had to put up with. I had heard of Steinem before, of course, but this movie fascinated me; I couldn’t believe it was based on a true story. Of course, when I found out more about Steinem, I was even more interested in her - I greatly admire her for her contributions to feminism, including the creation of Ms. Magazine and cofounding the National Women's Political Caucus.

During the course of my research on Gloria Steinem, I have had the opportunity to actually read the essay she wrote after going undercover at Playboy, entitled “I Was A Playboy Bunny.” It can be found in an anthology of her writing called “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions,” which contains essays and articles Steinem wrote between the 1960s and the 1990s. Even the Playboy article, which is the oldest in the collection, sounds surprisingly fresh and modern, which is a testament to Steinem’s dynamic writing ability.

I’ve also done extensive research on Steinem online, checking out various websites that have biographies of her and discuss her role in the feminist movement. The online research has led me to several pithy quotes, like “The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off,” and “At my graduation, I thought we had to marry what we wished to become. Now you are becoming the men you once would have wished to marry.” However, I have yet to come across one perfect quote that I think best encapsulates everything that Gloria Steinem was and is – an entrepreneur, a witty writer and speaker, and a feminist revolutionary.

There’s one quotation from the preface of “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions” that may come close – “Indeed, backlash itself is a tribute to success; the dangerous but inevitable result of turning the majority consciousness toward equality, thus turning the former anti-equality majority into an irate minority that still thinks it can dictate what is legal and even what is normal.” This might be a little too long, though; I’m going to keep reading through this book and others that she’s read. Maybe I’ll find the right quotation in something more recent. Butler Library probably has old issues of Ms. archived, so they would probably be a good place to quote-hunt (I'm also just interested in what the magazine looked like back then). I’ve also been thinking about going over to Barnard and asking a Women’s and Gender Studies professor if he/she has any ideas of where I could look.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Michelle: Your efforts at discovering the woman behind the public persona are yielding insightful results. Oprah’s passionate interests and commitment to education, learning, philanthropy, and the African-American cultural experience - as you have established - are not only what make her who she is at the core but they also fuel her public persona. Honoring her roots, embracing her blackness are another source of her inner strength and power. Sure, Oprah’s public persona is the face she presents to the world when she works but is it really what defines her?

Of the quotes you posted, the first 2 are excellent choices and perfectly suited to our project. Both are revealing and define Oprah inasmuch as that they speak to the core values outlined in your report. Although it is difficult to choose between the 2, I may be partial to the 2nd quote because, with that statement, Oprah is both bringing up the rear in a long line of extraordinarily courageous women and a leading figure in the empowerment of generations to come.

Of interest to all: An exhibition on slavery and the many ways it shaped New York is currently on view at the New York Historical Society. Find the time to see it! Its title: New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War.

Excellent report Michelle!

Progress- Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is arguably one of the most influential icons of the world. As a woman, I have always admired Oprah Winfrey because her life journey truly epitomizes the "American Dream"; It is thanks to Oprah Winfrey that many people like myself have never lost hope about what can be accomplished in one’s life. From her childhood in the prejudice and impoverished South to her status as the first Black American billionaire, her accomplishments are limitless. Despite harsh criticisms and efforts to break her down, Oprah has become one of the most influential voices because of her philanthropic, educational and social efforts and her commitment to heal the world through culture and morality.
Researching Oprah’s life has proved be quite a difficult task (simply because Oprah has touched every aspect of American popular culture) but I am dedicated to researching her not so much as a television host, an actress or a philanthropist but more so as a woman and a human being. Undoubtedly, Oprah’s public persona defines her but her passion for books, slavery and the black women who paved ways for her are some of the things that make Oprah who she is outside of the spotlight.
The two books I’ve read thus far are "Oprah Winfrey: A Biography" by Helen S. Garson and "Oprah Winfrey Speaks: Insight of the World’s Most Influential Voice" by Janet Lowe and Oprah Winfrey.
These quotes are the ones that caught my attention. These quotes are helping me understand Oprah:
1."The fact that I was created a Black woman in this lifetime, everything in my life is built around honoring that. I feel a sense of reverence to that. I hold it sacred. And I am always asking myself the question ‘What do I owe in service of having been created a Black woman."

2."I have crossed over the backs of Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Madam C. J. Walker. Because of them I can now live the dream. I am the seed of the free, and I know it. I intend to bear great fruit."

3. "I am what I am because of my grandmother. My strength. My sense of reasoning. Everything. All that was set by the time I was six."

(Oprah has always given praise to the pioneers of the African-American community who positively shaped her life. It is with the courage and strength of people like Sojourner Truth and her grandmother that Oprah was able to persevere. She lives her life knowing that she has a responsibility to be a positive role model just like those who were role models for her.)

4."Blackness is something I just am. I’m Black. I’m a woman. I wear a size 10 shoe. It’s all the same to me."

5. "I always feel if you do right, right will follow."

(Oprah refuses to frame herself; She consistently tries to escape social and political constraints and she takes pride in knowing that the broadness and righteousness of cultures and morals are the key to understanding her success.)

I'm currently looking for more books and people that can help me further my research.

Mother Teresa - Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Research seems to be going really well and it sounds as if your conversations with Boston ministers provided you with valuable leads.

Considering Mother Teresa’s significant contribution and impact as a humanitarian around the world, your decision to explore the notion of her humility makes perfect sense. The power of humility as it relates to faith (religious or other) and as a social value is what I assume you are referring to here. If not, clarifying your thought will be crucial to helping you select and justify your quote selections ultimately, so think about it. For some insight and historical perspective on the subject, I recommend you read Mary M. Keys’ paper A "Monkish Virtue" outside the Monastery: On the Social and Civil Value of Humility.

Set aside the short prayer you found inspiring as you may want to include it in your final poster display.

The same goes for the work you have already done on Billie Holiday. You should consider posting and using the musical analysis you wrote on her songs as part of your poster presentation. Also, would you be able to put Strange Fruit and What a Little Moonlight Can Do on our blog? We could all hear them. In fact, those songs could also be part of our installation when the time comes to exhibit.

Great work Ngozi, congratulations!