Allison Tedford
Mr. Corner
World History
“Well behaved women rarely make history.”
This is a very well known quote that could have said by the famous Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady and wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt, president of the United States from 1933 to 1945. Many people, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Anne Boleyn and Marilyn Monroe, could have said this quote. But, people have investigated and it has been proven that the person who originally said this quote was Laurel Thatcher Urich, historian of early America and the history of women and a University professor at Harvard University, in 1976 1, 2.
Am I in agreement with this quote? Yes, I am. Many women in world history are part of our history because they did things that changed our world. They weren’t afraid to stand up for what they believed in. Sometimes, they did not behave like the others and decided to do something completely out of the ordinary even if others disapproved and they made a difference. One great example of this is Rosa Parks, African–American civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat to a white person one day in 1955 on the bus and got arrested for it. 3 Parks’ act of defiance made her an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. Rosa Parks passed away on October 24, 2005. Today, we have a special day for her; Rosa Parks Day is on December 1.
Another example could also be Harriet Tubman, a fugitive slave who, at her own peril, helped around 300 slaves escape the South using a secret route called the Underground Railroad. Harriet was also a Civil War spy and nurse, a promoter of education, even though she was illiterate, and a campaigner for women’s suffrage. 4, 5 Harriet Tubman changed the world, because she wasn’t afraid at all to take a big risk and help others. Thanks to Harriet Tubman, more than 300 African slaves were freed from the South and had the chance to live a better life.
Another fantastic example of a woman who