10 WOC You Should Know About This Women’s History Month

It’s Women’s History Month, that one, short time of year when we reflect on the accomplishments and advancements of women to our modern society. This month, I’ve read articles about Susan B. Anthony, played around with a Snapchat filter of Marie Curie, and seen books dedicated to the life and times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. All important women. All white.

Women’s History Month, much like the women’s movement, has been whitewashed. For many, this month is a reminder of the shortcomings of white feminism and the remaining work within the women’s movement to undo the damage of hundreds of years of racism. White feminists have rewritten history and erased the contributions of our sisters of color (as well as trans women & gender nonconforming people), and instead, chosen to only uplift white women and our limited, favored issues. We’ve made progress on the backs of our sisters of color, at their expense, and with the promise that their day would come if they would just “get on board.”

It’s for this reason, and many others, than some women of color choose not to identify as feminist, or instead, identify as womanist. In order for our next wave of the women’s movement to be all-inclusive and effective, it must center itself around women of color -- who, by the way, have been feministing since forever. Women of color experience oppression at more intersections than white women. By rewriting history to erase their stories, experiences, and voices, we prevent the formulation of a robust and capable women’s movement.

Learning our collective history, particularly the experiences of those who’ve been written out of white women’s history books, is crucial to our movement’s growth. In fact, the organizers of the Women’s March believe this to be so important, that its fifth action item, “Reflect & Resist,” released mid-March, asked participants to engage with articles, books, and movies about our diverse movement’s history.

In furtherance of that effort, I’ve profiled ten women of color who’ve made major contributions through their actions, writings, speeches, or leadership to the feminist/women’s rights/human rights movement over the last 200 years.

This list of activists was inspired by the article:“‘How Can White Women Include Women of Color In Feminism?’ Is A Bad Question. Here’s Why,” by Mia McKenzie.

#1 Sojourner Truth (c. 1797 - November 26, 1883)

An abolitionist and women’s rights activist, Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York in 1797. After escaping slavery with her infant daughter, she later sued (and won!) a plantation owner to secure her son’s freedom. In 1851, Truth joined a lecture tour throughout New York, during which she gave her most famous, extemporaneous speech, “Ain’t I A Woman” at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Her later work included attempting to force the desegregation of streetcars in Washington by riding in cars designated for whites, and securing land grants from the federal government for former slaves. She indefatigably advocated that ownership of private property would give African Americans self-sufficiency and free them from a form of indentured servitude to wealthy, white landowners.

Memorable quote: “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down, these women together ought to be able to turn it right again.”

#2 Ida B. Wells (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931)

Ida B. Wells was an African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, feminist, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1909, she became a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As an activist and investigative journalist, she documented lynchings in the 1890s, showing how this atrocity, primarily perpetrated in the South, was used to control or punish black people who competed with whites. Because of her persuasive acumen, Ida positioned herself as uniquely capable of drawing men and women (black and white) together in a conversation about black oppression. She was active in the women’s suffrage movement, forming numerous organizations in furtherance of that effort, including the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago.

Memorable quotes:

“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”

“Those who commit the murders write the reports.”

#3 Gloria Anzaldúa (September 26, 1942 – May 15, 2004)

An American scholar of Chicana cultural theory, feminist theory, and queer theory, Gloria Anzaldúa is best known for her writings that describe living on the margins of society. Her highly recognized, semi-autobiographical work, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, documents her life growing up on the Mexican-Texas border and her enduring feelings of social and cultural marginalization. From being born to sharecropper parents, working as a field laborer as a child, and growing up in a segregated school system, her poems, essays, and academic work explore the anger and isolation of living under racial and economic oppression. Considered to be one of her greatest contributions to the academic sphere, however, was her introduction to United States audiences of the term mestizaje, meaning a state of being beyond the binary ("either-or") conception. She is also credited with coining the term “linguistic terrorism,” in response to the disposing of one's native tongue in order to conform to any given environment.

Memorable Quotes:

“I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue -- my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.”

“A woman who writes has power, and a woman with power is feared.”

#4 Yuri Kochiyama (May 19, 1921 – June 1, 2014)

Born in California in 1921, Japanaese-American activist, Yuri Kochiyama, spent two years in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. After the attacks on Pearl Harbor, her father was taken into custody for no reason other than his race. He died the day after he was released, being ill at the time he was taken into custody. This traumatic period of Kochiyama’s life became the basis for much of her activist work. She went on to advocate for many causes, including redress and reparations for Japanese Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, and political prisoners. Eventually, her work led her to Malcom X and the Organization of Afro-American Unity; she held Malcom X in her arms after he was assassinated. Yuri was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, praised by the White House in 2014, and honored with the Google Doodle of the day in 2016.

Memorable Quotes:

“Unless we know ourselves and our history, and other people and their history, there is really no way that we can really have positive of interaction where there is real understanding.”

“Remember that consciousness is power. Consciousness is education and knowledge. Consciousness is becoming aware. It is the perfect vehicle for students. Consciousness-raising is pertinent for power, and be sure that power will not be abusively used, but used for building trust and goodwill domestically and internationally. Tomorrow’s world is yours to build.”

#5 Leslie Marmon Silko (March 4, 1948 - Present)

A Laguna Pueblo writer, novelist, poet, essayist and key figure of the Native American literary and artistic renaissance beginning in the 1960s, Leslie Marmon is known for her writings on the alienation of Native Americans in white society and the importance of native traditions and community in helping native people cope with modern life. Much of her life’s work has been dedicated to bringing awareness to systemic racism, white cultural imperialism, and women’s issues. In 1981, she was awarded the MacArthur Foundation Grant, now known as the “Genius Grant,” and in 1994, the Native Writer’s Circle of the American Lifetime Achievement Award.

Memorable quote: “I will tell you something about stories . . . They aren't just entertainment. Don't be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death. You don’t have anything if you don’t have stories.”

#6 Dr. Rajini Thiranagama (February 23, 1954 – September 12, 1989)

A Tamil human rights activist, medical doctor, and feminist, Dr. Rajini Thiranagama became an outspoken, global educator on the human rights atrocities occurring in Sri Lanka, particularly those committed toward women during the Sri Lankan Civil War in the 1980s. Initially a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), she changed her position on armed struggled after witnessing tremendous amount of political violence perpetrated by the LTTE. She began documenting the correlated nationalism and systemic violence committed by the group, ultimately writing a book about her observations, The Broken Palmyra. A few weeks after the publication of her book, she was murdered in front of her home, presumably by the LTTE. At the time of her death, she was the head of the Department of Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine at University of Jaffna. A documentary film has been made about her life, No More Tears Sister.

Memorable Quote: “Men in battle garb, whether they come with swords or guns, on a horse or in armored cars, the price of conquest seems heightened by the violation of women.”

#7 Shirley Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005)

Politician, educator, and author, Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress (New York’s 12th Congressional District). She remained in Congress for seven terms, running on the campaign slogan, “unbought and unbossed.” All those hired in her congressional office were women; at least half were women of color. She tackled issues ranging from food stamps, poverty, racial inequality, women’s rights, social services, education, and labor issues. She became the first black candidate to run for a major party’s nomination for the President of the United States in 1972, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Shirley Chisholm received many accolades and awards for her activism, work, speeches, and writings. Today, The Shirley Chisholm Center for Research on Women exists at Brooklyn College to promote research projects and programs on women and to preserve the legacy of Chisholm.

Memorable Quote: “Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.”

#8 Wilma Mankiller (November 18, 1945 - April 6, 2010)

As the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, Wilma Mankiller entered a male-dominated political space, fearlessly reinvigorating the Cherokee Nation through community development projects, self-help programs, incentives for tribal-owned businesses, and advanced infrastructure projects. She secured federal funding from the United States government for many of her efforts, and improved federal-tribal relationships. Under her leadership, the Cherokee Nation tripled in population size. After Mankiller’s term as chief, she accepted a guest professorship at Dartmouth College, and President Bill Clinton awarded her the Medal of Freedom in 1998.

Memorable Quote: “Prior to my election, young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.”

#9 Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 - January 30, 2006)

American author, activist, civil rights leader, and wife of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King was a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Coretta Scott King played a major role in the movement for African-American equality before and after her husband’s death. She founded the King Center, and became active in the women’s rights, LGBT rights, and anti-apartheid movements. Through her work, she became an influential friend of numerous politicians and leaders, including John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Robert F. Kennedy. King was eventually inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame, and is honorably referred to as "First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement."

Memorable quotes:

“Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.”

“Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.”

#10 Cherrie Moraga (September 2, 1952 - Present)

A Chicana writer, feminist activist, poet, essayist, playwright, and professor at Stanford University, Cherrie Moraga’s work explores the intersection of gender, sexuality, and race in the lives of women of color. In the academic community, she’s credited with introducing the theory of Chicana lesbianism. In conjunction with Gloria Anzaldua, she co-edited This Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color, considered one of the great anthologies of feminist thought. Her writings call for heightened attention to racial understanding and the bicultural experiences within the feminist community -- in Moraga’s case, Anglo and Chicano culture. In developing (and translating) her anthologies and writings, she set the tone and laid the foundation for third wave feminism in the United States.

Memorable quotes:

“Oppression does not make for hearts as big as all outdoors. Oppression makes us big and small. Expressive and silenced. Deep and dead.”

“But it is not really difference the oppressor fears so much as similarity.”

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For more reading on women’s history and intersectional feminism, check out the Women’s March Reflect & Resist action item.

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Brittany Kilpatrick is an attorney and co-founder of Bonded Magazine. She likes carbs, reading, pondering the intricacies of Donald Trump's spray tan, Beyoncé, Thesaurus.com, musicals, fully replacing her daily water intake with La Croix, and her dog, Tucker.

You can find her on Facebook or Instagram: @brittany.kilpatrick or on Bonded social media: @bondedmag.