Although I grew up a LONG time ago, I had 4 distinctive heroines as a child: Amelia Earhart, Anne Frank, Sarah Bernhardt and Helen Keller.
Sarah Bernhardt was a dreamy French actress in the 1800's and early1900's. She starred in many plays and sometimes played male roles too, including Hamlet. She was one of the first prominent actresses to move into motion pictures, now called movies. I read all about her and her theatrical triumphs and I was fascinated with her being so bold in paving her way as a female actress!
Amelia Earhart, born in 1897, was called Meelie as a child. She went to the World's Fair in 1904 and inspired by a roller coaster she saw, decided to build her own. She built one with her sister and took her first ride, it felt like flying to her. At 10 she saw her first airplane and the love affair began. She became a nurse and a mechanic, but at 23 she got a chance to fly and she knew this was what she was meant to do. She became one of the most famous pilots of all times and made history with her feats. She was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and the first woman to fly alone from Hawaii to California. What an inspiration!
Helen Keller born in 1880, was deaf and blind since she was a baby. Despite that, she went on to become one of the 20th century's greatest humanitarians and co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (the ACLU). She wrote her first book in 1903, she was America's first Goodwill Ambassador to Japan and she traveled to 35 countries. Her story was the subject of countless books, movies and plays. I was obsessed with her story as a young girl and all the obstacles she overcame.
Anne Frank, born in Germany in 1929, is one of the most highly well known victims of the Holocaust. Trapped in Amsterdam because of losing their citizenship, in 1940, the Franks went into hiding in 1942 in some concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Anne's father worked. For two years until the family was arrested, she kept a diary, which she had received for her 13th birthday, and wrote in it regularly. The only one in her family who was to survive was her father Otto and when he returned to Amsterdam his secretary had found and saved the diary. Anne always wanted to be a published writer, so in 1947 her father got her diary published. Millions of people have read The Diary of a Young Girl and been transfixed by her harrowing story which has been published in over 70 languages. I was absolutely spellbound by this young, brave girl's story.
All this is to say that these were 4 women with grit and resilience. They inspired me as a child and as I think back now, isn't it fascinating that I had 4 heroines!
Find a school that celebrates grit and resilience, and gender equity, it will make all the difference to your child.
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