On the Lines: American Women In Action Quiz

Answer: Lucy Parsons

Lucy Parsons (c 1853-1942) was a radical activist of mixed heritege: African-American, Native-American and Mexican. She wrote an article called "To Tramps" which argued for what she called "propaganda by the deed." She was an amazingly successful orator about whom the Chicago police said that she was "more dangerous than a thousand rioters."

Answer: Emma Goldman

Called "Red Emma" or "Queen of the Anarchists," Goldman, like many other radical anarchists, was affected by the Haymarket Affair, sometimes called Haymarket Riot or Haymarket Massacre. On Tuesday 4 May 1886 in Chicago, a rally turned violent. Some 180 policemen insisted that people at a rally immediately disperse.

A bomb was suddenly was thrown at police, and pandemonium broke out. At least 7 police men were killed and many civilians were wounded. In the wake of this event, many began to organize in support of the anarchists and of the 8 hour work day. Among many of her social commitments, Goldman was also respected famous for supporting the anarchists in Spain during the Civil War. Emma Goldman founded the famous journal "Mother Earth," "Living My Life," and a book called meaningfully "My Disillusionment in Russia."

Answer: Eleanor Roosevelt

In 1933 Roosevelt became the first First Lady to hold a regular press conference. She spoke only to women reporters on women's issues. By 1939 her activities and her writing began to focus on the difficulties in the lives of everyone -- male and female alike. Eleanor Roosevelt was an amazing woman: she was one of the early shapers of the United Nations and served as a delegate to the General Assembly from 1945-1952.

Answer: Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley was a starring performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. She was incredibly accurate with her .22 caliber rifle. A story is repeatedly told that her aim was so excellent the Prince of Prussia, the man who would become the future Kaiser Wilhelm II, asked her to do the following: to knock the ashes off a cigarette he held in his mouth. With some trepidation, she asked him to hold it in his hand.

She offered 50 women sharpshooters to President McKinley in case the US went to war with Spain.

It appears that her offer was rejected.

Answer: Marian Anderson

This refusal led to action: she later sang at the Lincoln Memorial before between 50,000 and 75,000 people. Anderson was said to be such a profund inner person that she was not about to "tangle on a low level with anybody." The much revered Eleanor Roosevelt was so angry that Anderson had been rejected that she (Roosevelt) resigned her membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was the first African-American singer to sing at the White House; additionally, she sang at Eisenhower's and Kennedy's innaugurations. Arturo Toscani said of her contralto voice that hers was "a voice heard but once in a century."

Answer: Elizabeth Blackwell

She put her reaction more directly, that she wanted to looking for a "barrier" to matrimony. She went on to found the London School for Medicine for Women. She went back and forth between Europe and the United States. Then, she had a serious injury which left her blind in one eye and so she gave up plans to become a surgeon.

She did meet Florence Nightingale. When she came back to America, many people would have nothing to do with her, so she was initially forced to practice from her own house. She founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, gave many lectures which inspired other women to attempt the medical profession, and she also adopted a daughter who became vital part of her life.

Answer: Frances Clalin

Apparently, she served in the Missouri artillery and cavalry units. She was in about nineteen battles. Reports indicate that she smoked cigars, swore, gambled, chewed tobacco and was a fine 'horse-man.' Mary Livermore has written a book called "My Story of the War" (1880) which argues that there were probably fewer than four hundred women enlisted in great secrecy, often disguised as men, in the American Civil War.

Answer: Bonnie Parker

She said specifically, "look-a-there, his head bounced just like a rubber ball." Bonnie Parker initially wanted to be a writer and an actress. She was a high school poet and a stand out in her speech class. She got into an unhappy first marriage and somehow thought that Clyde Barrow would make her life all right. One thing led to another and they became legendary runaways. Reports from police who met her stated that she was not a "bloodthirsty killer," and that they wanted to protect her, giving her more comfortable clothes.

She and Clyde were shot and killed by a posse on May 23, 1934, ending their lives and the massive public engagement with both their lawlessness and the saga of their profound love.

Answer: Sally Jean Priesand

Priesand was ordained in 1972 by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She did impressive watercolors and wrote "Judaism and the New Woman."

Answer: Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was an American painter who lived most of her life in France. "I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could, of his art," she later recalled. "It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it."

Answer: obey

Stanton was married for forty seven years to Henry Brewster Stanton. She grew up, hearing her father say something like "Oh, I wish you had been a boy." Her rather delicate husband was, it appears, not at all in agreement with her positive views about women's suffrage. They spent a lot of time apart.
Stanton was for interracial marriage and paradoxically against giving African-Americans the right to vote. In 1965, her house The Elizabeth Cady Stanton House was declared a National Historic Monument.

Answer: Evelyn Aldrich

Evelyn Aldrich was the head of the woman's department at a large New York bank. She told some 500 bankers that young men in particular make the 'girls' feel unwelcome and unable to compete. "Ability, she said, is not so much a matter of the sex as of the individual." http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A05E5DA1531E433A2575AC1A96F9C946996D6CF&oref=slogin

Answer: Martha Graham

Graham has been called one of the most eloquent artists of the twentieth century. Overall, she reshaped dance to create a "new language of movement" which would work in tandem with human emotions and feelings.
"I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."

Answer: Lady Bird Johnson

Unlike what her delicate name might suggest, Lady Bird Johnson was a highly respected force in her own right, receiving The Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Her name has been associated with national beautification which she explains pithily by saying, "where flowers bloom, so does hope."

Answer: Claire Booth Luce

Claire Booth Luce wrote three important and successful plays. She was on the editorial staffs of both "Vogue" and "Vanity Fair." Dwight Eisenhower appointed her to be ambassador to Italy which made her the first woman ambassador to a signicant country.

She was also a congresswoman from 1942-1946. Among other things, she is known for her wit and her sophistication, such as appear in the statement, "no good deed goes unpunished."