Speaking Her Mind Trivia Quiz

Answer: Anne Hutchinson

Brought to trial in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 for leading religious meetings in her home, Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) denounced her accusers, chief among them colonial Governor John Winthrop. Subsequently, she was convicted and in the words of her judges, "banished from out of our jurisdiction as being a woman not fit for our society." Mary Barrett Dyer (16??-1660) was a dear friend of Anne Hutchinson.

When Dyer bore a severely deformed and stillborn child, Governor Winthrop maintained that the child's deformity and death were God's way of punishing Dyer for her devotion to Hutchinson's teachings.

Another friend of Anne Hutchinson, Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) is frequently identified as America's first female poet. Hester Prynne is the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne's fictional work, "The Scarlet Letter", set in the 1660s Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Answer: Deborah Sampson

Deborah Sampson (1760-1827) traveled throughout lower New England and New York in 1802, delivering this speech in which she shared her remarkable experiences during the American Revolutionary War. Dressed as a man and using the alias Robert Shurtleff, Sampson enlisted in the Continental Army in 1782.

Her deception was not discovered until she was wounded and eventually hospitalized in 1784. Whenever speaking in public, she proudly wore her Continental Army uniform. Molly Pitcher may or may not have actually existed.

Some believe that the name may actually be a nickname given to several women (among them Mary Hays McCauly and Margaret Corbin) who fought briefly during the Revolutionary War. In each case, the woman took up her husband's post on the battlefield when he was injured during combat.

Answer: Dorothea Dix

After working to reform the treatment of mentally ill patients in Massachusetts, Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) took her cause across country, presenting speeches to various state legislatures in which she documented the deplorable conditions experienced by the mentally ill.

Her oratory-and dedication-resulted in the establishment of 32 state mental hospitals and 15 "schools for the feeble-minded" throughout the United States. This particular speech was delivered in Frankfort, Kentucky in 1846 to the state legislature.

The other three women mentioned as possible answers were all social reformers in the nineteenth century, and all were accomplished orators. Much of Frances Willard's (1829-1898) oratory addressed the cause of Christian temperance. Susette LaFlesche (1854-1903) was an advocate for Indian (Native American) rights.

The work and oratory of Jane Addams (1860-1935) resulted in a variety of social reforms including the improvement of tenement conditions in cities, protection of immigrants, reduced working hours for children, and the establishment of Hull House in Chicago, Illinois.

Answer: Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) delivered the speech excerpted here at the State Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio on May 28, 1851. Born a slave named Isabella Baumfree, she adopted the name Sojourner Truth in 1843 and traveled extensively throughout the Northeast and Midwest, preaching Christianity and speaking as an advocate of abolition and women's rights. Harriet Jacobs (using the pseudonym Linda Brent) authored "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" (1861), an autobiography that described the sexual harassment and abuse experienced by many female slaves. An escaped slave herself, Harriet Tubman (1819?-1913) was affectionately known as Moses due to her work helping over 300 slaves reach freedom through the Underground Railroad. In later years, she continued her work as an abolitionist and advocate for women's rights.

The only child of free Negro parents, Frances Harper (1825-1911) was an abolitionist and a noted speaker, teacher, poet, and reformer.

Answer: Angelina Grimke

Angelina Grimke (1805-1879) and her sister, Sarah, were outspoken abolitionists who achieved considerable notoriety when they became the first women to speak to New York's Anti-Slavery Society. The sisters toured throughout New England, and by speaking in public to mixed-sex audiences, they actually advanced not only the cause of abolition but also women's rights.

This speech, aptly entitled "The North, go on! Go on!," was delivered to the Women's National Loyal League in New York City (1863). Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), Mary Livermore (1820-1905), and Lucy Stone (1818-1893) were other well-spoken abolitionists who also advocated women's suffrage.

Answer: Elizabeth Cady Stanton

This 1867 speech was delivered by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) at the National convention of the American Equal Rights Association in New York City. Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the 1848 Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, and Stanton authored the famous "Declaration of Sentiments" from that convention.

In 1850, Stanton was introduced to Susan B. Anthony by Amelia Bloomer (whose monthly publication advocated more comfortable clothing for women, particularly knee-length, split-leg undergarments). Stanton and Anthony quickly became leaders in the women's suffrage movement. According to Wikipedia.org, Stanton, the better orator and writer of the two, frequently wrote speeches for Anthony to deliver.

Answer: Margaret Sanger

All of these women were political activists who addressed issues of sexual oppression, and all of them were accomplished public speakers. The excerpt belongs to Sanger (1879-1966), who delivered her speech, "The Moral Necessity for Birth Control," on numerous occasions during 1921-1922. Sanger is best remembered as a founder and life-long supporter of the birth control movement in the United States.

She died in 1967 at the age of 87, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the ban on the use of birth control by married couples in Griswold v. Connecticut.

Answer: Anna Howard Shaw

Anna Howard Shaw (1847-1919) was ordained as the first female Methodist minister in the United States and later attended medical school to become a doctor. She was a dedicated supporter of women's suffrage and the temperance movement. She delivered this speech, "The Fundamental Principle of a Republic," on June 21, 1915 at a suffrage rally in Ogdenburg, New York. All of the other women were distinguished orators and ardent suffragists, although each was also involved in other social reform issues. Eastman (1881-1928) was a labor reform advocate and a pacifist. Catt (1859-1947) was an educator who became one of the first female school superintendents in the country. Terrell (1863-1954) was present at the organizational meeting for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and worked tirelessly to abolish segregation in public places.

Answer: Eleanor Roosevelt

After her husband's death in 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed to the United States delegation of the United Nations General Assembly. There, she continued to advocate the cause that meant so much to her-human rights. As mentioned in the excerpt, this speech was presented in Paris, France; the date: September 28, 1948, just a few months before the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1948.

In this speech, Roosevelt refers to the declaration as "the international Magna Carta of all mankind." As the chair of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations at the time, Mrs. Roosevelt considered the declaration the high-point of her career. Buck (1892-1973), Flynn (1890-1964), and Hellman (1905-1984) were all accomplished speakers and human rights supporters.

Much of Buck's energy went toward facilitating adoptions for international and interracial children. Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and worked tirelessly to improve the working and living conditions of industrial laborers.

Hellman was forced to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952 and asked to name associates with possible communist connections. She refused. She was subsequently blacklisted by Hollywood studios.

Answer: Margaret Chase Smith

Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995), a Republican from Maine, was the first woman to serve in both houses of the U.S. Congress. In her speech, "Declaration of Conscience," presented to the U.S. Senate on June 1, 1950, Smith became one of the first senators to condemn the tactics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Her courage earned McCarthy's fury, who later took steps to unseat Smith from the Senate. His efforts failed. Historians maintain that Smith's speech marked the "beginning of the end" for McCarthy (wikipedia.org). Regarding the other women: At the age of 87, Felton (a Democrat from Georgia) became the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, although she did so for only 24 hours.

She did, however, give a speech to the Senate on her one day in office, in which she astutely predicted: "When the women of the country come in and sit with you, though there may be but very few in the next few years, I pledge you that you will get ability, you will get integrity of purpose, you will get exalted patriotism, and you will get unstinted usefulness" (www.senate.gov).

In 1932, Caraway (a Democrat from Arkansas) became the first woman elected to the Senate. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Answer: Shirley Chisholm

Representative Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005; Democrat from New York) presented her argument "For the Equal Rights Amendment" on August 10, 1970 to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1971, Chisholm, Abzug, and Steinem founded the National Women's Political Caucus to encourage more women to become involved in politics.

Answer: Barbara Jordan

Three of these women delivered keynote addresses at major political conventions: Armstrong at the Republican National Convention in 1972; Jordan at the Democratic National Convention in 1976 and 1992, and Richards at the Democratic National Convention in 1988.

Interestingly, all three women were from Texas. Many regard Jordan's 1976 speech as the finest keynote speech in recent history (wikipedia.org). Indeed, Jordan (1936-1996) was a gifted and powerful public speaker. As a member of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, she gained national fame in 1974 with a highly-regarded speech recommending the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.

Answer: Mary Fisher

In 1992, both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions featured speakers who addressed the issue of HIV/AIDS. At the Democratic convention, Elizabeth Glaser (1947-1994) spoke to a convention full of participants wearing red ribbons on their lapel (symbolizing support for persons with AIDS).

In contrast, Fisher said that when she looked out at the Republican convention participants, she saw only two people wearing red ribbons: her good friends, Gerald and Betty Ford (Source: V.L. DeFrancisco & M. D. Jensen, eds., Women's Voices in Our Time, p. 262).

As of July 2006, Fisher remains dedicated to the cause of AIDS awareness, serving as a special representative to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. In 1991, Taylor (1932- ) started a foundation dedicated to fundraising for AIDS victims world-wide.

In 1997, Steenburgen (1953- ) became national spokesperson for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Answer: Barbara Bush

This passage is one of the most famous sections of Barbara Bush's commencement speech entitled "Choices & Change," delivered June 1, 1990 at Wellesley College, a prestigious college for women. The "Hoop Race" mentioned in the passage is a Wellesley tradition said to determine (historically) which graduate will marry first.

More recently, the winner of the race is supposed to be the first to become a corporate chief executive officer. The selection of Mrs. Bush as commencement speaker was controversial; student leaders at Wellesley wanted Alice Walker (author of "The Color Purple") as their speaker, a fact Mrs. Bush acknowledged in her speech.

However, even the most skeptical audience members applauded the line, "I wish him well."

Answer: Hillary Clinton

While first lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton (1947- ) spoke at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Plenary Session (September 5, 1995) in Beijing, China. Between 35,000-50,000 attended the conference, making it the largest gathering of women in history (www.nrec.org). Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, Mrs. Clinton continues to be an advocate for women's rights, children's rights, and universal health care.

In the past, she has worked closely with Marian Wright Edelman (1939- ), a children's advocate who founded The Children's Defense Fund in 1973. Linda Chavez-Thompson (1944- ) is a labor union activist and the first person of color to serve as executive vice-president of the AFL-CIO (womenshistory.about.com).

In January 2005, Condoleezza Rice (1954- ) became the United States Secretary of State. All of these women are accomplished public speakers and have used their oratorical skills as a means of furthering their causes.