Fearless Portraits

“I smiled in the face of bigotry.”   Shaymaa Ismaa'eel Muslim who stood up to Islamophobia with joy   The Art: Ink drawing of Shaymaa Ismaa'eel flashing a bright smile and peace sign while wearing an orange hijab. She's drawn on a map of Washington, DC, where she encountered the anti-Muslim protestors that inspired her smile.    The Story: It was a warm spring day in Washington, DC and Shaymaa Ismaa'eel was attending a large Islamic conference when she noticed a loud group of protestors outside brandishing Islamaphobic signs and hurling abuses on the attendees. Their presence was upsetting the attendees, but most tried to hide their feelings and not give the protestors attention.  Ismaa'eel's friend said to her, “It's Sunday, It's Easter. Don't they have something better to do?” to which Ismaa'eel rejoined, “Clearly, they need something from us,” and she decided to respond to them in a non-confrontational way: she asked her friend to take a photo for her.  In the photo, Ismaa'eel is wearing a hijab and squatting on the curb with a huge smile across her face while flashing a peace sign. The angry protestors and their rude signs and insults served as the backdrop. She shared the photo on Twitter a couple days later, writing “On April 21st I smiled in the face of bigotry and walked away feeling the greatest form of accomplishment” and on Instagram, with a quote from the Prophet Muhammad saying, “Kindness is a mark of faith. Those who are not kind have no faith.” Her posts quickly went viral, racking up 100,000s of mostly positive interactions online.  “I wanted them to see my joy and to combat their hatred with kindness.” she said of the photo. “There's a saying from our Prophet saying, ‘Smile is charity,' and that's just me personally anyway, always smiling. I wanted to show them that we are going to remain kind and unapologetic and continue to spread love in the face of bigotry.” A behavioral therapist with children on the autism spectrum near DC, Ismaa'eel continues, “I'm all about being unapologetic about who you are—don't let anyone dim your light.”   Music: This episode contains music from Geovane Bruno, SoulProdMusic, and ItsWatR.   Sources: Anadolu Agency. (2019, April 24). Muslim woman's pic at anti-Muslim protest goes viral. Daily Sabah. https://www.dailysabah.com/islamophobia/2019/04/24/muslim-womans-pic-at-anti-muslim-protest-goes-viral  Arlington, VA Weather History | Weather Underground. (n.d.). https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/va/arlington/KDCA/date/2019-4-19  BBC News. (2019, April 25). Muslim woman's picture with anti-Islam protesters goes viral. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-48048312  Blavity TV. (2019, May 10). Shamyaa Talks About The One Photo That Changed Her Life | Life After Going Viral. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEj6Kr6WJCI  Diavolo, L. (2019, April 24). Meet Shaymaa Ismaa'eel, the Muslim Girl Who Posed for Pics in front of Islamophobic Protestors. Teen Vogue. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/meet-shaymaa-ismaaeel-muslim-girl-posed-islamophobic-protestors  Mezzofiore, G. (2019, April 24). This photo went viral when a woman ‘smiled in the face of bigotry.' CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/24/us/woman-smiling-photo-islamophobic-trnd-scli-intl  Muslim Woman Poses with Smile in Front of Islamophobic Protesters: “I Wanted Them to See My Joy.” (2019, April 24). Peoplemag. https://people.com/human-interest/muslim-woman-poses-in-front-of-islamophobic-protesters/  Paul, K. (2019, April 24). “Love in the face of bigotry”: woman takes smiling stand against Islamophobic protesters. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/23/love-in-the-face-of-bigotry-woman-takes-smiling-stand-against-islamophobic-protesters  Riley, R. (n.d.). Life After Going Viral: Shaymaa Ismaa'eel Shares How She Stood Up To Islamophobia In The Slickest Way Possible - Blavity. Blavity News & Politics. https://www.blavity.com/life-after-going-viral-shaymaa-ismaaeel-shares-how-she-stood-up-to-islamophobia-in-the-slickest-way-possible?category1=culture  @shaymaadarling. (2019, April 23). Twitter. https://twitter.com/ShaymaaDarling/status/1120624558657163264 

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”   Anne Frank Author    The Art: Ink drawing on a map of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The rooms where Anne Frank and her family and the others spent 25 months hiding from the Nazis are now a museum and it is located to the left of her eyes.    The Story: Born in 1929 in Germany, Anne Frank and her family moved to the Netherlands when she was four years old to get away from the increasing anti-Semitic persecution under the Nazis. It was not far enough: on May 10, 1940, Hitler's armies invaded the Netherlands and Belgium on their way to France, bringing their hatred with them.  So, on Monday morning, July 6, 1942, 13-year-old Anne Frank, her parents, and sister secretly moved out of their Amsterdam apartment and into a set of hidden rooms in the annex of her father's company's offices. Four other Jews later joined them in this space and a bookcase was placed in front of the door to hide it. With the aid of a few trusted colleagues, the eight of them stayed hidden from the Nazis for 25 months. Eventually, they were betrayed and on August 4, 1944, the Nazis raided the secret annex. Anne and her companions were all shipped off to concentration camps. The family's hiding place was cramped and uncomfortable and the secret residents had to stay very quiet to avoid detection. With little else to do in their attic rooms, Frank passed the time writing in a diary she had received as a birthday gift shortly before they went into hiding. Written as a series of letters to Kitty, an imaginary friend she confided to, Anne documented the events in hiding as well as her thoughts and feelings. It was a therapeutic practice for her, and in one letter to Kitty, Anne wrote, “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” The diary was more than just a creative outlet for the young Anne. it was a place to let her mind run free—in sharp contrast to her physical realities in hiding.  She would reflect on the beauty of the world, noting to kitty, that “I don't think about all the misery, but about the beauty that still remains. Think of all the beauty still around you and be happy.” And, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Not one to be held back by her youth, Anne also wrote, “Although I'm only fourteen, I know quite well what I want, I know who is right and who is wrong. I have my opinions, my own ideas and principles, and although it may sound pretty mad from an adolescent, I feel more of a person than a child, I feel quite independent of anyone.”   Background: Born: June 12, 1929, Frankfurt, Germany Died: February 1945, Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany   What began as a way to pass the time became a dream of a published book. All told, Frank wrote around 50,000 words longhand in her diary. She didn't finish the manuscript before her murder. The last letter to Kitty was dated three days before her arrest. After the Allies liberated Auschwitz, Anne's father, Otto, returned to Holland to find he was the sole survivor from the eight who had hidden together. He was gifted with Anne's writings by one of the people who had helped support the family in hiding and had found the papers after the raid.  Otto found Anne's account deeply moving and decided to fulfill his daughter's ambition by publishing the diary as a book in 1947. He hoped it would educate readers on the dangers of prejudice and discrimination towards others.  For 25 months, Anne preached love, courage, and hope in the face of evil hatred and oppression. In the decades since, the book has proven her words true that, “In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.” She's influenced generations of readers, including South African leader Nelson Mandela, who cited Anne as an inspiration during apartheid imprisonment. Today, her diary has been translated into more than 70 languages and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. The diary's enduring impact is summed up in these words Anne wrote after living in hiding for more than two years: “It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”  The Nazi's arrested Anne and her family three weeks later.   Music:   Sources: Anne Frank. (n.d.). Jewish Women's Archive. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/frank-anne  Blakemore, E. (2022, January 27). Who was Anne Frank? Why her legacy is still fought over today. History. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/who-was-anne-frank  Chandler, G. (2019, November 27). Anne Frank facts. National Geographic Kids. https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/history/general-history/anne-frank-facts/  Digital, P. (2016, July 12). Watch: Nelson Mandela on how Anne Frank's diary inspired him. Brand South Africa. https://brandsouthafrica.com/61222/watch-nelson-mandela-on-how-anne-frank-s-diary-inspired-him/  History.com Editors. (2020, July 1). Anne Frank. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/anne-frank-1  Home. (2022, September 27). Anne Frank Website. https://www.annefrank.org/nl/  Special to People's World. (2015, March 2). Today in women's history: Death of Anne Frank, Holocaust martyr. People's World. https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/today-in-women-s-history-death-of-anne-frank-holocaust-martyr/  the Web Editors. (2016, June 10). 8 Anne Frank Quotes to Remember a Young Woman Who Wrestled With. Sojourners. https://sojo.net/articles/8-anne-frank-quotes-remember-young-woman-who-wrestled-suffering  @UNWomen. (2021, January 27). UN Women. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CKihW0KAmBk/?igshid=19p2fkn2v49v3  Wikipedia contributors. (2022, December 26). Anne Frank. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank  Wood, S. (2020, December 19). Short Summary of Anne Frank (1929-1945). HistoryColored. https://historycolored.com/articles/4557/anne-frank-1929-1945/   

“I contemplated how sorrow, frustration, and anger wove together with courage, resiliency, and hope, and how the art might speak to this gravity.”   Michaela Goade First Native American illustrator to win the Caldecott Medal   The Artwork: Ink drawing of Michaela Goade on a map of southeastern Alaska. She is holding an open copy of We Are Water Protectors. Sitka, the ancestral home of her people and where she currently lives, is on the map, directly in her line of sight between her eyes and the open book.   The Story: It was a Sunday afternoon in 2021 and Michaela Goade was joining a video call with her editor at her publisher, when she saw the Zoom screen filled with many more faces than she was expecting. They were the members of the Caldecott committee and they were sharing the exciting news that Michaela had won the Caldecott Medal that year for her artwork in the book We Are Water Protectors.  The Randolph Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the illustrator of the most distinguished American picture book for children. She is the first Native American to win the prestigious award.  The author, Carole Lindstrom, wrote We are Water Protectors in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota:  In early 2016, local Native Americans began protesting construction of the oil pipeline, viewing the pipeline as a significant threat to Standing Rock's water sources, as well as a danger to important cultural sites. Beginning with a few hundred, the water protectors' ranks swelled to over 10,000 and included members of tribal nations from across the United States, as well as people from all over the world, including Tibet and Guatemala. The Trump administration eventually bulldozed over the water protectors' wishes and completed the pipeline. Oil began flowing through the pipeline in May, with a capacity to transport 750,000 barrels a day.  An enrolled member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Goade grew up in Juneau on the traditional lands of her people surrounded by what she describes as, “A labyrinth of over one thousand islands, endless waterways, and wild, rugged coastlines…with a kaleidoscope of glaciers and fjords, rivers and waterfalls, lakes.” Living among the water and as a Tlingit (meaning People of the Tides) the water protectors' cause touched Goade. She leapt at the opportunity to illustrate Carole's book.  “Water is a way of life here [in Alaska], and it is our life here in so many different ways. So that core theme really resonated. And I remember, like Carole, feeling helpless during the Stand at Standing Rock,” said Michaela.   Goade painted her illustrations for We Are Water Protectors over several months in 2018. Painting her vibrant watercolors in a tiny studio next to the sea, Goade, hoped her art would inspire a new generation of water protectors: “I contemplated how sorrow, frustration, and anger wove together with courage, resiliency, and hope, and how the art might speak to this gravity. In this book, it was especially crucial that all children, Native and non-Native alike, came away from the experience feeling autonomous and empowered,” she said in her Caldecott acceptance speech.  As for the Dakota Access Pipeline that inspired the book, litigation is ongoing on both sides. The pipeline has leaked at least 5 times as of 2021.   Background: Trained in graphic design and working as an art director at a marketing agency, Goade got her start illustrating children's books with 2017's Shanyaak'utlaax: Salmon Boy, a story about respecting the natural world.  “Picture books spoke my language like nothing before had. They became a way to reconnect with my culture, find my artistic voice and give back to the Native community in a unique way,” she says of the career change. “Children's books are reflections of our society. They often communicate who is visible and important in today's world. Therefore, representation that reflects the very diverse experiences of Native Americans is much needed.” Since Salmon Boy, Goade has illustrated several award-winning books, including Berry Song in 2022, her first release as an author.    Music: Theme music comes from Geovane Bruno. Other music in this episode comes from water protectors inspired by the Standing Rock protests, including Taboo, Aliza Hava, and Dee Snider.    Sources: ABC News. (2022, July 19). Caldecott Medal winner creates celebration of land she knows well in new book l ABCNL. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp3UdtIq6w0  AP. (2021, January 26). Illustrator Michaela Goade Becomes First Native American To Win Caldecott Medal. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michaela-goade-caldecott-meda_n_60100cdbc5b634dc37384d3d  Danielson, J. (n.d.). A Conversation with Michaela Goade. The Horn Book. https://www.hbook.com/story/a-conversation-with-michaela-goade  Day, C. (2019, September 1). q&a with michaela goade! Christine Day. https://www.bychristineday.com/blog/2019/9/1/qampa-with-michaela-goade  Elbein, S. (2021, May 4). These Are the Defiant “Water Protectors” of Standing Rock. Culture. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/tribes-standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-advancement  Goade, M. (n.d.-a). 2021 Caldecott Medal Acceptance by Michaela Goade. The Horn Book. https://www.hbook.com/story/2021-caldecott-medal-acceptance-by-michaela-goade  Goade, M. (n.d.-b). About the artist. MichaelaGoade.com. https://www.michaelagoade.com/about  McKinstry, E. (2021, February 17). Finding activism through art: A Q&A with Tlingit illustrator Michaela Goade. KTOO. https://www.ktoo.org/2021/02/17/finding-activism-through-art-a-qa-with-tlingit-illustrator-michaela-goade/  Michaela Goade. (2022, November 8). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaela_Goade  Michaela Goade: Taken by Surprise on Zoom. (n.d.). PublishersWeekly.com. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/85409-michaela-goade-taken-by-surprise-on-zoom.html  Miller, C. (2018a, February 14). Michaela Goade-illustrated book wins ‘best picture book of the year.' Juneau Empire. https://www.juneauempire.com/news/michaela-goade-illustrated-book-wins-best-picture-book-of-the-year/  Miller, C. (2018b, February 14). Michaela Goade-illustrated book wins ‘best picture book of the year.' Juneau Empire. https://www.juneauempire.com/news/michaela-goade-illustrated-book-wins-best-picture-book-of-the-year/  Native Voices: Author & Illustrator Interview: Carole Lindstrom & Michaela Goade. (2020, May 19). Cynthia Leitich Smith. https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/2020/05/native-voices-author-illustrator-interview-carole-lindstrom-michaela-goade/  Shah, S. (2021, October 13). This Native American Illustrator Is Bringing Indigenous Stories to Life—and Opening the Door for Others. Time. https://time.com/6103213/michaela-goade-next-generation-leaders/  Staff, K. (2021, February 1). Sitka illustrator Michaela Goade wins Caldecott Medal for “We are Water Protectors.” KCAW. https://www.kcaw.org/2021/01/28/sitka-illustrator-michaela-goade-wins-caldecott-medal-for-we-are-water-protectors/  TIME. (2021, October 18). Michaela Goade | Next Generation Leaders. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqaFKvzjMuY  Wikipedia contributors. (2022, November 1). Dakota Access Pipeline. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Access_Pipeline   

Coming June 27, Fearless Portraits returns for a second season telling stories of women who worked to change the world.    

I've been working hard collecting new stories and drawing portraits of amazing women that will be coming to your podcast feed for Season 2 in the new year. But for now, here is an interview I did this week with John and Rachel, hosts of the YaJagoff! show on Pittsburgh's Q92.9 FM about the Fearless Portraits art project.    

“Redemption! I was grabbing the air, I got so excited I was afraid I might die or something.”   Dr. Katalin Karikó Biochemist who pioneered mRNA, the technology behind the successful COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.    The Artwork: Ink drawing on a map of Philadelphia, PA. The University of Pennsylvania where she did much of her research is located near her chin.    The Story: Doubted and then demoted by academic leaders, denied grants, and derided by her peers, Katalin Kariko's journey from disregarded scholar to world savior was a four-decade struggle. Introduced to the concept of messenger RNA (mRNA) during her undergraduate, she quickly saw the possibilities and pursued a PHD in the field, beginning in 1978. Ultimately, her research served as the basis of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines.  In 1985, Karikó left her native Hungary with her husband, two-year-old daughter, and $1,200 sewn into teddy bear (proceeds from selling the family car on the black market). She continued her research at Temple University before moving to the University of Pennsylvania in 1989. All the while, rejected grant applications piled up on Karikó's desk. She said her mRNA research was “too novel” to get funded.   By 1995, her bosses at the university were growing impatient with the lack of funding and offered a humiliating choice: leave or be demoted to adjunct from her prestigious tenure-track position. With the demotion came a substantial pay cut. The same week, she was diagnosed with cancer.  “Usually, at that point, people just say ‘goodbye' and leave because it's so horrible,” she says. But Karikó  wasn't like usual people. Undeterred by the setbacks, she doggedly continued in her research. One year, she recalled realizing in May that she had worked every day that year, including New Year's Day, even sleeping in the office sometimes.  A few years later, a chance meeting with Drew Weissman at a photocopier changed the course of her career. A respected immunologist, Weissman was intrigued with Karikó's research. More important, he had the funding to finance her experiments in his lab. This partnership “gave me optimism and kept me going,” says Karikó. “My salary was lower than the tech who worked next to me, but Drew was supportive and that's what I concentrated on.” In 2005, Karikó finally had a breakthrough. On paper, mRNA was simple, in reality injecting synthetic mRNA often led to disastrous immune responses from subjects. Karikó  and Weissman figured out how to sneak mRNA into cells without triggering the alarm bells. This paved the way for vaccines and other future therapies with mRNA.  Despite this success, the University of Pennsylvania told Karikó in 2013 she was “not of faculty quality.” She left to become Senior Vice President at BioNTech, a nascent German biotech firm. “When I told them I was leaving, they laughed at me and said, ‘BioNTech doesn't even have a website.'”  Her career's research has since served as the basis of the highly effective COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.  She screamed, “Redemption!” upon hearing the news the vaccine was effective. “I was grabbing the air, I got so excited I was afraid I might die or something. I never doubted it would work.” She celebrated by eating a bag of chocolate-covered peanuts. “   Background on mRNA: The focus of Karikó's career was mRNA, a single-stranded messenger molecule that delivers instructions from the DNA in the cell's nucleus to the protein-making centers called ribosomes. Without mRNA, DNA would be useless, leading some to call mRNA the “software of life.”  MRNA offers a way for the body to heal itself and its promise will likely be realized in ways far beyond the current COVID-19 vaccine application. With the COVID-19 vaccine, the mRNA tells cells to create harmless spike proteins to prepare the immune system to fight against coronavirus' spikes. Other possibilities include other vaccines, treating cancer, and diseases like cystic fibrosis.   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno, Coma Media, Hot_Music, Oleksandr Savochka, and 24414830.    Sources: BioNTech scientist Katalin Karikó risked her career to develop mRNA vaccines. Americans will start getting her coronavirus shot on Monday. (2020, December 12). Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/mrna-vaccine-pfizer-moderna-coronavirus-2020-12?international=true&r=US&IR=T  Corbley, A. (2021, February 1). She was Demoted, Doubted and Rejected But Now Her Work is the Basis of the Covid-19 Vaccine. Good News Network. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/katalin-kariko-hungarian-chemist-developed-covid-19-mrna-vaccine/  Cox, D. (2020, December 2). How mRNA went from a scientific backwater to a pandemic crusher. WIRED UK. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mrna-coronavirus-vaccine-pfizer-biontech  Garde, D., & Globe, J. S. —. B. (2021, January 7). The story of mRNA: How a once-dismissed idea became a leading technology in the Covid vaccine race. STAT. https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/10/the-story-of-mrna-how-a-once-dismissed-idea-became-a-leading-technology-in-the-covid-vaccine-race/  Kolata, G. (2021, September 24). Kati Kariko Helped Shield the World From the Coronavirus. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/health/coronavirus-mrna-kariko.html  Kollewe, J. (2020, November 23). Covid vaccine technology pioneer: “I never doubted it would work.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/nov/21/covid-vaccine-technology-pioneer-i-never-doubted-it-would-work  Newey, S., & Nuki, P. (2020, December 2). “Redemption”: How a scientist's unwavering belief in mRNA gave the world a Covid-19 vaccine. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/redemption-one-scientists-unwavering-belief-mrna-gave-world/ Wikipedia contributors. (2022, July 22). Katalin Karikó. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katalin_Karik%C3%B3

“I interested Miss Alice Ball… in the chemical problem of obtaining… the active agents in the oil of chaulmoogra. After a great deal of experimental work, Miss Ball solved the problem.”   Dr. Harry Hollmann  Writing about chemist Alice Ball and her groundbreaking cure for leprosy in a scientific journal   The Artwork: Ball's portrait in the Fearless Portraits project consists of an Ink drawing on a map of Honolulu, HI. The University of Hawaii where she worked is visible on the bridge of her nose. Wearing a graduation cap and gown, the portrait is based on the only known photograph of Ball.  The Story: An ancient disease, leprosy (also known as Hansen's Disease) has afflicted humans since biblical times. Viewed as a shameful curse, for most of history, leprosy was “treated” by throwing victims out of their homes and isolating them in leper colonies where they lived in poverty and pain as their disease progressed and complications eventually killed them. That is, until 1916, when a 23-year-old Alice Ball developed the first cure for the skin disease.  Born in 1892 in Seattle, Washington, Ball excelled in science and she earned bachelors' degrees in chemistry and pharmacy at the University of Washington and went to what is now the University of Hawaii to pursue a master's degree in chemistry. After graduating as the first black woman to earn a master's degree at the school, she was invited to teach chemistry, becoming the first woman to teach there.  While teaching college chemistry, she was approached by Harry Hollman, a doctor treating leprosy patients. At his suggestion, she began researching the problem of using chaulmoogra oil as a treatment / for leprosy. Chaulmoogra oil had been used to treat leprosy for hundreds of years, but it was difficult to administer to patients and not very effective. Ball was able to isolate the relevant compounds in the oil and developed a technique for injecting the oil. The results were very successful.  Sadly, she died a few months later before her findings could be published.  A male colleague stole her research and named the discovery after himself. He received accolades from around the world for his stolen leprosy cure and later parlayed his success into the presidency of the university.   Hollman attempted to set the record straight six years later in 1922, writing in a scientific journal, “I interested Miss Alice Ball, M.S., an instructress in chemistry at the College of Hawaii in the chemical problem of obtaining for me the active agents in the oil of chaulmoogra. After a great amount of experimental work, Miss Ball solved the problem for me by making the ethyl esters of the fatty acids found in chaulmoogra oil, employing the technic herewith described,” which he referred to as “Ball's Method.”    The Ball Method was far more efficacious than the previous topical and oral chaulmoogra oil therapies and thousands of leprosy patients around the world were successfully treated with it. The Ball Method remained the standard for leprosy treatment until the 1940s, when new classes of drugs were developed. Ball became ill during her research and returned to Seattle for treatment. She died at the age of 24 on December 31, 1916. The cause of death is unknown, although it may have been due to chlorine gas exposure during a lab accident. Whatever the case, she wasn't around to defend her work and despite Hollman's 1922 article, Ball remained in obscurity for decades.  It was not until 2000, that the University of Hawaii recognized Ball with a plaque on campus, at the urging of scholars Dr. Kathryn Takara and Stan Ali. Around the corner from the plaque is the stately hall named for Ball's research thief. Also in 2000, the Governor of Hawaii named February 29 “Alice Ball Day.” Other honors and accolades have since been bestowed on Ball.   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno, Aleksandr Karabanov, and DayFox.   Sources: Ball, Alice Augusta. (n.d.). ScholarSpace | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/1837#:%7E:text=On%20February%2029%2C%202000%2C%20the,lone%20chaulmoogra%20tree%20on%20campus.  Bennett BH, Parker DL, Robson M. Leprosy: steps along the journey of eradication. Public Health Rep. 2008 Mar-Apr;123(2):198-205. doi: 10.1177/003335490812300212.  Brewster, C. D. (2021, May 4). How the Woman Who Found a Leprosy Treatment Was Almost Lost to History. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/alice-ball-leprosy-hansens-disease-hawaii-womens-history-science  Hollman, H. T. (1922). The Fatty Acids of Chaulmoogra Oil in the Treatment of Leprosy and Other Diseases. Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology, 5(1), 94–101. https://doi.org/10.1001/archderm.1922.02350260097010  Knutsen, E. (2018, August 25). This phenomenal young woman found a cure for leprosy, but the man she worked with got the credit. Timeline. https://medium.com/s/the-matilda-effect/alice-ball-matilda-effect-6b5fb64c74d6  Parascandola J. Chaulmoogra oil and the treatment of leprosy. Pharm Hist. 2003;45(2):47-57. Retrieved from https://lhncbc.nlm.nih.gov/LHC-publications/PDF/pub2003048.pdf Wikipedia contributors. (2022, July 30). Alice Ball. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Ball

“It's definitely an old boys' club, and so obviously for us coming in as opposite, we definitely were looked at as not just not belonging, but really incapable of being successful.”   Robin McBride Co-founded McBride Sisters Wine Company with Andréa McBride, the largest Black-owned wine company in the US   The Artwork: The McBride's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an ink drawing of the two of them on a map of California. Both wearing suits, and clasping wine glasses in their hands, Robin is on the left and Andréa is on the right. Monterey, CA, where Andréa grew up and where some of their wine is from, is located on the right side of Robin.    The Story: The journey to building one of the largest Black-owned wine companies in the world began in very unlikely circumstances. Andrea McBride was a teenager living in foster care in New Zealand when she got a phone call from her estranged biological father in Alabama. He was calling to deliver the double shot of surprise news that he was dying of cancer and before he died, he wanted to connect her with his other daughter—Robin—whose existence Andrea had never known of. He died before they could find Robin, but Andrea did get to meet her father's family and they sent letters to every Robin McBride in the phone book until they finally found the right Robin. She was living across the country in Monterey, CA.  When they finally got to speak to each other for the first time in 1999, one of their ice breaker questions was “what was it like where you grew up?” and they discovered they both grew up in winemaking areas and they were passionate about wine. In an effort to bond, they went to wine tastings and vineyard tours. After a few glasses of wine, they started to dream about having their own wine company together.  That dream became a reality in 2005, when they scraped together the $1,800 to buy an importer's license and began selling New Zealand sauvignon blanc to high-end restaurants. Their operation continued to grow and in 2016, they took it a leap further and formed the McBride Sister's Wine Company. In 2020, the company cleared $5.5m in sales.  Selling wines from each of their homelands, New Zealand and California, McBride Sisters Collection wines are available across the US.   The journey from first importing wine to creating a multi-million dollar wine business was not an easy one. They built their company without any investors or advisors in the beginning and faced challenges in a sector that is “notorious for its gatekeeping,” says Robin.  “It's definitely an old boys' club,” says Robin of the wine industry. “A large part of the industry is run by a very small group of older white wealthy men. There are a lot of dynasties in wine and family lineages that still run things. And so obviously for us coming in as the opposite—really of everything that, to that point, had been successful in the wine world, which was an older white man—we definitely were looked at as not just not belonging, but really incapable of being successful.” The traditional way to sell wine was to work with wholesalers, distributors, and retailers, working each step like a ladder until the bottles eventually made it to store shelves. The McBrides found ways to bypass these gatekeepers by creating demand directly with customers.  “A lot of our experiences of us being curious about wine and how we were treated when we were in those tasting rooms and stuff is really a lot of the foundation of what our company is built on today, which is making wine accessible for everybody and helping people on their journey and making it fun,” says Andréa. This customer-centric philosophy around wine helped propel their business into the largest Black-owned wine company in the US.   Background: Beyond their own wine business, the McBrides are passionate about elevating women and people of color by raising a more diverse generation of winemakers and consumers.  “Our purpose and our mission,” says Andréa, “Is to change the face of wine for our community and for our industry. When we talk about our community, who we serve, we find that who is attracted to our brands are women and people of color. This is a really big group of people that the wine industry doesn't do that great a job in welcoming. For a long time, we have been one of the only Black-owned brands that has national distribution that is available at national grocery stores. We want to leave the wine industry better than when we started. We don't think that we should be the only ones here.” In 2019, they launched the SHE CAN line of canned wines, which underwrites the SHE CAN Fund. A concerted effort to help close the gender and race gap in the wine world, the fund has contributed more than $3 million in scholarships, in-kind skills development, technical training, and ad credits to women vintners.    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and MusicTown.   Sources: Brooks, S. (2021, August 30). 20 Minutes With: The McBride Sisters, Founders of the Largest Black-Owned Wine Brand in the U.S. Barron's. https://www.barrons.com/articles/20-minutes-with-the-mcbride-sisters-founders-of-the-largest-black-owned-wine-brand-in-the-u-s-01630349788  How I Built This. (2020a, October 19). McBride Sisters Wine (Part 1 of 2): Robin McBride and Andréa McBride John. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2020/10/15/924227706/mcbride-sisters-wine-part-1-of-2-robin-mcbride-and-andr-a-mcbride-john  How I Built This. (2020b, October 23). McBride Sisters Wine (Part 2 of 2): Robin McBride and Andréa McBride John. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2020/10/23/927158151/mcbride-sisters-wine-part-2-of-2-robin-mcbride-and-andr-a-mcbride-john  Richardson, R. (2022, April 5). McBride Sisters Helm the Country's Largest Black-Owned Wine Brand. TODAY.Com. https://www.today.com/food/people/mcbride-sisters-largest-black-owned-wine-company-in-us-rcna22036  Worobiec, M. (2020, October 27). Wine's Dynamo Sister Team. Wine Spectator. https://www.winespectator.com/articles/wines-dynamo-sister-team

“It is never a waste to try something and fail.” Masako “Ma-chan” Wakamiya (若宮正子) Octogenarian app developer   The Artwork: Ma-chan's portrait in the Fearless Portraits project consists of an Ink drawing on a map of Kanagawa, the prefecture she lives in, just south of Tokyo. She's seated on the floor next to a traditional Japanese short-legged table with a laptop open on it.    The Story: Masako “Ma-chan” Wakamiya got her first computer when she retired from a career in a bank in 1997. She found a whole new world available to her through her computer and relished the connection and community the internet offered, saying, “at the age of 60, my world expanded—I got wings!”  Ma-chan's interest in technology continued from PCs to smartphones. As the resident tech expert in her circle, she spent a lot of time helping her friends and neighbors use their phones and she theorized older people have a hard time with smartphones and such because apps and games mostly catered to young people—either by using small print, requiring fast play, or using difficult swiping motions.  Sensing an opportunity, she thought a possible solution to help older people be more comfortable with their devices would be an app designed for them. So, at the age of 82, she set about creating an app for her peers. She settled on a game based on Japan's annual doll festival (called Hinamatsuri). “I wanted to make games that would allow us seniors to defeat even young people on the basis of our knowledge―games that are different from the competitive ones that require quick reflexes,” she says. “As we age, our eyesight gets worse, and we can't move our fingers the way we'd like to. This game is designed so that even people with these problems can enjoy it.” She reached out to the president of an app development company she had met through volunteer work previously and presented her idea. He countered with a suggestion that she create the app herself and he would teach her over Skype.  Never one to back down from a challenge, Ma-chan dove into app development, persevering through a difficult six months to build the app.  “It was especially very difficult to organize the whole structure of the app,” she says of the challenge of learning to code. Plus most of the resources she found online to learn from were in English, adding a further level of difficulty to the project.  “It is never a waste to try something and fail,” Ma-chan said of the fits and starts she experienced while learning to code. “You will not die or get injured even if things don't pan out well. It's best to enjoy your failures. If you fail, you fail. What's wrong with that?” The game, called Hinadan, was completed just in time for the doll festival in 2017.  In the app, players move dolls in a puzzle into their appropriate positions based on the dolls' roles (emperor, empress, and so on). The app has now been released in five languages.  Given her status as perhaps the oldest app developer in the world, news of the app went viral.  Apple CEO Tim Cook invited her to Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference where Ma-chan got to meet him and the two discussed the app together. “It was as if we were chatting in a programming class,” she said of the experience.   Background: Born in 1935 in Tokyo, the app is just the latest chapter in Ma-chan's self-proclaimed role of “IT evangelist” where she encourages seniors to use digital technology to enrich their lives. She spreads her message through the lecture circuit in Japan and abroad, including a TEDx Talk in Tokyo and an address before a UN conference in New York. She's also written several books, primarily around educating seniors with technology.  Another way she has taught tech skills is something she calls “Excel art.” Which is using Excel spreadsheets to create patterns. “Excel looks difficult for seniors. But I came up with an idea of drawing designs using its functions. Then, I got so excited as I was able to produce one new pattern after another,” she says.   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno, OB-LIX, FreeGroove, and Solbox.    Sources: AFP TV. (2017, August 7). Never too old to code: Meet Japan's 82-year-old app-maker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXnjNCX6Ai4  CNA Insider. (2018, February 25). 81 And Excelling | Super Octogenarians | CNA Insider. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7uN4-NiG0s  JapanGov. (2018). Game App Developer in Her 80s Opens ICT World for Fellow Seniors /. The Government of Japan - JapanGov -. https://www.japan.go.jp/tomodachi/2018/spring-summer2018/game_app_developer.html  Kambayashi, T. (2022, March 9). At 82, she coded an app. She just wanted a game she could win. The Christian Science Monitor. https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2022/0309/At-82-she-coded-an-app.-She-just-wanted-a-game-she-could-win  Kashima, Y., & Armitage, S. (2017, June 13). Meet The 82-Year-Old App Developer Who Says Life Gets Better With Age. BuzzFeed News. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/yuikashima/this-82-year-old-grandmother-is-an-apple-developer  Nikkei. (2019, November 23). Meet the 84-year-old Japanese app developer who inspired Tim Cook. Nikkei Asia. https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Meet-the-84-year-old-Japanese-app-developer-who-inspired-Tim-Cook2  Self Taught Japanese. (2017, June 6). 82 year old Japanese woman's “hinadan” mobile app: sometimes it takes new technology to uncover ancient traditions. https://selftaughtjapanese.com/2017/06/06/82-year-old-japanese-womans-hinadan-mobile-app-sometimes-it-takes-new-technology-to-uncover-ancient-traditions/  TED. (n.d.). TEDxTokyoSalon | TED. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/15791 Wakamiya, M. (n.d.). Masako Wakamiya. Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Masako-Wakamiya/e/B004LR7TIO%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share  Wakamiya, M. (2014, May 31). Now is the time to get your own wings | Masako Wakamiya | TEDxTokyo. TEDx Tokyo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUjXiYtOC7Y&t=644s  Wakamiya, M. (2017, February 23). ‎hinadan. App Store. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hinadan/id1199778491 

“I do not like that the front pockets of girls jeans are fake.”   Kamryn Gardner First grader who asked Old Navy to make jeans with pockets   The Artwork: Gardner's portrait in the Fearless Portraits project consists of an Ink drawing of her holding her new pocketed jeans on a map of northern Arkansas. Bentonville, where she lives is located just over her head and the left.   The Story: Seven-year-old Kamryn Garder of Bentonville, AR had a small problem: Her pants had no pockets. She desperately wanted pockets to put her hands in and stash items. Her brother's pants had pockets but on hers, the “pockets” were strictly ornamental.  After learning about persuasive writing in school, the first grader put the lesson into action. On the advice of her mother, she wrote a letter to retailer Old Navy. With neat penciled letters on large-ruled paper, she took the company to task for shortchanging girls out of their pockets    Dear Old Navy, I do not like that the front pockets of the girls jeans are fake. I want front pockets because I want to put my hands in them. I also would like to put things in them. Would you consider making girls jeans with front pockets that are not fake. Thank you for reading my request.  Sincerely, Kamyrn Gardner, age 7   Gardner's brother, Landon, 9, found her argument persuasive, saying, “I've never had this problem [of no pockets]. But I've heard my sister talk about not having pockets all the time.”  The logic worked on Old Navy also and the company responded with a note about her “great feedback for us as we develop new product,” and a package of four pairs of jeans in her size. With pockets of course.  Less successful was Gardner's efforts at writing persuasive letters to her parents to get her a camera.   Background on pockets in women's and girl's clothes Gardner isn't the first to rail against the lack of functional pockets in women's clothing. Women lost their pockets two centuries ago, when closer-fitting dress styles came in vogue in the 1790s. Before then, women's pockets were essentially bags hanging from a strap around the waist and tucked under a skirt. With fluffy skirts and petticoats, the pockets were invisible. When styles changed, pockets were left behind to avoid bulges. Meanwhile, men have always enjoyed pockets.  Beginning in the 20th century, pockets for women have repeatedly come back, only to leave again, depending who's winning the tug-of-war between practicality and fashion, (or if you prefer, empowerment and misogyny). as Christian Dior put it, “Men have pockets to keep things in, women for decoration.”  Gardner's complaint is about more than having a place for her hands. As writer Gail Cornwall noted in The Washington Post: “Not having pockets limits girls' ability to experience. Not only do pockets free a child's hands to investigate and accomplish, they also broadcast the need and right to do so to both wearer and viewer alike. Or, more accurately, it's the contrast of the presence and absence of pockets in different kids' clothing that sends a two-part message: Only men need functionality, and girls should learn to be women as early as possible.”   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno, Coma Media, and Music Unlimited.   Sources: Bentonville Schools [@ BentonvilleSchools]. (2021, April 1). Oh, the power of persuasion especially when you're adorable! Earlier this year, first graders at Evening Star Elementary practiced writing [Facebook post]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/BentonvilleSchools/posts/10157778570856366   Burman, B. (2002). Pocketing the Difference: Gender and Pockets in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Gender History, 14(3), 447–469. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.00277  Cornwall, G. (2020, January 15). Why girls need pockets. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/15/why-girls-need-pockets/  Free, C. (2021, April 9). First-grader wrote Old Navy asking for girls' jeans to have real pockets. The letter went viral. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/04/09/old-navy-girls-jeans-pockets/  Pelletiere, N. (2021, April 8). Old Navy responds to 1st grader's request for girls' jeans with real pockets. Good Morning America. https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/family/story/navy-responds-1st-graders-request-girls-jeans-real-76923645 Ushe, N. (2021, April 8). Old Navy Tells First-Grader They Plan to Develop Pockets in Girls' Jeans After She Writes Them a Letter. PEOPLE.Com. https://people.com/human-interest/old-navy-tells-first-grader-they-plan-develop-pockets-girls-jeans-after-letter/

“There is only one thing worse than coming from the lab to a sink full of dirty dishes and that is not going to the lab at all.”   Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu (吳健雄) Experimental physicist, known as the “First Lady of Physics”   The Artwork: Wu's portrait in the Fearless Portraits project consists of an Ink drawing on a map of Manhattan, New York City. Columbia University, where she worked, is located in the collar of her lab coat on the left side.   The Story: The laws of physics are immutable. Constants in an ever-changing universe. Since 1925, physicists had accepted the parity principle—which dictates that nature is symmetrical and two mirror-image systems will behave in identical fashion to each other—as scientific fact.  That is, until 30 years later, when Dr. Wu did the impossible and proved the Law of Conservation of Parity wrong.  A world-renowned physicist at Columbia University, Wu was approached by colleagues Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang in 1956 with the idea of testing a theory on the parity principle's limitations. Famously dedicated to her work, Wu canceled her planned trip to Europe and Asia to test the theory she herself gave a one-in-a-million chance of being correct.  Her experiment found electrons behaving asymmetrically, shattering what had been a fundamental concept in nuclear physics. Her findings shocked the scientific community and won the Nobel Prize in Physics the following year. In what was widely panned as one of the greatest mistakes by the Nobel committee, the award went to Wu's collaborators, Yang and Lee, while Wu herself was not honored for her monumental achievement until 1978 when she was given the inaugural Wolf Prize.   Background on Wu The Nobel snub was far from the first time Wu encountered sexism.  Born on May 31, 1912, in the village of Liuhe in Jiangsu province, China, near Shanghai. There was no school for girls in the village, so her father founded one. She excelled in her studies, going on to college and graduating at the top of her class with a degree in physics in 1934.  She came to the US to continue her studies at the University of Michigan, but was shocked at the sexism she encountered. Upon learning female students were not even allowed to use the front entrance at UMich, she enrolled at UC Berkeley where she earned her Ph.D. Shortly after, in 1942, she took a job at Princeton University, where she became the first woman hired as a faculty member of the physics department. Two years later, she joined Manhattan Project's laboratories at Columbia University. She stayed at Columbia until her retirement in 1981.  Wu traveled and lectured widely, encouraging young women to follow in her footsteps and build careers in STEM. A fierce critic of gender barriers and discrimination—particularly in science—she said, “I sincerely doubt that any open-minded person really believes in the notion that women have no intellectual capacity for science and technology.”   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Hot_Music.   Sources: Atomic Heritage Foundation. (n.d.). Chien-Shiung Wu. https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/chien-shiung-wu  A-Z Quotes. (n.d.). Chien-Shiung Wu Quote. https://www.azquotes.com/quote/763081  Jones, M. (2014, March 30). Chien-Shiung Wu: The First Lady of Physics. Futurism. https://futurism.com/chien-shiung-wu-the-first-lady-of-physics  Leah Melle, [@leahmelle]. (2021, April 21). Verified Notable women in science youve probably never heard about by @leahmelle

“Economics should be about caring for real people.” Janet Yellen First female Secretary of the Treasury First female Chair of the Federal Reserve Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors First person to hold all three roles   The Artwork: Yellen's portrait in the Fearless Portraits project consists of an Ink and colored pencil drawing on a map of San Francisco. She's wearing a purple blazer with her trademarked popped collar. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco she presided over from 2004 – 2010 is on the right side of the map, just over her shoulder.    The Story: Janet Yellen's philosophy on how economics should be about caring for real people had its roots in her childhood. Growing up in a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood, she watched a stream of factory workers and dock hands visit her father's medical practice, paying $2 cash to be seen, or not paying if they couldn't. “I came to understand the effect that unemployment could have on people in human terms,” she says.  This philosophy was solidified in college during a macroeconomics lecture: “I remember sitting in class and learning about how there were policy decisions that could have been taken during the Great Depression to alleviate all that human suffering—that was a real ‘aha' moment for me. I realized that public policy can, and should, address these problems.” Fast forward 50 years and Yellen—in her role as president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank—would be among the first to raise concerns about the impending subprime mortgage bubble. Later, as vice chair of the Fed and then chair of the Fed, she oversaw a controversial plan to buy trillions of dollars in assets to prevent the economy from further collapse. Called quantitative easing, the plan may well have been the difference between keeping a job or losing it for millions of workers in the US economy.  Yellen's human-centric economics mindset was a marked shift in thinking for the Federal Reserve and later to the Department of the Treasury. As she put it, the job of central bankers as she sees it, “isn't just about fighting inflation or monitoring the financial system. It's about trying to help ordinary households get back on their feet and about creating a labor market where people can feel secure and work and get ahead.”  In her long and distinguished career, Yellen served as one of President Clinton's top aides, chairing the Council of Economic Advisors. Then, she led the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and became the first female Chair of the Federal Reserve system in 2014. Five days into Joe Biden's presidency, Yellen was confirmed by the Senate as the first female Secretary of the Treasury. She is the first person in history to hold all three of the US's top economic positions.    Background on Yellen: Yellen's household is a true economics powerhouse. She's married to Nobel laureate and UC Berkeley professor George Akerlof and their son, Robert, is also an economics professor.  Aside from collaborating on raising their son together, (Yellen notes that if all hours on parenting and housework were added up, Akerlof did “more than 50%”) the economics super couple also co-wrote a famous paper together. Drawing on their experience hiring a babysitter for their son, the paper illuminates why lower wages don't always lead to higher employment.  “Firms are not always willing to cut wages, even if there are people lined up outside the gates to work. So, why don't they?” asks Yellen. Their conclusion was that some companies choose to pay higher wages to attract better talent and motivate their employees to do good work.  As Yellen notes, “When you hire a nanny, the question you ask yourself is, ‘what's best for my precious child?' And do you really want someone who feels that your motive in life is to minimize the amount you spend on your child?”   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Praz Khanal.   Sources:  Akerlof, G. A., & Yellen, J. L. (1988). Fairness and Unemployment. The American Economic Review, 78(2), 44–49. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1818095 Akerlof, G. A., & Yellen, J. L. (1990). The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 105(2), 255. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937787  Amadeo, K. (2021, March 4). Who Was the Only Female Federal Reserve Chair? The Balance. https://www.thebalance.com/janet-yellen-3305503  Appelbaum, B., & Couturier, K. (n.d.). Yellen's Path to the Pinnacle. Timeline - NYTimes.Com. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/yellen-timeline.html#/#time276_7992  Bell, S. (2018, January 24). The Tragedy of Janet Yellen. POLITICO Magazine. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/24/janet-yellen-fed-chair-donald-trump-216509/  Chozick, A. (2017, December 11). Janet Yellen Didn't Set Out to Be a Feminist Hero. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/09/business/janet-yellen-didnt-set-out-to-be-a-feminist-hero.html  Counts, L. (2021, January 12). Prof. Janet Yellen, trailblazing former Fed chair, is Biden's Treasury pick. Haas News | Berkeley Haas. https://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/research/janet-yellen-former-fed-chair-bidens-expected-treasury-pick/  Foroohar, R. (2014, January 20). Janet Yellen: The Sixteen Trillion Dollar Woman. TIME.Com. http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2162267,00.html  Gibbs, N. (2014, January 9). The Most Unprecedented Thing About Janet Yellen. Time. https://time.com/275/nancy-gibbs-janet-yellen/  Graveline, D. (2017, September 22). Famous Speech Friday: Janet Yellen on holding women back. Denise Graveline. https://denisegraveline.org/2017/09/famous-speech-friday-janet-yellen-on.html  Lane, S. (2020, November 30). Biden names Janet Yellen as his Treasury nominee. The Hill. https://thehill.com/policy/finance/526996-biden-picks-janet-yellen-for-treasury-secretary?rl=1  Mejia, Z. (2018, December 12). Janet Yellen survived the “horrifying” financial crisis thanks to this one simple habit. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/12/how-did-janet-yellen-survive-the-horrifying-financial-crisis-sleep-.html  The Economic Times. (2013, October 12). Janet Yellen moves out of her Nobel-laureate husband George Akerlof's shadow. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-editorial/janet-yellen-moves-out-of-her-nobel-laureate-husband-george-akerlofs-shadow/articleshow/23993099.cms?from=mdr  Wolverson, R. (2021, January 27). Janet Yellen's past mistakes will haunt her as treasury secretary. Quartz. https://qz.com/1962724/janet-yellens-greatest-mistakes-will-haunt-her-toughest-job-yet/ 

“If you are independent, you will never be afraid to be alone or to leave a job.”  Brenda Landau Businesswoman   The Art: Brenda's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an ink drawing of her, on a map of Guatemala. Her hometown of Salama, Baja Verapaz, is visible on her neck.   The Story:  The day after New Year's, 2021, Brenda Landau went out for a long run. It's just her. Feet pounding the pavement. The miles ticking by with buzzes on her running watch. It's the day after New Year's Day, 2021. Running a half marathon wasn't some kind of New Year's resolution. It was just what Brenda Landau did to relax. This was at least the fourth half marathon she'd run alone during the COVID-19 lockdowns since the previous March.  While her feet moved in a steady rhythm, she reflected on where she was in her life so far: happily married with two daughters, enjoying professional success as a finance executive and a head full of fun dreams for the future.  Born into a large family in the mountainous heart of Guatemala, she was the fifth of nine children. Her mother had a second-grade education and did not encourage education among her children. Not liking the future she saw for herself in her small hometown, she changed her story. “As a middle child, I was always independent and never afraid to try new things,” says Brenda. “From climbing trees as a child and jumping off to taking a job as a teen managing a magazine in my hometown and turning around its struggling sales.” She moved to the United States, learned English, put herself through college by working 60 hours a week and graduated with top academic honors. The first in her family to earn a college degree, she ultimately earned an MBA as well.  Professionally, she thrived as well, building a successful career in accounting and finance and enjoys mentoring other women. “I always say, ‘do something that makes you independent—in your thinking, in your finances, in every way. If you're independent, you'll never be afraid to be alone or to leave a job,'” she says.   In 2020, NJBIZ named her to their “Best 50 Women in Business” list.  When not running a company's finances or playing with her children, Brenda is passionate about fitness, and ran the New York City Marathon in 2017.  She lives in central New Jersey with the host of this show and their two children.   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno, and Brenda's brothers playing marimba in Salama.   Sources: Brenda Landau, interviews by author, New Jersey, February 20 & December 11, 2021. NJ BIZ Staff, N. (2020, September 24). Introducing: The 2020 NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business. NJBIZ. https://njbiz.com/introducing-2020-njbiz-best-women-business-awards/   

“Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.” Maggie Kuhn Elder rights activist & founder of the Gray Panthers   The Artwork: Maggie Kuhn's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an ink drawing of her Ink drawing on a map of Philadelphia, PA, where she lived and worked.   The Story: In 1970, Maggie Kuhn was working a job she loved at the Presbyterian Church when she was forced to retire due to the mandatory retirement age of 65. Despite 20 years of work for the church, her supervisors refused to let her stay on.  “I felt dazed. I was hurt and then, as time passed, outraged. Something clicked in my mind and I saw that my problem was not mine alone. Instead of sinking into despair, I did what came most naturally to me: I telephoned some friends and called a meeting,” she later wrote in her autobiography, No Stone Unturned, The Life and Times of Maggie Kuhn. Each of the meeting attendees was also being forced into retirement. “We discovered we had new freedom as a result of retiring,” wrote Kuhn. “We had no responsibility to a corporation or organization. We could take risks, speak out. We said, ‘With this new freedom we have, let's see what we can do to change the world.'” So, Kuhn and her friends created a movement. Initially given the ungainly name of Consultation of Older and Younger Adults for Social Change, the group was dubbed the Gray Panthers by a talk show host who quipped they were as militant as the Black Panthers. The moniker stuck and the Gray Panthers quickly carved out an advocacy niche. One hundred people attended its first public meeting.  The Gray Panthers worked to fight the idea of “disengagement theory,” a popular idea in the 70s that argued old age involved a necessary separation from work, families, communities, and general society as a prelude to death.  Kuhn believed this was nonsense, saying, “The first myth is that old age is a disease, a terrible disease that you never admit you've got, so you lie about your age. Well, it's not a disease—it's a triumph. Because you've survived. Failure, disappointment, sickness, loss—you're still here.” As a living refutation of the disengagement theory, Kuhn became a national celebrity, appearing on TV frequently and giving talks all over the US in her role as National Convener of the Panthers. She logged 100,000 miles annually, traveling from one event to another. Her grueling schedule was partly fueled through her motto of “do at least one outrageous thing a day.” In a full circle moment for Kuhn, the Gray Panthers were ultimately successful in getting Congress to ban mandatory retirement for most jobs in 1986. President Ronald Reagan—then the oldest ever President of the United States, signed the law.  Still extant today, the Gray Panthers' membership has declined as it faces stiff competition from AARP.   Background on Kuhn: Although she founded the Gray Panthers in response to mandatory retirement in 1970, Kuhn began advocating for elder rights in 1961 as an extension of her lifelong interest in human rights.  Kuhn attributed her activism to her sociology classes in college, saying, “Sociology, for me, related the community to the individual, and showed us a way to act responsibly in groups.” After attending the 1961 White House Conference on Aging in her professional capacity with the Presbyterian Church, she began visiting Presbyterian retirement homes and was dismayed with how she saw residents treated. As editor of the Presbyterian journal “Social Progress,” she encouraged church members to get involved with elder issues among a wide swath of social problems such as nuclear proliferation, gender equality and more.  After living a life of advocacy, her advice to activists interested in creating social change was to “Leave safety behind. Put your body on the line. Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind—even if your voice shakes. When you least expect it, someone may actually listen to what you have to say. Well-aimed slingshots can topple giants.” Kuhn was born on August 3, 1095 in Buffalo, New York to a conservative middle class family. She died at her home in Philadelphia on April 22, 1995, at the age of 89.    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno, Oleksii Kaplunskyi, Musictown, and Sergei Chetnertnykh.   Sources: Douglas, S. J. (2020, September 9). Opinion | The Forgotten History of the Radical ‘Elders of the Tribe.' The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/opinion/sunday/gray-panthers-maggie-kuhn.html  Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). Maggie Kuhn | American activist. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maggie-Kuhn  Folkart, B. A. (2019, March 5). Maggie Kuhn, 89; Iconoclastic Founder of Gray Panthers. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-04-23-mn-58042-story.html  Gray Panthers. (n.d.). Maggie Kuhn. Gray Panthers NYC. https://www.graypanthersnyc.org/maggie-kuhn  Kuhn, M. (1991). No Stone Unturned: The Life and Times of Maggie Kuhn (1st ed.). Ballantine Books. Levy, C. (1995, April 23). Gray Panthers Co-Founder Maggie Kuhn Dies At 89. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1995/04/23/gray-panthers-co-founder-maggie-kuhn-dies-at-89/a7c55189-b388-4e95-aafe-0d7d9a9163a1/  Roberts, S. V. (1986, October 18). HOUSE VOTES TO END MANDATORY RETIREMENT RULES. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/18/us/house-votes-to-end-mandatory-retirement-rules.html  The National Women's Hall of Fame. (2015, October 17). Kuhn, Maggie. National Women's Hall of Fame. https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/maggie-kuhn/  Wikipedia contributors. (2021, December 7). Gray Panthers. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Panthers  Wikipedia contributors. (2022, February 1). Maggie Kuhn. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Kuhn Your Dictionary. (n.d.). Maggie Kuhn. YourDictionary.Com. https://biography.yourdictionary.com/maggie-kuhn

“I classify my research as where equity meets science. The people who are really going to need [smart sutures] will not be able to afford them. So, I decided to make something cost-effective.” Dasia Taylor Inventor   The artwork Dasia Taylor's portrait in the Fearless Portrait Project consists of an ink drawing on a map of Iowa. Her hometown of Iowa City is located on the right side, where her neck meets her shoulder.   The story:  When 17-year-old Dasia Taylor heard about smart sutures—which use electrical currents and smart phone connections to monitor wound infections—she was intrigued, but she also saw a problem: the people who would need these the most would have the lowest access to them.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 2-4% of sutured wounds become infected in the US. That number rises to 10-20% in some developing countries, where digital access also drops.  Taylor saw an opportunity to bring equity to this situation and set to work developing a low-tech solution to improving health outcomes. And she wasn't going to let something like not having participated in a science fair since first grade hold her back. She began researching the problem of wound infection with her chemistry teacher at Iowa City West High School in the fall of 2019. While healthy human skin has an acidic pH of about 5, infected skin reaches pH 9. After juicing dozens of beets, Taylor discovered beet juice changes color from red to purple at the same pH level as infected skin.  After experimenting with different threads, Taylor found a cotton/polyester blend worked the best. When treated with the beet dye, the thread would change color in five minutes when in the presence of an infection. The goal of this color-changing thread is for patients to self-monitor themselves and know when to seek medical attention.   She began entering her work into science fairs and quickly began racking up prizes, even becoming a finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search. The annual talent search is one of the most prestigious science contests for high school students.  Taylor says she's patenting her invention and looking to set up lab space to continue her research before starting college, where she plans to study political science and become a lawyer.  “I have to continue my research. These stitches literally will revolutionize wound treatment in developing countries,” she says. “I'm definitely not stopping until my stitches get to those who need them.”   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Anton Vlasov.    Sources: Firozi, P. (2021, April 1). A high-schooler wanted infection-detecting sutures to be more accessible. She used beets. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/01/high-schooler-wanted-infection-detecting-sutures-be-more-accessible-she-used-beets/  Inside Edition. (2021, April 1). An Iowa High School Student Invented a Cost-Effective Way to Detect Infections in Surgical Patients. https://www.insideedition.com/an-iowa-high-school-student-invented-a-cost-effective-way-to-detect-infections-in-surgical-patients  Kantor, W. G. (2021, May 14). Iowa Teen Inspired by Grey's Anatomy Invents Stitches That Change Color When Wound Is Infected. PEOPLE.Com. https://people.com/human-interest/iowa-teen-inspired-by-greys-anatomy-invents-stitches-that-change-color-when-infected/  Krupa, A. C. H. A. M. (2021, April 17). A student harnessed the power of beets to make healing from surgery safer -- and more equitable. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/17/us/student-beets-color-changing-sutures-wellness-trnd/index.html  Local 4 News WHBF. (2021, February 18). In Our Community | Dasia Taylor. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ercvAKNrSVk  Machemer, T. (2021, March 25). This High Schooler Invented Color-Changing Sutures to Detect Infection. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/high-schooler-invented-color-changing-sutures-detect-infection-180977345/  Muzdakis, M. (2021, April 6). High School Senior Creates Color Changing Surgical Sutures That Alert Infection. My Modern Met. https://mymodernmet.com/dasia-taylor-beet-surgical-sutures/  Schilke, R. (2021, February 1). West High senior Dasia Taylor recognized as Regeneron Science Talent Search Finalist. The Daily Iowan. https://dailyiowan.com/2021/01/31/west-high-senior-dasia-taylor-recognized-as-regeneron-science-talent-search-finalist/  Spencer, C. (2021, March 30). Black Teen, Dasia Taylor, is the inventor of a method to detect surgical infections. Black Enterprise. https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-teen-dasia-taylor-is-the-inventor-of-a-method-to-detect-surgical-infections/  The Ellen Degeneres Show. (2021, April 26). Astounding Teen Inventor Is Changing the Medical Field. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZILJSMFd3s 

“My office hours are any and all hours of the day and night.” Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte First Native American to earn a medical degree   The Artwork: Picotte's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an Ink drawing of her n an 1886 map of Nebraska; the Omaha Reservation is marked on top right side of her head. The portrait is based on one of the few photographs that exist of Picotte.    The Story: The winter of 1891 was bitterly cold on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska, with temps diving to 20 degrees below zero. The cold wasn't going to stop Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte from making a house call for a young girl taken gravely ill from the influenza outbreak wreaking havoc in the area.  For the next two weeks, Picotte would visit her patient constantly, spend nights at the girl's bedside and even cook meals for the family. When the girl eventually died, Picotte was by her side. Such was her dedication to her patients. The sole doctor on the 1,350 square mile reservation, Picotte was responsible for all 1,300 residents.  As a young girl herself, Picotte watched an elderly Omaha woman die because a white doctor refused to come and help. Four times he was summoned; four times he said he'd be there soon. He never came and the woman died just after sunrise. Picotte said later, “It was only an Indian and it did not matter. The doctor preferred hunting for prairie chickens rather than visiting poor, suffering humanity.”  The incident haunted Picotte for the rest of her life and spurred her to do what she could to make sure that never happened again.  It was uncommon for women in the US at that time to go to medical school. Undeterred, Picotte enrolled at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania—one of the few schools that accepted women. After a three-year course of study, Picotte graduated as valedictorian in 1889, becoming the first female Native American to earn a medical degree in the US. After graduation, she returned home to the Omaha Reservation and took the position of physician at the government boarding school there run by the Office of Indian Affairs. While technically responsible only for the students' health, as the only doctor around, her people relied heavily on her for medical care, as well counsel around legal, finance, and political issues. She often worked 20-hour days, seeing patients at her clinic and making house calls. As she described it, “my office hours are any and all hours of the day and night.”  She toiled for years this way, on a $500 government salary and a $250 medical missionary stipend (equal to nearly $22,000 in 2020).   Background on La Fleshe Picotte Picotte's father, Joseph La Flesche, also known as Iron Eyes, was the last recognized chief of the Omaha. He sought to help his people by advocating a level of assimilation. He encouraged his children to pursue education. Born on June 17, 1865  during the buffalo hunt in a remote area of the Omaha reservation, Picotte served as a bridge between her traditional society and the encroaching White American culture.  In 1894, she married Henry Picotte and they had two sons. Going against Victorian-era expectations for married women, she continued practicing medicine. Always dedicated to the health of the Omahas, she dreamed of building a hospital on the reservation. By 1913, raised the funds to open Walthill Hospital in 1913. As a single, widowed woman, building and staffing a modern hospital without any government assistance was an unheard-of achievement. After her death in 1915, the facility was renamed in her honor.    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and the Library of Congress' Omaha Music Collection.  Sources: Changing the Face of Medicine. (n.d.). Changing the Face of Medicine | Susan La Flesche Picotte. NIH. https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_253.html  Friedman, M. (n.d.). Inflation Calculator. Westegg. https://westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi?money=750&first=1890&final=2020  Kettler, S. (2020, October 30). 5 Powerful and Influential Native American Women. Biography. https://www.biography.com/.amp/news/famous-native-american-women-native-american-heritage-month  Nebraska Studies. (n.d.). Susan La Flesche Picotte First N.A. Female Physician. http://www.nebraskastudies.org/en/1875-1899/susan-la-flesche-picotte-first-na-female-physician/  Nusbaum, J. (2019, June 5). AMPLIFY: Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte. HerStry. https://herstryblg.com/amplify/2018/8/23/amplify-dr-susan-la-flesche-picotte  Quote Catalog. (n.d.). Best Susan La Flesche Picotte Quotes | Quote Catalog. https://quotecatalog.com/communicator/susan-la-flesche-picotte  Tague, T. (2020, October 5). Against the Current: The Legacy of Susan LaFleshe Picotte. Nations Media. https://nationsmedia.org/susan-lafleshe-picotte/  Vaughan, C. (2017, March 1). The Incredible Legacy of Susan La Flesche, the First Native American to Earn a Medical Degree. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/incredible-legacy-susan-la-flesche-first-native-american-earn-medical-degree-180962332/  Wikipedia contributors. (2022, March 29). Susan La Flesche Picotte. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_La_Flesche_Picotte  Wilcox-Lee, N. (2016, November 6). Susan La Flesche Picotte. Sheroes of History. https://sheroesofhistory.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/susan-la-flesche-picotte/ 

“When you have a diverse team, you get different perspectives that help you succeed. It's about having a team that has lots of ideas and grabbing the best one—that's what diversity brings you.” Admiral Michelle Howard Highest ranking female officer in US Navy history   The artwork: Howard's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an Ink  drawing on a map of Washington, D.C. The Pentagon, where she served for part of her career, is on her lapel. On her chest is a bright medley of colors, representing the many awards she earned for her distinguished service.   The story: In April 2009, Rear Admiral Michelle Howard was aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer commanding an anti-piracy task force when the call came in:  Somali pirates had hijacked the American cargo ship MV Maersk Alabama 300 miles off the coast of Somalia and taken its captain—Richard Philips—hostage. The pirates removed Phillips from the ship and were speeding him to the shore in a life raft.  “It was obvious that if they got to shore with Captain Phillips, we were probably not going to get him back,” says Howard. So she and her team devised a tactical plan to rescue him.  It was a unique situation for Howard. Pirates hadn't seized an American-flagged vessel since 1821 and Howard herself was just three days into her job leading Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151)—a multinational task force countering piracy around Somalia's “Pirate Alley.” Immediately prior to her assignment to the Gulf of Aden to command CTF-151, she was serving in Washington, D.C. as a senior advisor to the Secretary of the Navy.  “We were all trying to figure out how best to handle the mission,” she says. “We had an American citizen trapped on a life raft with pirates. In that circumstance you cannot even sleep. How could I possibly sleep when that poor man is out there, not knowing if he is going to live or die?” Howard needed to get the pirates to stop moving without getting Phillips killed. Long an advocate for the power of diverse groups to generate innovative ideas, she gathered a team onboard her flagship to strategize Phillips' rescue. “We needed to have folks outside the immediate problem give us different perspectives,” she said. The team she assembled included the ship's meteorologist, a Somali interpreter who advised on culture, a former FBI agent, some marines, and enlisted sailors. She insisted on the sailors being present, “because they're the people who make things happen on deck.”  The result was a creative solution that employed the destroyer USS Bainbridge to make waves, pushing the raft away from the coast and giving Navy SEAL snipers an opportunity to kill the pirates.  The successful rescue later inspired the 2013 movie “Captain Phillips,” starring Tom Hanks.   In 2014, Howard became the first woman promoted to the rank of four-star admiral in the US Navy. Concurrently, she was named vice-chief of naval operations (VCNO), the second-highest ranking officer in the navy.    Background on Howard: Howard was born into a military family on April 30, 1960 at March Air Reserve Base in California. The drive that propelled Howard to the highest echelons of the navy came in part from her mother. When Howard was 12 years old, she knew she wanted to attend a service academy, but they didn't accept women. Her mother encouraged her not to give up on her dream, saying, “if you still want to go when you're old enough to apply and if they're still closed to women, we'll sue the government.”  In the end, the Naval Academy opened to women in 1976, two years before Howard completed high school. Howard graduated from USNA in 1982 with her bachelor's degree.  Becoming the first woman to earn the rank of “full admiral” was just one of many firsts Howard achieved throughout her career in the navy. She assumed command of USS Rushmore in 1999, becoming the first black woman to command a ship in the navy. She was the first female graduate of the US Naval Academy to reach flag rank, becoming a rear admiral (lower half) in 2007, and then the first woman to reach rear admiral (2010) and vice admiral (2012). Following her service as VCNO, she went on to command the US Naval Forces Europe and Naval Forces Africa, becoming the first female four-star admiral to command operational forces.  Howard retired in 2017, after nearly 36 years of service in the US Navy.    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Zakhar Valaha.   Sources:  Billups, A. (2014, July 3). Admiral Michelle Howard Becomes Highest-Ranking Female Officer in U.S. Navy History. PEOPLE.com. https://people.com/celebrity/admiral-michelle-howard-becomes-highest-ranking-female-officer-in-u-s-navy-history/  Chappell, B. (2014, July 2). Navy Promotes Its First Female 4-Star Admiral. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/07/02/327655651/navy-promotes-its-first-female-four-star-admiral  Fenn, D. (2015, May 25). 5 tough leadership lessons from the Navy's top female commander. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2015/05/25/5-tough-leadership-lessons-from-the-navys-top-female-commander/amp/  Graves, L. & National Journal. (2015, May 15). For Michelle Howard, Saving Captain Phillips Is Her Least Impressive Accomplishment. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/for-michelle-howard-saving-captain-phillips-is-her-least-impressive-accomplishment/439578/  Morning Edition. (2014, October 10). A Phone Call Helped Navy's First Four-Star Woman Embrace Her Path. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2014/10/10/353565847/a-phone-call-helped-navys-first-four-star-woman-embrace-her-path  Rafferty, J. P. (2022, March 16). Michelle Howard | Biography & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michelle-Howard  Sony Pictures Entertainment. (2013, May 14). CAPTAIN PHILLIPS - Official International Trailer. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEyM01dAxp8  The Flagship. (2013, May 13). 20 Years | 20 Questions: Vice Adm. Michelle J. Howard. MilitaryNews.com. https://www.militarynews.com/norfolk-navy-flagship/special_sections/20th_anniversary/20-years-20-questions-vice-adm-michelle-j-howard/article_f26ef056-f948-5ef0-9d86-f3ccbe496e85.html  Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.-a). Captain Phillips (film). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Phillips_(film)  Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.-b). Michelle Howard. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Howard 

“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.” Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom Member of the Dutch resistance, evangelist, and author   Artwork: Ten Boom's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an ink drawing of her on a map of the Dutch city of Haarlem. There is a red dot near her nose to mark the location of The Hiding Place, that is the home where she and her family hid Jews from the Nazis.   The story:  At the outset of WWII, Corrie ten Boom was a watchmaker, living with her sister Betsie and her father Casper above their watch store in Haarlem, Netherlands. Known in the city for helping anyone in need, a Jewish stranger knocked on their door seeking shelter. Casper welcomed the woman into their home, saying “In this household, God's people are always welcome.”  The ten Booms soon joined the Dutch underground and for the next two years around 800 Jews passed through their home on their way out of Nazi-occupied territory. The Gestapo raided the house in 1944 and Corrie and Betsy were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Despite horrific and nightmarish conditions, Corrie and Betsy spent their time sharing the gospel with their fellow prisoners until Betsy died in December 1944 and Corrie was released a few days later.  After the war, a former Ravensbruck guard asked for her forgiveness. She described the moment in her book The Hiding Place, writing:  “It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do. And I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.  “‘Jesus, help me!' I prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling.' And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. “‘I forgive you, brother!' I cried. ‘With all my heart!'”   Background on ten Boom:   Ten Boom was born on April 15, 1892. Before her death in the squalor of Ravensbruck, Betsy told Corrie about three visions she received from God about what they were to do after they got out of there. Her first vision was of a house for former prisoners, the second was to use a former concentration camp in Germany for the broken people in the country. The third was that they would be released before the new year of 1945. All three came true.  Betsy died on December 16, 1944 and Corrie was released a few days later due to a clerical error (although she had to spend a few weeks in the camp's hospital before she was allowed to leave). One week after Corrie was released, all the women her age in the camp were gassed.  Immediately upon release Corrie opened a home in Bloemendaal for victims of the Nazis. Once this was established, she turned her attention to spreading the gospel and teaching the importance of forgiveness. This included a tour through Germany, where she opened a camp for German refugees in a former concentration camp in Darmstadt. The camp operated from 1946 through 1960.  Corrie traveled the world to speak about her faith, visiting over 60 countries in 30 years. She also wrote dozens of books. She was honored by the State of Israel as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1967. Casper and Betsy were likewise honored in 2007.  She died on her birthday in 1983 at the age of 91 in Placentia, California, US   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Oleksii Kaplunskyi.    Sources: Christie, V. (2016, November 22). Giving Thanks in All Circumstances – Corrie ten Boom. VanceChristie.Com. http://vancechristie.com/2016/11/22/giving-thanks-circumstances-corrie-ten-boom/ Holocaust Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Corrie ten Boom. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/corrie-ten-boom Life:Beautiful Magazine. (2020, February 6). Corrie Ten Boom: The Power of Forgiveness. https://lifebeautifulmagazine.com/profiles/corrie-ten-boom-the-power-of-forgiveness McDaniel, D. (2015, May 21). 40 Powerful Quotes from Corrie Ten Boom. Crosswalk.Com. https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/inspiring-quotes/40-powerful-quotes-from-corrie-ten-boom.html PBS. (n.d.). The Question of God . Other Voices . Corrie ten Boom | PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/voices/boom.html ten Boom, C., Sherrill, J., & Sherrill, E. (1971). The Hiding Place. Bantam. ten Boom Museum. (2018, April 18). About the Ten Booms. https://tenboom.org/about-the-ten-booms/ Wikipedia contributors. (2021, November 20). Corrie ten Boom. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrie_ten_Boom Yad Vashem. (n.d.). The Righteous Among the Nations Database: Boom ten Cornelia. https://righteous.yadvashem.org/?searchType=righteous_only&language=en&itemId=4014036&ind=NaN 

“If you're so proud of America's history, look at the downsides too. Own it just like you own how we won the Revolutionary War.”   Iris Haq-Lukolyo Fifth grade student   The artwork: Iris Haq-Lukolyo's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an ink drawing of her holding a copy of the magazine with her article in it, while wearing a T-shirt that with Kamala Harris' “I'm Speaking” quote on it. I've drawn her on a contemporary map of her hometown of Pearland, TX. While Haq-Lukolyo herself fits within the edges of the town on the map, the magazine she is holding straddles the boundaries of the map and extends far into the margins of the paper, just as her voice did through the article.     The Story: A warm day in September 2020, ten-year-old Iris Haq-Lukolyo logged into her virtual classroom from the small desk in a bedroom of her Pearland, TX home. Her teacher said they would be learning about the Founding Fathers that day and how they built America.  Something seemed missing from the lesson though, so the only Black student in the class spoke up:  "I went off of mute, and I said, 'But didn't slaves build America?' And my teacher was like, 'oh, no, we don't talk about that in this classroom.'" The teacher didn't address the topic of slavery that day, or include it in any of lessons for the rest of the year, despite the fact that many of the Founding Fathers collectively enslaved thousands of Black people. Slavery also wasn't something limited only to the cotton plantations in the South—at the time of the American Revolution, New York City was second only behind Charleston, SC in slave population. Even the White House and Capitol were built with slave labor.  Devastated by the teacher's harsh reaction, Haq-Lukolyo turned off her camera and cried. Her tears soon turned to action though. “As soon as I got on lunch break, I just took the whole break and started writing,” she says.  An avid writer, Haq-Lukolyo quickly filled two notebook pages with her thoughts on the incident: "In Social Studies class, we were learning about who built ‘the greatest country in the world, America.' The teacher started listing names like George Washington and other overrated white historic figures. And I was like, ummm, did you forget something about who actually built America? If you are so proud of America's history, look at the downsides too. Own it just like you own how we won the Revolutionary War." After detailing the incident and how black history is treated in schools, Haq-Lukolyo closed the essay with a plea:  "I'm a fifth grader in Texas and I'm asking teachers two things: First, don't shut down or mute conversations about slavery. It took courage for me to come off mute and make that contribution only to be shut down by the teacher. That hurts. Second, please teach American history in a way that shows the complex and, yes, racist history of our country. Students deserve to learn the ugly sides of our history so we won't repeat the same mistakes, and also learn about amazing black historical figures beyond Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Harriet Tubman. These changes will make me feel seen and comfortable as a Black child in a classroom in America." Her mother showed the essay to some friends and one recommended submitting to Skipping Stones, a national youth literary magazine. Skipping Stones published the article in December 2020 to widespread acclaim.  “One person—which was my teacher—wasn't hearing or listening to me, but thousands of other people were,” says Haq-Lukolyo.  Her mother, Dr. Heather Haq, elaborated saying, “We heard from people all over the country, saying what a strong and powerful voice she had, how much clarity she had in her writing and how brave she was to not only stand up in the first place in her class, but then to also use her voice again to write this article. And we had people share that, ‘Oh, something like this happened to me when I was a student. But I never spoke up about it and I'm so glad you did.'” After the incident, Haq-Lukolyo and her mother requested a meeting with the teacher to share how the classroom incident had affected her. The teacher made an attempt at an apology that fell flat. “She invited me to a Zoom meeting to apologize,” says Haq-Lukolyo. “ And her apology was that her dad was raised by black women, and that she likes black people, but there was no sincere apology. And I felt personally offended for a second time by her because if that was an apology to her, it's just kind of sad, because it had nothing to do with me and [she was saying that] just because I was black.”  Originally born in Wisconsin, Haq-Lukolyo has lived all around the world, including Texas, Uganda, and then back to Texas to her present home in Pearland, a Houston suburb. For now, Haq-Lukolyo is focusing on developing her writing abilities and spending time on other interests like drawing and music. She is also part of a competitive dance team.   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno.    Sources: Ambrose, S. E. (2002, November). Founding Fathers and Slaveholders. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/founding-fathers-and-slaveholders-72262393/  Anthony, C. (2017, November 26). How slave labor built and financed major U.S. cities. Salon. https://www.salon.com/2017/11/26/how-slave-labor-built-and-financed-major-u-s-cities/ Constitutional Rights Foundation. (2017). How Should We Judge Our Nation's Founders? CRF-USA. https://crf-usa.org/images/t2t/pdf/HowShouldWeJudgeOurNation.pdf  Haq, H. [@heather_haq]. (2021, January 4). Speaking up takes courage. Imagine being 10 yrs old & bravely making a contribution to your 5th grade history class [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/heather_haq/status/1346207913040371714  Haq-Lukolyo, I. (2020, December). Muted: Fifth Grade Conversations About Slavery. Skipping Stones. https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/2020/12/21/muted-fifth-grade-conversations-about-slavery Iris Haq-Lukolyo and Dr. Heather Haq, interview by author via Zoom, December 9, 2021.  Lane, A. (2009, January 19). The legend of slaves building Capitol is correct. Politifact. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/jan/19/nancy-pelosi/legend-slaves-building-capitol-correct/  McShane, J. (2021, February 23). She's the only Black kid in her fifth-grade class. She spoke up when slavery wasn't included in a lesson plan. The Lily. https://www.thelily.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fshes-the-only-black-kid-in-her-fifth-grade-class-she-spoke-up-when-slavery-wasnt-included-in-a-lesson-plan%2f%3f White House Historical Association. (n.d.). Did enslaved people build the White House? WHHA. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/questions/did-slaves-build-the-white-house

“I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me.”  Julia Margaret Cameron Photographer   The artwork: Ink  drawing on a map of the Island of Wight, UK, based on a self portrait by Julia Cameron. Her home in Freshwater is located on the left side, above her head.   The story: Julia Cameron began career as a photographer relatively late at the age of 48, when she was given her first camera. A present from her daughter, the camera was meant to be a source of entertainment for Cameron at her UK home on the Isle of Wight while her husband tended to his coffee plantations in Sri Lanka. “It may amuse you, Mother, to try to photograph during your solitude,” said her daughter.  Cameron took to photography with gusto, learning her craft and focusing on making portraits in her studio converted from a chicken coop.  “Many and many a week in the year 1864, I worked fruitlessly, but not hopelessly… I began with no knowledge of the art. I did not know where to place my dark box, how to focus my sitter, and my first picture I effaced to my consternation by rubbing my hand over the filmy side of the glass,” she said of her photographic beginnings.  However, she did not stay “fruitless” for long and she quickly came to see her camera as, “A living thing, with voice, memory, and a creative vigor.”  Within a year, she was a member of the Photographic Societies of London and Scotland. She developed a unique style, characterized by close-cropped intimate portraits that were often deliberately slightly out of focus or blurred by her subjects moving during long exposures.  Highly unconventional for her day, her style was heavily criticized by the photography establishment during her lifetime for her supposedly poor technique. She is now recognized as one of Britain's greatest portrait photographers of the 19th century and credited with creating the first close-up portraits in the history of the medium. Cameron dismissed the carping by her peers of her soft focus work, saying,  “What is focus and who has the right to say what focus is the legitimate focus?” Cameron's photography career was short but productive. She made around 900 photographs over a 12-year period, registering each of them with the copyright office. Her subjects included luminaries from the London cultural scene, including Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Charles Darwin.  While her photos of eminent Victorian men featured strong contrasts in light and shadow (chiaroscuro) resulting in powerful images, her portraits of women are noted for their particularly sensitive and often delicate renderings of female beauty.   Describing her photography career, Cameron said, “I longed to arrest all the beauty that came before me and at length the longing has been satisfied. Its difficulty enhanced the value of the pursuit.”   Background on Cameron: The daughter of an East India Company official, Cameron was born in India on June 11, 1815. She was educated with relatives in France and then she returned to India after completing her schooling. She met her husband, Charles Hay Cameron, while both of them were convalescing, likely from malaria. They married in Kolkata, two years after meeting.  Her photography was actively supported by her husband and she eagerly showed him every photograph she made:  “My husband from first to last has watched every picture with delight, and it is my daily habit to run to him with every glass upon which a fresh glory is newly stamped, and to listen to his enthusiastic applause. This habit of running into the dining-room with my wet pictures has stained such an immense quantity of table linen with nitrate of silver, indelible stains, that I should have been banished from any less indulgent household,” she said. By all accounts, the Camerons were a happy couple, devoted to each other. They raised 11 children together, six of their own and five orphans they adopted. They moved to London in the 1840s and were an active part of the social and cultural scene. After visiting Tennyson's home on the Isle of Wight, Cameron was taken with the location and they bought their own home on the island, calling it Dimbola Lodge.  She died on January 26, 1879 in Kalutara, Sri Lanka, where her husband held coffee plantations.    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Michael Kobrin.   Sources: Cameron, J. M. (2016, February 15). 11 Quotes By Photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. John Paul Caponigro. https://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/blog/16476/11-quotes-by-photographer-julia-margaret-cameron/  Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). Julia Margaret Cameron | British photographer. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julia-Margaret-Cameron  Photogpedia. (2021, March 21). 25 Timeless Julia Margaret Cameron Quotes to Bookmark. https://photogpedia.com/julia-margaret-cameron-quotes/ Wikipedia contributors. (2021, November 7). Julia Margaret Cameron. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Margaret_Cameron

“If I perish, I perish.” Queen Esther Biblical queen of Persia   The Artwork: Esther's portrait  in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an Ink drawing of her on an 1843 map of Persia and surrounding region. The portrait is based on 19th and early 20th century painter Kate Gardiner Hastings' painting called “Esther.”  The Story: Haman, the highest ranking official in the Persian court of King Xerxes, nursed a grudge against a Jewish man and conspired to have all the Jews in Xerxes' realm killed. A royal decree was sent out for their destruction.  When Mordecai heard of the murderous plot, he brought the news to the young woman he had raised as a daughter—Esther, the Queen of Persia. At Mordecai's urging, Esther kept her Jewish heritage secret when she became queen. This time, he instructed her to go before the king and beg for mercy for her people. At this time, it was a death sentence to appear before the king without an invitation and it had been 30 days since the king had called for Esther. Yet Mordecai appealed to Esther, saying, “Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther responded to Mordecai, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in the city. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” On the third day, dressed in her royal robes, Esther entered the throne room. Seeing the queen, the king was pleased with her and asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you.” Knowing her husband's fondness for food and wine, Esther invited the king and Haman to a series of banquets. After eating and drinking, the king again asked Esther, “What is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.” Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated.” By the end of the evening, Haman was dead, Mordecai elevated in his place, and a fresh edict issued to cancel out the original murderous plan.  From that time to the present, Jews around the world celebrate Queen Esther's bravery in saving her people from genocide with the Purim holiday (usually in March).   Background on Esther: Esther's ascent to the heights of the Persian royal court was an unlikely trajectory. Born in exile away from the Jewish homeland around 592 BC, Esther was an orphan. Her cousin, Mordecai raised her as his own daughter. She would have had a normal life if it were not for an unusual series of events that kicked off when she was a young woman—perhaps just a teenager.  After a weeklong bender with all the men of his capital city, King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to come out before his guests wearing nothing but the royal crown. When she refused, his advisors counseled the king that this offense was not only against the king but against all the men of the kingdom and if not dealt with harshly, would cause all the wives in the realm to disrespect their husbands. So, Vashti was disposed of, never to be heard of again.  Xerxes commissioned a search for a new queen and all the beautiful virgins of the kingdom were brought to the palace. After undergoing months of beauty treatments, the women were sent to the king one by one for him to sleep with. Esther won the king's favor, and he made her queen.    Music: This episode contains music from Geovane Bruno and the English Chamber Orchestra performing the Overture to George Friderich Handel's oratorio “Esther”   Sources:  Brown, E. (2020, March 8). Esther, Sex, and Power. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/esther-sex-and-power/607534/ Crispe, S. E. (n.d.). Esther: Hidden Beauty. Chabad.Org. https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/367185/jewish/Esther-Hidden-Beauty.htm Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Esther | Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/bible/old-testament/esther Esther (NIV). (n.d.). Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther%202&version=NIV Friedlander, R. (n.d.). Five Things About Esther That Nobody Talks About. Jews for Jesus. https://jewsforjesus.org/publications/inherit/five-things-about-esther-that-nobody-talks-about Isbouts, J. (2021, May 4). Did Queen Esther's beauty or bravery foil a massacre? National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/queen-esther-beauty-bravery-foil-massacre Koren, Y. (2018, February 26). The harem of violated women in Megillat Esther. The Times of Israel. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-harem-of-violated-women-in-megillat-esther/ Wikipedia contributors. (2022, March 6). Esther. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther

“People said I should be banned from posting photos of myself because I'm too ugly. So, I'd just like to commemorate the occasion with these 3 selfies.” Melissa Blake Writer and disabilities activist  The Artwork: Blake's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an ink drawing of her, based on one of the selfies she defiantly posted, “to commemorate the occasion.” I've drawn her on a map of her hometown, DeKalb, Illinois.   The Story:  After writing an op-ed on CNN.com in August 2019, Melissa Blake discovered 100s of comments mocking her appearance. While hurtful, Blake was accustomed to the abuse and usually took it in stride. But something was different this time.  Reflecting on the episode, she writes, “As a woman writer with a genetic bone and muscular disorder, I'm used to being called names like ‘blobfish' and ‘whale,' but there was one comment I just couldn't shake. Someone said that I should be banned from posting photos of myself because I'm too ugly. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted to respond in some way. Not directly to the person, but as a general statement.” Blake settled on a set of selfies on Twitter as a suitable response, posting: “People said I should be banned from posting photos of myself because I'm too ugly. So, I'd just like to commemorate the occasion with these 3 selfies.” The defiant tweet quickly went viral and her Twitter follower count rocketed up from under 8,000 to over 100k.  Buoyed by the army of supporters, Blake began posting a selfie everyday under the hashtag #MyBestSelfie. Weeks went by. Then months. More than a year later, Blake continues to post her “best selfie” every day, saying “I post selfies to unapologetically take up space and demand to be seen as a disabled woman.”  People around the world have joined the movement, posting their own photos. Her daily discipline has inspired other disabled people and educated legions of enabled people. More importantly, Blake found a new level of personal confidence: “With each selfie, I felt more comfortable in my own body and discovered a freedom I'd never really felt before as a disabled woman,” she says.   Background on Blake: Born on August 4, 1981 in DeKalb, Illinois, Blake has Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome, a rare bone and muscle disorder that primarily affects the face, hands, and feet. The disorder gives people a distinctive facial appearance. She's had nearly 30 operations, including surgeries on her knees, hands, hips, and spine.  While she uses a wheelchair to maneuver the physical world, she's under no such limitations online and she's become a force for positivity on the internet. Blake is a writer and her work has appeared in publications as diverse as Glamour and The New York Times, and her personal blog, So About What I Said.    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Zakhar Valaha.    Sources: ABC news. (2019, September 19). Writer behind viral #mybestselfie trend talks cyberbullying [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy5RGfUfokY ABC News. (2020, October 25). Blogger Melissa Blake claps back at hateful online comments about her appearance, disability [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_f-0Whh22Y  Blake, M. (2019a, August 3). What if we all unfollowed Trump on Twitter? (opinion). CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/03/opinions/donald-trump-unfollow-on-twitter-blake/index.html Blake, M. (2020, September 30). After An Internet Troll Told Me I Was “Too Ugly,” I Spent A Year Posting Selfies. Refinery29. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/09/10031949/melissa-blake-writer-twitter-selfies-trollgate-interview Blake, M. [@melissablake]. (2019b, September 7). During the last round of trollgate, people said that I should be banned from posting photos of myself because I'm [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/melissablake/status/1170481393673166849 Brennan, R. (2011, July 21). Dating With Disabilities: Q&A With Melissa Blake of So About What I Said. Glamour. https://www.glamour.com/story/dating-with-disabilities-qa-wi Jensen, E. (2019, September 20). Internet trolls said writer Melissa Blake was too “ugly” to post pictures, so she shared selfies. USA TODAY. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/2019/09/20/melissa-blake-writer-shares-selfies-twitter-trolls/2386393001/ MedlinePlus. (n.d.). Freeman-Sheldon syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics. https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/freeman-sheldon-syndrome/ WGN News. (2019, September 16). Writer trolled for her looks posts selfies in response, gets outpouring of support [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgJ60rhq2h0

“You can be whatever you set your heart and head to be, and don't let anybody tell you can't be, because 1,078 women pilots did it in WWII.”   Annelle Henderson Bulechek Aviator, WASP     Artwork: To represent the WASPs in in the Fearless Portrait project, I've drawn WASP squadron leader, Betty Gillies, in white ink, on a blueprint of a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plane. The first pilot to fly for the WASP, she was also the first woman to fly the P-47.     The story: As the WWII war effort strained manpower and resources, women were tapped to fill traditionally male jobs. The US Air Force (then part of the army) was not immune to the manpower shortages and to free up men for combat duty, the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was formed.  Flying more than 60 million miles during the war, the 1,000+ members of the all-female corps flew every single plane in the army's inventory—78 different types, from the tiny P-51 Mustang fighters to the huge B-29 Superfortress bombers. These women flew 80% of all ferrying missions, delivering 12,000 aircraft from factories to army bases. Additionally, they towed about 90% of the aerial targets for air-to-air combat training and live anti-aircraft artillery practice.  When WASP founder Jacqueline Cochran put out the call for applicants, more than 25,000 women applied. Of those 1,830 were accepted and 1,078 made it through the training. Promised commissions, they were trained as officers and had to follow the rules for officers, they were nevertheless denied officer ranks. They served as civilians, meaning that not only did they not have military rank, they did not have insurance, veteran, burial or death benefits until 1977. Despite the snub, they served with distinction. General of the Air Force, Henry “Hap” Arnold even used them to show up male pilots. When men didn't want to fly the difficult B-29 bomber, Arnold recruited two WASPs to fly a B-29 and embarrassed the men into flying it without complaint.  Many men were unhappy with having to work with female pilots and the WASPs faced significant discrimination. Women over 35 weren't even allowed to enter the WASP, as the military had determined 40 was the beginning of menopause and wanted to ensure none of the WASPs would be entering the time of “debilitating irrationality” while in service.  The WASP was disbanded in December 1944.  “They said we couldn't do it. We did it, and we did it successfully,” said Annelle Henderson Bulechek, one of the WASPs. “And by, Hap Arnold's own account, we did it as well as any man could have done it. I think that's the legacy that we leave behind us—that laws and lawsuits [about getting proper veteran status] and everything else doesn't make you what you are. It's what you want to be and what you go ahead and do that counts.”   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Zakhar Valaha.    Sources: Air Space. (n.d.). AirSpace Season 3|Ep.9Fly Girl. National Air and Space Museum. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/airspaces3ep9 Chen, P. C. (n.d.). Betty Gillies. WW2DB. https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=505 Digital Public Library of America. (n.d.-a). Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) | DPLA. https://dp.la/exhibitions/american-aviatrixes/women-air-force-service-pilots/deactivation-of-the-wasps Digital Public Library of America. (n.d.-b). Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) | DPLA. https://dp.la/exhibitions/american-aviatrixes/women-air-force-service-pilots Pauley, H. (n.d.). The Unsung Heroines of World War II - WASP. Megavision. https://www.megavision.net/wasp/index.html Veterans History Project. (2003, March 5). Interview with Annelle Bulechek [03/25/2003]. Library of Congress. http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.08083/transcript?ID=mv0001  WASP Annelle Henderson Bulechek. (n.d.). Wings Across America. http://www.wingsacrossamerica.us/web/bulechek_annelle_NEW.htm  Wikipedia contributors. (2021a, November 10). Betty Gillies. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Gillies  Wikipedia contributors. (2021b, November 24). Women Airforce Service Pilots. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Airforce_Service_Pilots 

“There was no choice but to be a pioneer.” Margaret Hamilton Mother of software engineering   Artwork: Hamilton's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project is based on an iconic photograph of her standing next to a stack of binders about as tall as she is. These binders contained the computer code she and her team wrote for the Apollo Mission. I've drawn her with black ink on a 1966 US Air Force map of the moon.   The Story: On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were three minutes away from making their historic landing on the moon when the lunar lander's onboard computer began spitting out emergency alarms.  Faced with the critical choice of aborting the mission or not, flight controllers in Houston chose to trust the computer's software that Margaret Hamilton, director of Apollo flight computer programming and her team at MIT's Draper Laboratory developed.  “It quickly became clear the software was not only informing everyone that there was a hardware-related problem but was compensating for it,” said Hamilton.  It turned out that the astronaut's checklist was at fault, telling them to set the rendezvous radar switch in the wrong position. The radar began bombarding the onboard computer with irrelevant information and overloading the computer. In a situation like this, Hamilton's code dictated the computer should reboot. The restarting process allowed the computer to reprioritize tasks—ignoring the incoming radar information and focusing on the critical landing calculations.  “If the computer hadn't recognized this problem and taken recovery action, I doubt if Apollo 11 would have been the successful Moon landing it was,” Hamilton would later write.  In an era before screens, Hamilton and her team manually typed 11,000 pages of code writing the Apollo Project software. Stacked up, the software was the same height as Hamilton. The monumental achievement of putting a man on the moon was all the more impressive as the astronauts had access to a mere 72 kilobytes of memory. A standard smartphone today has more than million times more storage space.  Six and half hours after the fraught landing, Armstrong made his historic first step on the moon, saying, “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”   Background on Hamilton: Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936 in Paoli, Indiana. After graduating in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, she took a job at MIT. It was supposed to be a temporary step, supporting her husband while he was in law school. It was here that she first learned what a computer was and how to write software. Her early experiences at MIT paved the way for her passion for building ultra-reliable software.  Initially planning to leave her job and pursue a master's in abstract mathematics, she caught the programming bug and continued working at MIT when the university was asked to work on the Apollo space program.  “I was the first programmer to join and the first woman they hired,” she said. “Male engineers were already working on the project, but they were hardware engineers and it wasn't their thing.” Within a few years, she was leading a whole team of programmers at MIT in what would later be known as Draper Laboratory.  Her work as a computer scientist and a mother often collided and Hamilton would bring her daughter, Lauren, to the lab at night and on weekends. One day, Hamilton was running a simulation of a moon mission and Lauren began punching buttons like her mom. Lauren began running a pre-launch program while the system was already “on the way” to the moon and the system crashed and erased the navigational data taking her to the moon.  “This could inadvertently happen in a real mission,” thought Hamilton and she pushed for software changes to address the issue. The higher-ups at NASA said the astronauts were too well trained to make such a mistake. On the very next mission—Apollo 8—astronaut Jim Lovell made the exact same error. NASA let Hamilton make the software fix after that.   Still in their infancy when Hamilton began her career, computer science and software engineering were not yet disciplines. Programmers often came from math backgrounds and learned on the job. As Hamilton put it, “there was no choice but to be pioneers.”  Ever the innovator, Hamilton coined the term “software engineering” while working on the Apollo project.  “I fought to bring the software legitimacy so that it—and those building it—would be given due respect. I began to use the term ‘software engineering' to distinguish it from hardware and other kinds of engineering, yet treat each type of engineering as part of the overall systems engineering process. Software eventually and necessarily gained the same respect as any other discipline,” she explained.  Building on her Apollo work, Hamilton founded two companies—Higher Order Software (HOS) in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986.  Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, saying, “Her example speaks of the American spirit of discovery that exists in every little girl and little boy who know that somehow, to look beyond the heavens is to look deep within ourselves—and to figure out just what is possible.”   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno, Toma Mutiu, and Alex Chernykh.   Sources: American Experience. (2019, June 3). The Women Who Brought Us the Moon. American Experience | PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/chasing-moon-women-who-brought-us-moon/ Cameron, L. (2020, August 11). First Software Engineer. IEEE Computer Society. https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/events/what-to-know-about-the-scientist-who-invented-the-term-software-engineering/ Corbyn, Z. (2019, July 16). Margaret Hamilton: ‘They worried that the men might rebel. They didn't.' The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/13/margaret-hamilton-computer-scientist-interview-software-apollo-missions-1969-moon-landing-nasa-women George, A. (2019, March 14). Margaret Hamilton Led the NASA Software Team That Landed Astronauts on the Moon. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/margaret-hamilton-led-nasa-software-team-landed-astronauts-moon-180971575/ Hamilton, M. H. (n.d.). Margaret H. Hamilton Quotes. Citatis.Com. https://citatis.com/a7438/ Matthews, D. (2019, July 17). Margaret Hamilton: the Apollo software engineer who saved the moon landing. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2015/5/30/8689481/margaret-hamilton-apollo-software McMillan, R. (2015, October 13). Her Code Got Humans on the Moon—And Invented Software Itself. Wired. https://www.wired.com/2015/10/margaret-hamilton-nasa-apollo/ NASA. (2003, September 3). Margaret Hamilton. https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11Hamilton.html Obama, B. (2016, November 23). Remarks by the President at Presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Whitehouse.Gov. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/11/22/remarks-president-presentation-presidential-medal-freedom Senkal, M. (2020, May 20). History of Computer Girls, Part 2: Margaret! Metal Toad. https://www.metaltoad.com/blog/history-computer-girls-part-2-margaret Wikipedia contributors. (2021, November 23). Margaret Hamilton (software engineer). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(software_engineer)  

“Lozen is as my right hand, strong as a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people.”    Victorio, Apache chief and brother of Lozen, warrior and medicine woman   The Artwork: Lozen's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an ink drawing of her based on one of the rare existing photographs of her. I've drawn her on an 1887 map of Arizona. The San Carlos reservation appears on the map as a red blotch on her shoulder near her heart.   The Story: In 1877, Lozen and a band of Chiricahua Apaches led by her older brother, Victorio, escaped from the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. Fleeing terrible living conditions so bad that US soldiers referred to the place as “Hell's Forty Acres,” Victorio's band rampaged against Americans who had commandeered their New Mexico homeland and cheated them out of land promised them.  The Apaches were pursued relentlessly by US and Mexican forces for the next three years. At one point, when fleeing the US Army, Lozen was leading the women and children and they came to the surging Rio Grande. Terrified of drowning in the raging river, the people began to bunch up on the riverbank, until Lozen leapt into the river. James Kaywaykla, a child at the time, riding behind his grandmother, described the scene later, saying, “I saw a magnificent woman on a beautiful horse—Lozen, sister of Victorio. Lozen the woman warrior! High above her head she held her rifle. There was a glitter as her right foot lifted and struck the shoulder of her horse. He reared, then plunged into the torrent. She turned his head upstream, and he began swimming.”  The other women and children followed her into the river like Moses into the Red Sea. They all made it across the river, cold and wet, but alive. According to Kaywaykla, Lozen came to his mother and said, “You take charge now. I must return to the warriors.” And with that, Lozen drove her horse back into the thundering river and returned to the men holding off the advancing cavalry from reaching their women and children.  At another point near the end of their campaign, Lozen left the band to escort a new mother to a reservation in New Mexico, away from the perils and hardships of the trail. (Some accounts say the woman was pregnant and others that she had a newborn baby.) Lozen and her charge left on the dangerous journey across Mexico's harsh Chihuahua Desert with only a rifle, cartridge belt, knife and a little bit of food.  In a few days, they needed more food. Afraid to use her rifle and betray their presence to the US and Mexican cavalry forces in the area, Lozen killed a stray longhorn cow with her knife and butchered it. (All the more impressive given that the horns of a longhorn can spread up to six to eight feet, tip-to-tip). She stole horses for herself and the new mother, escaping through a hail of gunfire and finally delivered the woman and her baby to the reservation.   Background on Lozen Lozen was born circa 1840 in what is now New Mexico. As a child, she was different. She had special gifts and talents, including supernatural powers that let her know when enemies were near. She also had a great connection with horses and was recognized as a master horsewoman with the nickname Lozen, which means “expert horse thief.” Her real name is unknown today.  Born into a time of strife, her gifts were valuable in protecting her people from the incursions of the US Army, Mexican Army, and settler militias on both sides of the Rio Grande.  Lozen eschewed marriage and the typical domestic duties of the other women in her tribe in favor of the arts of war. She became a medicine woman and warrior—an uncommon, but not completely unheard of role for a woman among her people. She often fought alongside Victorio and despite being 15 years his junior, was a trusted advisor on matters of war and religion.  Kaywaykla described Lozen's talents thusly: “She could ride, shoot, and fight like a man, and I think she had more ability in planning military strategy than did Victorio.”  After Victorio's death, Lozen fought beside the famed chief Geronimo in the last campaign of the Apache Wars. Lozen died of tuberculosis on June 17, 1889, in US military custody in Alabama following Geronimo's surrender.    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Daniel Carlton.   Sources:  Ball, E., & Kaywaykla, J. (1970). In the Days of Victorio. Amsterdam University Press. Bovee, K. (2019a, October 26). Empowered Women of the Southwest - Lozen, Apache Warrior Woman (Part 2). Kari Bovée | Historical Mystery Author. https://karibovee.com/lozenpartii/  Bovee, K. (2019b, October 26). Empowered Women of the Southwest - Lozen, Apache Warrior Woman (Part One). Kari Bovée | Historical Mystery Author. https://karibovee.com/empowered-women-southwest-lozen-apache-warrior-woman-2/  Docevski, B. (2018, February 3). The “Apache Joan of Arc” and the other courageous Native American women of the 19th century. The Vintage News. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/11/30/native-american-women/amp/  Gregorczyk, A. (n.d.). Longhorns: Characteristics. Longhorns. http://longhornfacts.weebly.com/characteristics.html#:%7E:text=Horns%20can%20extend%20to%20%26%20feet,of%2055%20to%2065%20inches  Kettler, S. (2020, October 30). 5 Powerful and Influential Native American Women. Biography. https://www.biography.com/.amp/news/famous-native-american-women-native-american-heritage-month  Kumeyaay.com. (n.d.). Lozen: The Fearless Apache Warrior Woman You've Probably Never Heard Of. https://www.kumeyaay.com/news/133-lozen-the-fearless-apache-warrior-woman-you-ve-probably-never-heard-of.html  Lozen. (2021, February 2). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lozen Mingren, W. (2019, June 5). Lozen: An Intelligent and Brave Apache Warrior Woman. Ancient Origins. https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/lozen-intelligent-and-brave-apache-warrior-women-005889  New Mexico Nomad. (2019, December 29). Apache Warrior Women | Gouyen, Lozen, Dahteste. https://newmexiconomad.com/apache-warrior-women-gouyen-lozen-dahteste/  Rodriguez, A. (2019, October 31). Lozen. Herdacity. https://herdacity.org/lozen/  Romano, A. (2016, January 13). Lozen: The badass warrior woman you've probably never heard of. Mashable. https://mashable.com/archive/wtf-history-lozen  Southern Arizona Guide. (2020, October 18). Powerful Apache Warrior Women: Lozen & Dahteste. SouthernArizonaGuide.Com. https://southernarizonaguide.com/chiricahua-apache-warrior-women-lozen-dahteste/ 

“In this day and age, I'm shocked that someone still doesn't know the difference between ‘you're' and ‘your.'”   Kate McCue Cruise ship captain   Artwork: Ink drawing on a NOAA nautical chart of the waters around the eastern tip of Puerto Rico, an area that cruise ships often travel around.   The story: For Kate McCue, captain of Celebrity Edge, a 1,004-foot-long mega cruise ship that can accommodate nearly 3,000 passengers, the day's work never stops. On a typical day onboard the ship, she'll get up at 4 a.m. to begin her work.  Aside from being responsible for up to 3,000 passengers and a crew of more than 1,000, she's also active on social media. McCue shares a behind-the-scenes view of what cruise life is like from the ship's bridge on her popular social media channels.  On one particular day in October 2020 began like the others, but this day was a little different. An internet troll commented on one of her social media posts, asking, “how can you be a captain? Your only a woman.” [sic] Sexist comments like this and worse towards McCue and other women online are unfortunately all too common. But on this day, McCue was having none of it. She shut the man down with a withering response in a video that quickly went viral around the world: “I think it's about high time that I address this, because it's 2020, and in this day and age I'm shocked that someone still doesn't know the difference between ‘you're' and ‘your.' Just a quick reference: ‘you're,' as in ‘you are,' as in ‘you are sexist.' ‘Your' is something possessive, it belongs to you. Like ‘your ignorance.'” The video concluded with McCue sitting down in her chair, saying “If you need any more clarification, you can find me here—in my captain's chair.”   Background on Captain McCue Born January 6, 1978 in San Francisco, CA, McCue began her maritime career with a dream at the age of 12 when she went on a cruise with her family. She told her father she wanted to be a cruise director when she grew up and he told her she could do anything, including captain the ship. She earned a bachelor's degree at Cal Maritime and worked her way up the ranks in the shipping world.  She began as an apprentice officer on cargo boats transporting banana from South America and California. Eager to switch from cargo to cruises, she joined Disney Cruise Lines as a third mate and later moved to Royal Caribbean International. She worked her way up to staff captain (second in command), when in 2015, the CEO of Celebrity Cruise Line invited her to apply to captain the Celebrity Summit.  This promotion made McCue the first American female captain of a mega cruise ship and only the fifth woman overall. A mega cruise ship has a gross tonnage of least 80,000. Her current ship, Celebrity Edge, is nearly 131,000.  Now when passengers begin a voyage on a ship helmed by McCue, she greets them over the loudspeakers, “This is Captain Kate, but you can call me Captain because it took me 19 years to earn this title.”    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Zakhar Valaha.    Sources:  Coffey, H. (2020, October 6). A cruise captain's “fantastic” TikTok video responding to a sexist troll has gone viral. Insider. https://www.insider.com/video-female-cruise-captain-tiktok-response-to-sexist-troll-viral-2020-10 Donnelly, E. (2019, November 21). ‘Ocean's 27': Celebrity Cruises will set sail with first-ever all-female officer crew on Women's International Day. Yahoo! https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/celebrity-cruises-first-all-female-bridge-officers-200600164.html gCaptain. (2019, June 25). IMO's ‘Day of the Seafarer' Highlights Gender Equality in Maritime – #IAmOnBoard. https://gcaptain.com/imos-day-of-the-seafarer-highlights-gender-equality-in-maritime-iamonboard/ Glamour. (2017, August 29). Careers: How to be a cruise ship captain. Glamour UK. https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/cruise-jobs Hoeller, S. (2019, December 20). Meet America's first female captain of a mega cruise ship, who brings her cat and mermaid tail on every voyage. Insider. https://www.insider.com/mega-cruise-captain-kate-mccue-celebrity-edge-photos-2019-12 McCue, K. [@captainkatemccue]. (2020, October 4). Reply to @seamus272 #yourewelcome #fyp #foryou #captain [TikTok post]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@captainkatemccue/video/6879772226510523653 Rizzo, C. (2020, October 9). First American Woman to Captain a Cruise Ship Delivers Master Class on How to Shut Down Sexist Trolls. Travel + Leisure. https://www.travelandleisure.com/cruises/first-american-female-cruise-ship-captain-provides-inspirational-lesson-in-grammar-and-shutting-down-trolls Romano, A. (2019, February 21). America's First Female Cruise Captain Travels the World With Her Adorable Sphynx Cat (Video). Travel + Leisure. https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/female-cruise-captain-cat Wikipedia contributors. (2021, November 1). Kate McCue. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_McCue  

“You are not lesser just because you're a girl.”   Megan Rapinoe American professional soccer player Olympic gold medalist (2012) Two-time FIFA Women's World Cup winner (2015, 2019)   Artwork: Ink and colored pencil drawing on a map of Paris, France, where she won her second FIFA Women's World Cup in 2019.    The Story:  Gender-based pay inequality is a chronic issue across the world and is especially present in sports. The US Women's team is ranked No. 1 in the world for women's soccer and they've won four World Cups, including the last two in a row. The Men's team in comparison has struggled to even qualify for the World Cup for much of its history and has never played in a final match. Despite the massive success mismatch and the women's team contributing higher revenues to US Soccer, the men's team is paid and supported much better than the women's team.  Fully sick of this, Rapinoe led her teammates to sue US Soccer for gender discrimination in the spring of 2019, before they made their fourth Cup run. Former team captain, Julie Foudy, praised Rapinoe's efforts, especially for not waiting until after winning their fourth Cup, saying, “We had been socialized not to stir the pot and we probably would have said, ‘let's plant that flag after we've won.'” US Soccer responded to the suit with a variety of ugly claims, including one that being a male soccer player requires more skill and responsibility.  Rapinoe was having none of that, saying in a post-game interview, “To every girl out there, to every boy out there, who watches this team, who wants to be on this team or just wants to live their dream out, you are not lesser just because you're a girl. You are not better just because you're a boy.”   Background on Rapinoe: Born: July 5, 1985, Redding, California.  Rapinoe and her team dominated the field at the 2019 World Cup, hosted by France. Facing off against host country France in the quarter-finals, Rapinoe scored both of the US' goals in the 2-1 game. She smiled at the audience with her arms outstretched for her goal celebration and the moment was quickly hailed as an “iconic” moment in sports. The game took place in Le Parc des Princes stadium in Paris.  Mirroring the 2019 Cup run, Rapinoe's soccer career has been a story of relentless success on the field paired with high-profile advocacy for equality. Her advocacy work includes activism and philanthropic ventures around gender, race, and LGBT issues.    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and Zakhar Valaha.    Sources: Andrew, S., & Muaddi, N. (2019, June 29). Megan Rapinoe struck an epic pose after scoring against France in the Women's World Cup. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/29/football/megan-rapinoe-soccer-france-trnd/index.html  Carroll, C. (2019, November 1). USWNT Uses Its Equal Pay Lawsuit as Confetti for World Cup Victory Parade. Sports Illustrated. https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/07/10/uswnt-womens-world-cup-victory-parade-lawsuit-confetti  ESPN. (2020, June 3). USWNT lawsuit versus U.S. Soccer explained - Defining the pay gaps, what's at stake for both sides. ESPN.Com. https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usaw/story/4071258/uswnt-lawsuit-versus-us-soccer-explained-defining-the-pay-gapswhats-at-stake-for-both-sides  Guzman, F., & Ahmed, S. (2020, March 12). Megan Rapinoe tears into US Soccer with a powerful message: “To every girl out there . . . you are not lesser.” CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/12/us/us-womens-soccer-protest-spt-trnd/index.html  Johnson, L. M. (2020, March 12). US Soccer claims it won't pay women equally because being a male player requires more skill. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/11/us/us-soccer-federation-court-document-trnd/index.html  Kelly, M. (2019, August 7). Are U.S. women's soccer players really earning less than men? Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/08/are-us-womens-soccer-players-really-earning-less-than-men/  Megan Rapinoe. (2020, February 2). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Rapinoe  Vrentas, J. (2021, May 27). 2019 Sportsperson of the Year: Megan Rapinoe. Sports Illustrated. https://www.si.com/sportsperson/2019/12/09/megan-rapinoe-2019-sportsperson-of-the-year  Wamsley, L. (2019, March 8). U.S. Women's Soccer Team Sues U.S. Soccer For Gender Discrimination. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2019/03/08/701522635/u-s-womens-soccer-team-sues-u-s-soccer-for-gender-discrimination   

“I may be the first woman in this office. But I won't be the last.” Kamala Harris First female vice president of the US   Artwork: Harris' portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an ink drawing of her giving her victory speech, on a map of the United States.    The story: Following days of election drama, on Saturday, November 7, all the major news outlets called the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden. That evening, in front of a socially distant crowd in Wilmington, DE, and the millions more watching at home around the country, Biden and Harris gave their victory speeches as president- and vice president-elect.   Wearing an all-white pantsuit—a tribute to the suffragists who fought for women's right to vote—Harris confidently strode onto the outdoor stage. She celebrated Biden's “audacity” for selecting a woman as his vice president. “While I may be the first woman in this office, I won't be the last,” she vowed. “Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.  “And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message, dream with ambition. Lead with conviction,” she continued.  As the first female, black person, and Asian-American to be elected VP, Harris closed her speech with a brief vision of the next four years, saying,  “No matter who you voted for, I will strive to be a vice president like Joe was to President Obama—loyal, honest, and prepared. Waking up every day thinking of you and your family. Because now is when the real work begins...  “The essential work to save lives and beat this epidemic. To rebuild our economy so it works for working people. To root out systemic racism in our social justice system and society. To combat the climate crisis. To unite our country and heal the soul of our nation.”   Background on Kamala Harris Harris was born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, CA. A child of immigrants—her mother from India and her father from Jamaica—Harris is well familiar with the struggles of minorities in the US. While campaigning for president, Harris often spoke of her childhood attending civil rights marches with her parents.  As a child, she was bused across town to public school in a more prosperous neighborhood as part of Berkeley, CA's desegregation program. She told of how children in her father's Palo Alto neighborhood were not allowed to play with her because she was black.  She spent most of her career as a prosecutor, working up to District Attorney of San Francisco in 2004 and then California Attorney General in 2011. She entered the US Senate as California's junior senator in 2017. She ran for president, but withdrew before the 2020 primaries and endorsing Biden. In August, Biden announced Harris would be his running mate.  Aside from the first black person, and first Indian American, she was only the third woman to be picked as the VP candidate for a major party ticket. She's the second ever person of color to hold the office, after Charles Curtis, a Native American, served under Herbert Hoover in 1929. During the presidential campaign, she acknowledged the historic nature of her candidacy, saying in one interview:  “It really does help to have examples of what can be done and role models, things you can point to, to make it clear that it's not impossible—and that, in fact, it's quite probable that you can do these things and will do those things.”    Music: Music comes from Geovane Bruno, Philip Phile's “Hail Columbia” performed by the US Coast Guard Band, and John Philip Sousa's “Starts and Stripes Forever,” performed by the US Navy Band.   Sources: Gambino, L. (2021, January 21). “I won't be the last”: Kamala Harris, first woman elected US vice-president, accepts place in history. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/07/kamala-harris-victory-speech-first-woman-vice-president  Grady, C. (2020, November 8). Kamala Harris speech: “I may be the first woman to hold this office. But I won't be the last.” Vox. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21554699/kamala-harris-victory-acceptance-speech  Kamala Harris and Padma Lakshmi on Representation. (2020, October 28). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHG-8YNM-8s  News18. (2020, November 8). 10 Things to Know About America's Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris - In Pics. https://www.news18.com/photogallery/world/10-things-to-know-about-americas-vice-president-elect-kamal-harris-in-pics-3055745-6.html  Paul, K. (2020, December 15). “We are so proud”: San Francisco Bay Area celebrates Kamala Harris, hometown hero. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/07/kamala-harris-oakland-berkeley-bay-area-california  Snyder, T. (2020, November 8). Biden and Harris address the nation, basking in victory and pledging to work for unity. POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/07/biden-harris-victory-speech-2020-435000  Wikipedia contributors. (2021, November 28). Kamala Harris. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris#Early_career_(1990%E2%80%932004) Zhou, L. (2020, November 7). Election results: Kamala Harris is elected the first woman vice president. Vox. https://www.vox.com/21547999/kamala-harris-first-woman-vice-president-black    

“People say, ‘Why doesn't someone do something about that?' And then they realize they are someone.” Pat “Action Nan” Smith  Grandmother who cleaned beaches every week for one year The artwork: Ink drawing of Pat Smith picking up trash, drawn on a map of Cornwall, UK.   The story:  Pat Smith was living an ordinary life in 2017 as a business owner and grandmother in the UK's oceanfront peninsula region of Cornwall, when she watched a documentary on endemic plastic pollution in the oceans.  “I was very disturbed by what I saw and I think it was the first inkling I had that there was a problem in the oceans regarding plastic pollution,” she says. “I couldn't sleep that night and when I woke up in the morning, I thought I've got to do something about this.” Eventually, that “something” crystallized around the idea of cleaning garbage off Cornwall's beaches. She'd acquired the handle “Action Nan” for completing a 300-mile charity walk a couple years before and on January 1, 2018, the 70-year-old Smith sprang into action again. She committed to cleaning beaches every week for the whole year.  Armed with garbage bags, gloves, and a trash grabber, she travelled from one end of Cornwall to the other, picking up trash each week. Sometimes volunteers would join in the work with her, including her grandchildren. Other times, onlookers mistook her work for community service.  By the end of 2018, she'd collected 13,000 pieces of litter during 104 hours of beach cleaning.  “The vast majority is broken up pieces of everyday used items, like bottle tops, toothpaste caps, and water bottles,” she says. “You might get down to the beach and it looks perfectly clean. But then you walk along and look down at the seaweed and you find tangled up little pieces of net, bits of rope, and other things washed in by the tide.” While her year of beach cleaning is completed, Smith hasn't slowed down. “I won't stop as our beaches need me,” she says. “I'm driven to try and protect our living planet for my children and grandchildren and I will continue to do everything in my power to achieve that,” she says. To that end, she founded Final Straw Cornwall, a campaign to eliminate plastic straws and other single-use plastic from Cornwall. As a result of her efforts, Cornwall's plastic use has dramatically decreased.  “I don't know how much longer I've got left on the planet,” she says. “But in the time I have left I have to do something.”   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno.    Sources: BBC Three. (March 2, 2019). Amazing Humans: Action Nan. BBC Three. https://www.facebook.com/bbcthree/videos/560660841082418/   Bett, J. (2019, January 16). Woman spends an entire year cleaning plastic off 52 beaches in Cornwall. SWNS. https://stories.swns.com/news/woman-spends-an-entire-year-cleaning-plastic-off-52-beaches-in-cornwall-103279/ Boucher, P. (2019, April 2). Meet the 70-Year-Old Grandmother Who Spent an Entire Year Cleaning up Beach Garbage. PEOPLE.Com. https://people.com/human-interest/70-year-old-grandmother-spent-an-entire-year-cleaning-up-beach-garbage/ Loopsider. (n.d.). Meet the grandmother who's saving the planet! Loopsider.Com. https://www.loopsider.com/en/video/meet-the-grandmother-whos-saving-the-planet Smith, P. (2020, November 6). Meet Action Nan. Bosinver. https://bosinver.co.uk/meet-action-nan Tapia, S. (2019, June 4). 70-Year-Old Grandma Cleans 52 Beaches In One Year After Watching A Documentary About Plastic Pollution. Bored Panda. https://www.boredpanda.com/grandma-cleans-52-beaches-in-one-year/ Trewhela, L. (2020, March 17). Cornwall's Action Nan is now a global star thanks to her selfless work for the environment. CornwallLive. https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cornwalls-action-nan-now-global-3956049   

“I'm someone's daughter too.” Alexandria “AOC” Ocasio-Cortez US Representative for New York's 14th congressional district   Artwork: AOC's portrait in the Fearless Portrait project consists of an ink drawing of her giving her floor speech calling out the misogyny in Congress. She's wearing a bright red blazer with matching red lipstick— something she describes as her “war paint.” I've drawn her over a map of New York City's Bronx and Queens boroughs, where her district is located.   The Story: On July 20, 2020, a male legislator crassly accosted Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling her “disgusting” and worse insults. She said he was being “rude” and walked away. In response to news reports of the verbal abuse, the instigator addressed the matter on the floor of the House of Representatives. Giving a weak, non-apology, he glossed over his gross disrespect and sought cover behind the excuse of about being married with two daughters. The following day, AOC gave a powerful rejoinder, calling out the deflection for what it was: another instance of men mistreating women while hiding behind the women in their lives to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.  “I will not stay up late at night waiting for an apology from a man who has no remorse over calling women and using abusive language towards women,” she said in her floor speech. “But what I do have issue with is using women—wives and daughters—as shields and excuses for poor behavior.” “I am someone's daughter too,” she reminded him, Congress, and the rest of the nation. “My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. My mother got to see Mr. Yoho's disrespect on the floor of this House towards me on television. And I am here because I have to show my parents that I am their daughter and that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men.”   Background on AOC: Born: October 13, 1989, New York City.  Entering Congress at 29, she is the youngest female representative ever. Born into a work-class family in the Bronx, Ocasio-Cortez did not have a typical background for a congresswoman. Her father was an architect and her mother cleaned houses and drove a school bus to make ends meet. “We were poor, so I was used to eating rice and beans every day,” she says, describing her childhood. After college, she supplemented nonprofit and political cause work with jobs as a bartender and waitress. In 2018, she decided to run for Congress and waged an unlikely campaign to defeat a 10-term incumbent in the primary election. This win was one of the largest political upsets of the time and was made all the more impressive given that Ocasio-Cortez operated her campaign from a paper grocery bag behind the bar she worked. Between shifts at the restaurant, she'd reach into the bag for campaign material and a change of clothes and set out to canvas.  She has advocated strongly in Congress for the environment, more affordable healthcare and higher education, and immigrant-friendly policies, among other things.    Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno and RYYZN.    Sources:  C-Span, (July 23, 2020), “Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks about exchange with Representative Ted Yoho,” retrieved from https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4894496/representative-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-speaks-exchange-representative-ted-yoho&cliptool  Cadigan, Hilary., (November 7, 2018), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez learned her most important lessons from restaurants, bon appetit, retrieved from https://www.bonappetit.com/story/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-lessons-from-restaurants  Wikipedia, (2020), “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria_Ocasio-Cortez  Wu, Nicholas., (2020, July 24), ‘I am someone's daughter too.” Read Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's full speech responding to Rep. Ted Yoho, USA Today, retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/24/aoc-response-ted-yoho-read-text-rep-ocasio-cortezs-speech/5500633002/  Zhou, Li, (2020, July 25), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's powerful speech against misogyny in Congress was long overdue, Vox, retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2020/7/25/21337375/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-speech-misogyny-sexism-congress 

“That's the history of the world. His story is told. Hers isn't.”  - Dolores Huerta American labor leader and civil rights activist   I want my daughters to pursue lives where anything is possible and they can be whatever they want to be. But if they never see someone like them do it first,  how will they know it's an option for them?   After all, if they can see it, they can be it.  I realized one day that I could only think of one female scientist—the chemist and physicist Marie Curie. Likewise, for other fields, I knew of one or two famous women and that was it. Or sometimes I had never heard of women in the field at all.  I grew up reading history and later got a degree in it. I did notice the texts I read centered on the life and exploits of white men, but I didn't think much of it at the time. History was that. His story. And I didn't really question it. But why should it be that way?  For example, in the United States' origin story, there are the Founding Fathers (no mothers) and the stories of the nation forged in revolution include great armies of great men facing off against each other—Generals George Washington and Nathaniel Greene against Lords Howe and Cornwallis. There was the Swamp Fox Francis Marion, Nathan “Give me liberty or give me death” Hale, Light Horse Harry Lee, the Marquis de Lafayette, John Paul “I have not yet begun to fight” Jone, and so many more.  In the popular narrative of the American Revolution, there were apparently only two women involved in the whole of the war—Abigail Adams and Betsy Ross. Ross sewed a flag and Adams was noted for how much she did in a time when women often didn't. Even the side-switching Benedict Arnold gets more recognition than the many women who contributed in ways large and small.  The women whose stories I'm telling in this podcast are not perfect. These women worked to change the world in some way and that's what this podcast celebrates. I had three criteria for inclusion in this project:  A photograph of the woman. I wanted to show images of what these people actually looked like. It helps make the story real to see their actual face, instead of an artist's guess of what some ancient person may have looked like. From these photographs, I then drew their portraits onto maps that give context to their stories. Unfortunately, this means women who did great things before photography was invented aren't represented here. Doesn't mean they weren't amazing also. A few known facts about their life to weave together into an interesting story. Even better, a story that isn't well known. A lot of people learn about Marie Curie in school. She is the token female scientist. But what about other women in science? I wanted to showcase stories of women in many fields who haven't had as much (or any) recognition for their accomplishments.   A quote from them or about them. I really wanted to include at least a few words from the subject in their story. Seeing a person's face and hearing their words makes a long-dead historical figure come alive.  So many great women couldn't meet even these simple criteria because no one had deemed their stories worth recording. Their photos were not taken, while their male contemporaries were. Their words were not recorded, while men's were. Their stories were not passed down, eclipsed and sometimes actively replaced by men's stories. These problems were most acute among women of color,  as they faced the double prejudice of misogyny and racism, so only a sliver of their full story could squeeze into the historical record.  It frustrated me when I couldn't tell someone's story in their own words. That not even one sentence of their voice was recorded and I had to resort to the words of men around them to describe who they were and what they felt.  This collection of stories is my small effort in recognizing the accomplishments of women throughout history and the present day. Researching these women has been an education for me and the result is a demonstration to my daughters and girls everywhere of what is possible for them to achieve.   Music: This episode contains music by Geovane Bruno.

Coming soon, the Fearless Portrait Podcast, a collection of stories about women who worked to change the world.