Temple Grandin   Imagine being smart. Really smart. HaHa. Just kidding. You are smart. Imagine being super intelligent, a brainiac extraordinaire. Imagine being autistic. Imagine being Temple Grandin. Ms Grandin is a fascinating woman. She has accomplished a great deal, on many levels, and possesses a stunning command of two areas dear to her heart: autism and animal science. Two utterly disparate subjects, you’d think. But, no. Temple Grandin not only colours outside the lines, but, moves them around, if necessary. Mary Temple Grandin was born on August 29, 1947, in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of two years, Grandin’s parents were told she was autistic and recommended she be…

Queen Liliuokalani This is the very sad story of the last monarch of Hawaii, Queen Liliuokalani, the trials and tribulations of the indigenous Hawaiians and her extended battle with the rich American plantation owners who eventually coerced her to give up her throne. Liliuokalani was born in Honolulu on September 2, 1838, and, in keeping with a very interesting Hawaiian custom, she was adopted by another family, Abner Paki, his wife, Konia, and their daughter, Bernice Pauahi. As I write this I wonder why Bernice wasn’t adopted by another family. My first thought was perhaps it was tradition only in royal families, but Konia was the granddaughter of King Kamehameha…

Frida Kahlo Frida Kahlo was one of my favourites – favourite painter and favourite person. Not that I knew her or even met her, but everything I’ve read about her, every photo I’ve seen and every single one of her paintings makes me think she was a strong, fascinating woman. A woman you’d like to spend time with and get lost in hours-long conversations about life and death and sadness, hope and love. Frida Kahlo was a true free spirit, boxed in by life and circumstance. Her art became a conduit through which she was able to communicate her physical and emotional pain. She was born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo…

Of all the warrior women about whom I have written, Boudicca is my favourite. She is my heroine, my inspiration. And she was a warrior. Really. If you have not yet met Boudicca, allow me to introduce her. Boudicca was queen of the Iceni tribe who lived in what is now known as East Anglia, in southern England. Dio Cassius, a Roman historian, describes her thus: “She was huge of frame, terrifying of aspect, and with a harsh voice. A great mass of bright red hair fell to her knees.” This is exactly how I imagine her, tall and strong with long, long red hair. She must have been a…

Rafea Anad   I first “met” Rafea Anad on a PBS TV show called Solar Mamas, one of a series of programs collectively entitled Why Poverty? She was thirty-two years old at the time, with four daughters (a fifth came along a bit later.) She is a Bedouin and lived in a traditional tent in the middle of the Jordanian desert, close to the Iraqi border. Her village was said to be one of the poorest of all the desert villages in Jordan. Rafea Anad was given the opportunity to travel to India, to the Barefoot College, to learn to be a solar engineer. This college, the brainchild of entrepreneur…

I just love the name Sojourner Truth. I don’t think I have ever come across a name as wonderful as Sojourner Truth. She was born around 1797, or perhaps 1787. Records of slave children were not kept. Standard practice at the time. Her name at birth was Isabella Baumfree. She was born in Ulster County, New York and spent her early years living and working on the farm of her family’s owner, ninety-five miles north of New York City. Between 1806 and 1808, Sojourner Truth was sold as a slave three times. A very inauspicious start to life, I’d say. But the circumstances of her early life did not stop…

I started researching Ms Harriet Tubman and all I could say was, Wow. Just Wow. She was born into slavery, somewhere between 1820 and 1825, in Maryland, one of nine children of Harriet Green and Ben Ross. Oh, and by the way, her parents were owned by two different people.   By all accounts, Harriet’s childhood was a rather violent one. Not only did she endure the indignities of the concept of slavery, she also suffered the daily realities, mostly in the form of whippings – even as a child.   When Ms Tubman was in her early teens she suffered a severe head injury. When ordered to help subdue…

Sacajawea Not much is known about Sacajawea. The most reliable sources, concerning her life, her capabilities, her personality and her imprint on history, come from the journals of the men with whom she traveled to the Pacific coast.   I think we all know who Sacajawea was – at least those of us who are students of history. For those who don’t, let me introduce you to a true warrior woman.   She was born somewhere between the years 1787 and 1790 in the area we now call Idaho. Her father was a chief of the Shoshone tribe, and her mother, well, let’s just say most womens’ names were not…

Maya Angelou   I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings The free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wings in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom The free bird thinks…

  I have been in love with Wafa Sultan for several years now, ever since I watched a video of her speaking out against Sharia law and the repression of Muslim women. She is my original warrior woman. She inspires me and gives me the little push I need every once in a while, to stop whining and get on with life. Ms Sultan was born in Syria in 1958. She studied at university to become a doctor and later, with her husband and children, emigrated from her homeland to the U.S. When I sat down to research this warrior woman, I discovered there is not a great deal of…