Women make history in NYC
BY HAZEL SHAHGHOLI
So many extraordinary
women are woven into the fabric
of New York City’s history
and present that it would require
an encyclopedia to document
all of those forgotten and
then remembered — as is the
model for acknowledgment of
feminine history, blindspots
then reclamations.
So, in honor of Women’s
History Month, Schneps Media
has chosen to focus, in
part, on women
from two fi elds most pertinent
to our historical moment.
Let us fi rst turn to the fi eld
of medicine. Dr. Elizabeth
Blackwell (1821-1910) was the
very fi rst female MD in the
US, and resided on University
Place. On account of her gender,
Blackwell did not attract
many patients. And so she did
what many great women do —
she got inventive, deciding to
treat patients in the squalid
tenements of Manhattan’s
Lower East Side. Just as
her peers had abandoned
her, these poor souls living
COURIER L 18 IFE, MAR. 26-APR. 1, 2021
in abject poverty
had been abandoned
by society, and received
care at
Blackwell’s dispensary.
Here she treated immigrants,
mostly Irish and German,
suffering from a range
of ailments from cholera to
typhoid. Blackwell assembled
an army of nurses. They made
deathbed house calls to ease
the sick into the afterlife and
educate the area’s indigent
about personal hygiene.
As is so often the case, after
“proving herself,” powerful
male physicians and philanthropists
fi nally gave her
the time — and funds — to
open the New York Infi rmary
for Indigent Women and Children
in 1857. In her writings of
1853, Dr. Blackwell remarked
on the diffi culty of her chosen
path but of her, “high purpose,
to love against every species of
social opposition.”
As it so happens, the
backbones that enabled
the modern
day, female,
New York City political
powerhouses — Hillary Clinton,
Gale Brewer, Carolyn Maloney,
Rebecca Seawright, Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, just to
name but a few — dates back to
the 1820s when female liberation
movements began to fi ght
the patriarchy.
In mighty combination, Elizabeth
Cady Stanton (1815-1902),
and Susan B. Anthony (1820-
1906) joined forces and embodied
the word “trailblazer” by
dedicating four and a half decades
of their lives in the fi ght
for female emancipation and
the expansion of the women’s
rights in New York City. Stanton
was the strategist and primary
speech writer, while
Anthony was the “face” and
formidable speaker who would
spread her message “wherever
she could drum up a crowd.”
Taunted and sneered at by
the men that surrounded them,
the pair launched “The Revolution”
newspaper, a pioneering
document in grass roots activism
eventually disseminated
worldwide, and passed on as a
mantle to their fearless activist
successors — those Nasty
Women we would proudly become.
Neither woman lived to cast
a ballot when women fi nally
won the right to vote in 1920,
but in their belief that men
and women were created
equal, they laid those
tracks.
And then we have
the “famed”: Emily
Warren Roebling
completed the construction
of the
Brooklyn Bridge
when her engineer
husband
fell ill; Jackie
Onassis saved
Grand Central
Station from
demolition; Peggy Guggenheim
ensured our city’s cultural
richness through her keen eye
for modern art; Edith Wharton
was the fi rst woman to win the
Pulitzer Prize for fi ction, and
Billie Holiday sent shockwaves
through Harlem nightclubs
with her unique jazz style infused
with political messages
in the 30s and 40s, before Debbie
Harry and Patti Smith
rocked our worlds at CBGB’s
with their fellow New Wavers
and Punks.
In terms of sexual suppression
and abuse, Bronxite Tamara
Burke’s #MeToo global
explosion ushered in a new age
that allowed survivors to fi nd
their voice, and is perhaps one
of the greatest contributions
of social media to humanity to
date.
Peel back the identity of all
of the “well-known” New York
City heroes and you’ll fi nd a
web of women whose incremental
efforts afforded them
their freedoms.
If you want a deep knowledge
of the women that helped
build, expand and save our glorious
city, you have a lot of reading
to do — there are thousands
of stories waiting to be “unearthed.”
The New York Public Library
is running a month-long
series in honor of these stellar
women in arms. Visit www.
nypl.org for more information.
Influential Women of New York City
Rosie the Riveter (bottom) is perhaps
one of the most well-known women
in history. Emily Roebling (above), is
lesser known, but led construction
on the Brooklyn Bridge.
(Above) Charles-Émile-Auguste Carolus-Duran
When it comes to great ladies, our cup runneth over
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