WOMEN MAKING A DIFFERENCE
now known as the NAACP (National get flying lessons; for black established the first troop of
Association for the Advancement of women it was impossible. Girl Guides in the United
Colored People), the oldest civil rights She sought help and was States in her native Savannah.
organization in the country. Wells-Bar- encouraged by her friend The movement grew rapidly,
nett continued her tireless crusade for Robert Abbott, founder of becoming the Girl Scouts of
equal rights for African-Americans the Chicago Defender, to America in 1913. The organiza-
until her death in 1931. attend an aviation school tion was incorporated in 1915
in France, where racism with the national headquarters
Clara Barton (1821-1912) was nonexistent. But she at Washington, D.C., with
Civil War nurse, had to learn French first. Daisy serving as president
founder of the American Bessie was not the first until 1920 when she was
Red Cross. Clara Barton black woman (or even the bestowed the rightful title of
became a teacher in only woman in her class) founder. She was instrumental
Massachusetts at the age to receive a license from in organizing the world Girl
of 17; founded her own the FAI — but she was the Scout camp in the United
school six years later and first American to obtain States in 1926. Less than a
after ten years of teach- her pilot’s license from the French year later, on Jan. 17, 1927, Juliette Gor-
ing. She pursued writing school. And she was the first licensed don Low died of cancer in Savannah, at
and languages at the Lib- black pilot in the U.S. In 1990, a road the age of sixty-six. The membership
eral Institute in Clinton, near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport was re- in the Girl Scouts by this time num-
New York. She became named Bessie Coleman Drive, and two bered 168,000. She was buried in the
known as the “Angel of years later, Chicago declared May 2, uniform representing the organization
the Battlefield.” Officially, she became 1992, Bessie Coleman Day. In 1995, the she founded which to this day contin-
the superintendent of Union nurses in U.S. Postal Department issued the ues to change the world.
1864 and began obtaining camp and Bessie Coleman stamp. And finally, in
hospital supplies, assistants and mili- 2000, Bessie Coleman was inducted
tary trains for her work on the front. into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame.
She practiced nursing exclusively on
battlefields, experiencing first-hand the Juliette Gordon Low
horrors of war on sixteen different bat- (1860-1927)
tlefields. Barton was the President of Founder of the American Girl
the American National Red Cross for Scouts. In 1911, she met Lord Robert
twenty-two years. Barton was the Baden-Powell, founder of the British
most decorated American woman, Boy Scouts, through whom she became
receiving the Iron Cross, the Cross of keenly interested in the scouting move-
Imperial Russia and the International ment. During that year she organized a
Red Cross Medal. Her final act was troop of GirlGuides(the female equiva-
founding the National First Aid Society lent of the Boy Scouts) among poor
in 1904. She retired as President of the girls at her estate at Glenlyon, Scotland, Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994)
American Red Cross at the age of 83. and then founded two more troops in African-American Olympic Gold
London. Then on March 12, 1912, Daisy Medalist. On September 7th, 1960, in
Bessie Coleman (1893-1926) Rome, Wilma became the first Ameri-
First African-American woman to can woman to win 3 gold medals in the
get pilot’s license. Bessie was gifted in Olympics. She won the 100-meter dash,
math and at the age of eight, Bessie the 200-meter dash, and ran the anchor
worked as the family bookkeeper. on the 400-meter relay team.
Bessie and her siblings learned to read This achievement led her to become
and write by reciting from the Bible one of the most celebrated female ath-
each evening. Her brother’s taunting letes of all time. In addition, her
inspired her to become a pilot. But pur- celebrity caused gender barriers to be
suing this dream was not easy — it broken in previously all-male track and
was hard enough for a white woman to field events. PWM
58 PROFESSIONAL WOMAN’S MAGAZINE www.professionalwomanmag.com
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