women in politics – Page 4 – The Exasperated Historian

335) Ida B Wells

335: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett

Journalist, Researcher, and Activist

Born: 16 July 1862, Holly Springs, Mississippi, United States of America

Died: 25 March 1931, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Born into slavery, Ida was left in charge of her younger siblings after her parents were killed in a yellow fever epidemic when she was a young teenager.

In 1884, she sued a train car company for throwing her off of a first-class car even though she had a ticket (she won the case at a local level, but the ruling was overturned in federal court).

Ida quickly moved to writing in local papers about the injustice of lynching black men—the violence against her became so bad she had to flee to Chicago.

Even though she helped found the NAACP she was not listed in that role for many years (today she is), possibly because she cut ties with the organization early on.

Ida balanced motherhood (four children) with her activism work and traveled internationally pushing for the betterment of fellow people of African descent. She is remembered for being one of the first African American women to keep her maiden name after marrying (her husband was Ferdinand Barnett, Ida changed her name to the hyphenated Wells-Barnett).

Ida and her organization, the Alpha Suffrage Club, were crucial in seeing Women’s Suffrage passed in Illinois in 1913. Ida was especially active in the suffrage movement for the betterment of African American women, and clashed at times with white suffragettes who fought to continue the discrimination of women of color.

Ida was also active in politics and was a member of the Republican party, joining after hearing her parents’ stories with their involvement during Reconstruction in the South. Her story is featured in Dinesh D’Souza’s Hillary’s America.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Rejected Princess

Located In My Personal Library:

Ida B The Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B Wells by Michelle Duster

America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins

Rejected Princesses by Jason Porath

The Book of Awesome Women: Boundary Breakers, Freedom Fighters, Sheroes, and Female Firsts by Becca Anderson

Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History's Most Notorious Women by Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

Time Magazine's 100 Women of the Year (Ida appears in the 1920 article, "the Suffragists")

Sources:

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ida-b-wells-barnett

https://www.nps.gov/people/idabwells.htm

https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/ida-b-wells

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7862236/ida-bell-wells

326) Sushma Swaraj

326: Sushma Swaraj
Former Indian Minister of External Affairs

Born: 14 February 1952, Ambala, Punjab (present-day India)

Died: 6 August 2019, New Delhi, India

Sushma was the second woman to hold that position in India’s history.

Sushma was a politician and also a former Supreme Court Judge. She was the youngest cabinet minister in the Haryana Government after being elected to the state legislative assembly at the age of twenty-five.

Sushma was a leader in the Bharatiya Janata Party and a prominent face of the Indian Nationalist movement. At the time of her death, she was the face of Prime Minister Modi’s external affairs agenda and applauded the decision to strip Kashmir of its autonomous status, although it should be noted that Sushma announced she would not be running for re-election the year before her death.

She was married and had one daughter at the time of her death.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/obituaries/sushma-swaraj-dead.html

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/06/asia/sushma-swaraj-dead-intl/index.html

325) Jeanine Pirro

325: Jeanine Pirro

Television Host, Author, Former Judge, Prosecutor, and New York Politician

Born: 2 June 1951, Elmira, New York, United States of America

Also Known As: Judge Jeanine

Jeanine is now the host of her own Fox News show Justice With Judge Jeanine.

She is also a former contributor to NBC News and the Today Show.

Viewers might also recognize her from several episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where she appeared as a New York City Judge.

In 2019 Fox suspended her show for two weeks for comments she made about Representative Ilhan Omar.

Before stepping into the realm of television, Jeanine was the District Attorney for Westchester County, New York (the first woman elected to that position, in 1993). She was also a judge, also making history in 1990 by becoming the first woman elected to the bench in her county. Jeanine was the first woman to prosecute a murder case in Westchester County. She was even the first female president of the New York State District Attorney Association.

Both of her children have also gone to law school.

Badges Earned:

Located In My Personal Library:

Liars, Leakers, and Liberals by Jeanine Pirro

Radicals, Resistance, and Revenge by Jeanine Pirro

Sources:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1984860/bio

http://judgejeaninepirro.com/bio/

324) Sonia Gandhi

324: Sonia Gandhi

Former President of the Indian National Congress (Party)

Born: 9 December 1946, Lusiana, Italy

Original Name: Edvige Antonia Albina Maino

Sonia is the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi and declined the office of Prime Minister after her husband’s assassination—shocking the world, nearly all of whom expected her to accept the position.

Although she declined the position of Prime Minister many people saw her at the time as simply a queen appointing a regent to act in her place.

Sonia served as President of the Congress Party from 1998 to 2017. She has also served as Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance since 2004.

When Sonia’s husband Rajiv was Prime Minister, Sonia preferred to stick to the background, studying art restoration and working to preserve India’s artistic treasures. Though she at first faced resistance because she was not Indian by birth, she quickly proved to the country she was Indian at heart, learning the language and customs and turning away from her Italian roots.

Rajiv was assassinated in 1991, and though Sonia at first refused to enter politics, by 1993 she was traveling the country campaigning on behalf of other members of the party. By 1998 she was head of her party and remained there until 2017, when she retired from her position as head of the party.

According to India Today, Sonia holds the record as longest serving President of the Indian National Congress Party.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sonia-Gandhi

https://www.indiatoday.in/sonia-gandhi

https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/indian-parliament/sonia-gandhi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Gandhi

322) Meira Kumar

322: Meira Kumar

The First Female Speaker of Lok Sabha—the Lower House of Indian Parliament

Born: 31 March 1945, Patna, India

She served in that position from 2009 to 2014.

Meira is a politician and diplomat.

She was born into a political Dalit Family (Dalit means untouchable—today they are called Scheduled Caste), but obviously didn’t let that stop her. Her father served as Deputy Prime Minister of India.

Meira led several initiatives as speaker including trying to reduce the amount of paper used in India and helping to combat violence against women.

In 2017, she was the United Progressive Alliance nominee for president, but she was not elected to the position.

In 2019, Meira’s son Anshul Kumar was one of two appointed to serve as a national spokesperson of the All India Congress Committee, showing that politics definitely runs in the family.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Meira-Kumar

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/congress-national-spokesperson-sharmistha-mukherjee-anshul-meira-kumar-1597217-2019-09-09