Antislavery crusader and dauntless champion of women's rights Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815-84) was a famed newspaper editor and popular speaker known for her spirited audacity and stinging denunciations. In this collection of letters written for the St. Cloud Democrat, Swisshelm provides vivid glimpses into life in mid-nineteenth century Minnesota through rich descriptions of places, characterizations of people, accounts of frontier travel, thoughts on pioneer journalism, reflections of public opinion, and just plain gossip. After the devastation of the Dakota War of 1862, Swisshelm set out on a national lecture tour [query--did she lecture about the war? If yes, add a bit about this]. On the road, she found wartime conditions so stirring, and the need for nurses so pressing, that she moved to Washington, D.C., for several years, working first in a military hospital and later at the war department. Her accounts of these days contain poignant scenes from her hospital service and inimitably spirited descriptions of life in the nation's capital. The letter entitled "Women Workers"--in which she savages certain fellow employees in government service--is but one of many fascinating entries. Facsimile pages of Swisshelm's newspaper articles, a handy index, and a biographical sketch of Swisshelm provide background and context to this pioneering woman's letters. Crusader and Feminist offers readers an intimate window into the world of a remarkable editor, lecturer, war nurse, and feminist. Historian Arthur J. Larsen was superintendent of the Minnesota Historical Society and curator of its newspaper department.

A biography of the early American newspaper publisher and feminist, Clarina Howard Nichols. Includes an overview of the first women's rights movement.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation—the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. From the bestselling authors of Tightrope, two of our most fiercely moral voices With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope. They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS. Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty. Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

The timeless and essential anthology of Black Feminist thought—showing that Black women have always understood the need for feminism to be intersectional “In this pathbreaking collection of articles, Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall has taken us from the early 1830s to contemporary times. . . . She has refused to cut off contemporary African American women from the long line of sisters who have righteously struggled for the liberation of African American women from the dual oppressions of racism and sexism.” —from the epilogue by Johnnetta B. Cole The first major anthology to trace the development of Black Feminist thought in the United States, Words of Fire is Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s comprehensive collection of writings by more than sixty Black women. From the pioneering work of abolitionist Maria Miller Stewart and anti-lynching crusader Ida Wells-Barnett to the writings of feminist critics Michele Wallace and bell hooks, Black women have been writing about the multiple jeopardies—racism, sexism, and classism—that have made it imperative to forge a brand of feminism uniquely their own. In the words of Audre Lorde, “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house”—Words of Fire provides the tools to dismantle the interlocking systems that oppress us and to rebuild from their ashes a society of true freedom. Contributors include: Shirley Chisholm The Combahee River Collective Anna Julia Cooper Angela Davis Alice Dunbar-Nelson Lorraine Hansberry bell hooks Claudia Jones June Jordan Audre Lorde Beth E. Richie Barbara Smith Sojourner Truth Alice Walker Michele Wallace Ida Wells-Barnett

Do Muslim Women Need Saving? is an indictment of a mindset that has justified all manner of foreign interference, including military invasion, in the name of rescuing women from Islam. It offers a detailed, moving portrait of the actual experiences of ordinary Muslim women, and of the contingencies with which they live.

- The authors received the 2004 Susan B. Anthony Award, given by the First United Methodist Church Council on the Status and Role of Women

A biography of one of the first suffragettes and campaigners for women's rights.