Annie Turnbo Malone, circa 1920, via wikicommons, fair use
Netflix has created, Self Made, a limited series on the life of Madam C.J. Walker starring Octavia Spencer. This series is only “based on” her life so we figured that a refresher of the facts was important. However, we know that Madam C.J. Walker got her hair care education, her business template, and her professional start thanks to Annie Malone and her Poro college, and Annie entered the Millionaires Club before the woman who usually gets credit for it. We thought Annie deserved a little time in the spotlight, too.
Isadora Duncan was a dance pioneer who bewitched audiences during her lifetime and trained young girls in her methods and methodology so that, after her passing, they could teach generations who danced after her. She was a rebel who loved hard, experienced great tragedy as well as great success and, to paraphrase the words of Paul Anka famously sung by Frank Sinatra, she did it her way.
Mary circa 1925ish (the photo isn’t dated) Library of Congress
When we last left Mary Church Terrell, it was 1898, she was 34 years old, standing on a stage and receiving thunderous applause after having given a speech entitled, The Progress of Colored Women to an audience at the National American Women Sufferage Association. (You can read her speech here, at blackpast.org.)
This is not Mary Church Terrell, Part Two. That episode is coming as soon as we can finish it, but Ida and Mary’s lives crossed paths quite a bit and while you wait just a little longer for Mary, Part Two, we thought it would be a good idea to remember the life of this brave and brilliant writer and activist.
Mary Church Terrell was born the year that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, she died the year that U.S. schools became desegregated and she worked as a civil rights activist and suffragist in between to better the lives of African Americans. She lived such a full life (and we get to give a lot of background on the issues that she championed) we’re going to break this into two episodes.
Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870, in Chiaravalle, Italy, the only child of Alessandro and Renilde Montessori. That very same year, Italy became a unified country and her father worked in Rome with that new government. Her mother was from a wealthy family who had bucked convention and “allowed” their bright daughter to become as educated as possible. While conventional society didn’t allow Renilde to pursue a career, it didn’t stop her from raising her own bright daughter to aspire to one.
