Episode 262: Wangari Muta Maathai, Part Two

Wangari Maathai

We wrap up our coverage of this brave, trailblazing woman who defied convention, governmental oppression, violence, and financial hurdles (to name a few) to begin the Greenbelt Movement which not only planted 40 million trees and counting, but helped empower women around the world work for bettering themselves and their own communities from the ground up!

Her funeral with glimpses of her unique coffin, her children, and some archival footage of Wangari herself.

Her memoir
by Wangari Maathai
by Wangari Maathai
By Namulundah Florence

So many kids’ books!!

by Eucabeth Odiambo
Part of the Rebel Girls series

By Gwendolyn Hooks, Margaux Carpentier
by Jeannete Winter

by Maureen McQuerry and Robin Rosenthal

And off-topic but discussed (IYKYN) :

By Libba Bray
By Gwendolyn Hooks and Colin Bootman

The Green Belt Movement is still very active, here is their website with lots of information about their mission. their work, and their history, and the Wangari Maathai Foundation has a lot of information as well.

The Greenbelt Movement is still active around the world, here is a very recent article about how they are still standing up to the government of Kenya: The Nation (e-paper)

There is tree planted in Wangari’s honor in Washington, D.C. it’s a Golden Rain tree, lovely but pretty invasive. Here’s an article about it from the University of Florida.

Here is some information on Sagana State Lodge in Kenya where Princess Elizabeth learned she was Queen Elizabeth while Wangari was in school nearby: Sagana Lodge

The Bowery Boys New York City History podcast has several episodes that discuss parts of Central Park, this is a good one to start with: The early years of Central Park.

***We don’t usually add things to our shownotes that we didn’t talk about on the show, but a lovely friend of the show, ELizabeth, shared the One Tree Planted organization with us which is part of the Trillion Tree program that we did talk about. Check them out and help plant trees all over the world!

Episode 154: Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie giving her testimony in 1964 at the Democratic National Convention…despite the president’s attempts to silence her.

Fannie Lou Hamer was called the “Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement” and, sometimes, “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement” and both are very appropriate. (more…)