Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin was a pioneer in the field of astronomy and one of the most eminent female astronomers of the twentieth century. She was the first to apply the laws of atomic physics to the study of the temperature and density of stellar bodies and to discover that stars are made mainly of hydrogen and helium and that could be classified according to their temperatures. She was one of the first women to advance to the rank of professor at Harvard University and the first woman to head a department there.
Inspiring Thursday: Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa
Miriam Makeba, nicknamed Mama Africa, was a very famous and influential South African singer and a civil rights and anti-apartheid activist. Recognized for having been the first artist to take the unique sounds of Africa to countries beyond the borders of her homeland, Miriam used her musical talent to fight against apartheid in South Africa and for civil rights in the United States.
Inspiring Thursday: Sonita Alizadeh
“I saw them with bruises on their faces. I heard them talking with fear about getting married. They were 15 and 16 years old, but they acted like old women, tired of being alive. They were being forced to marry and they were giving up on their own lives. I wanted to talk about that and bring attention to this problem… so I started to rap about it.” – Sonita
Inspiring Thursday: Fahmida Riaz
Born in Meerut in 1946 and brought up in Hyderabad, Fahmida Riaz was a Pakistani feminist poet, writer, and human-rights activist. She was an important pioneer of women´s writing as well as for her radical and feminist political positions in Pakistan, a male-dominated state.
Inspiring Thursday: Qiu Jin
My body will not allow me
To mingle with the men
But my heart is far braver
Than that of a man.
-Qiu Jin
Inspiring Thursday: Anna Politkovskaya
“How we react to the tragedy of one small person accurately reflects our attitude towards a whole nationality, and increasing the numbers doesn’t change much” ― Anna Politkovskaya
Inspiring Thursday: Lillian Ngoyi
South African activist Lillian Ngoyi was known as ‘the mother of the black resistance’ and she served as president of the women’s league of the African National Congress. For 18 years of her life, she lived as a banned person – an attempt by the South African government to silence her.
Inspiring Thursday: Zitkala-Sa – Red Bird
Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, Zitkala-Sa – Red Bird, was a writer and an Indian rights activist who strove to expand opportunities for Native Americans and to safeguard their cultures, as well as a teacher and a magazine editor.
Inspiring Thursday: Mona Eltahawy
“It would take (…) years and feminism — and multiple (…) times when my body was groped, pinched and touched without my permission during the nine years that I wore hijab — to know unwaveringly that sexual assault has nothing to do with how you’re dressed. It has everything to do with the predator who assaults you.”
Inspiring Thursday: Tarana Burke
Tarana Burke is an African-American civil rights activist. She’s most well-known as the founder of the “Me Too” movement in 2006 which has turned into a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about sexual harassment, abuse, and assault in society.
