A Seat at Her Table

 The little, one-time farming community of Henrietta, N.Y., is today overshadowed by nearby Rochester. But on May 20, 1825, a girl was born in Henrietta who would make a big mark in American history. Antoinette Blackwell was blessed with forward-thinking parents, who recognized her high intelligence early in her life, and encouraged her abilities. She was preaching in her local Congregational church while still a teenager.  Read that last sentence slowly and thoughtfully.  The world outside Henrietta and Rochester was not quite so tolerant. Brown would spend the rest of her life battling the obstacles of her day set up against women in church leadership -- and against women in general. Nonetheless, in 1852 she became the first woman ordained as a minister in America.  "Our sister in Christ, Antoinette L. Brown, is one of the Ministers of the New Covenant, authorized, qualified, and called by God to preach the gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ," declared the Rev. Luther...

  History is like a great big ball of bread dough. Every day – every second of every day – history happens. The dough ball swells as the yeast of time goes to work on it. And so no human brain can possibly contain every important date or every noteworthy person who ever lived. And there is no way that a single book – or even a shelf of encyclopedias, or these days, even a website – could cover the rise and fall of every nation and empire from the ancient Americas across to the lands of Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and Oceania. The classroom classics of decades ago shift and make way for newer ones. And yet, we try. We who love people and history, we try. We learn places and people and events and we labor all our lives to blow off the dust, to keep the light shining, to bail with our little buckets the sand that is constantly pouring into the hole. So Nellie Bly. That's her pen name. She was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran.  Today, May 5, is her birthday. May 5, 1864, in Cochran...

 What were you doing at 16?  Lesley Gore was a junior in high school. And she was watching her cover of "It's My Party" skyrocket to a number one hit.  Pretty cool.  It would be her birthday today, May 2, if lung cancer hadn't taken her from us too early. Lung cancer, even though she didn't smoke. It does happen. Ms. Gore seemed to have that odd combination of misfortune and great luck. What she called her signature song, "You Don't Own Me," -- so powerful, so different from the kiddish "It's My Party," was only kept from becoming her second number one by a certain unbeatable musical phenomenon known as the Beatles wanting to hold your hand. She came close but never had another number one. Meanwhile, she played a minion of Catwoman on the Batman t.v. series. Later composed songs for the soundtrack of 1980's "Fame." Received an Academy Award nomination. And participated in a 2008 documentary, "Airplay: The Rise and Fal...

 In the farming region of Norwich Township, Ontario, Canada, on May 1, 1831, Emily Jennings Stowe entered the world.  All these years later, the region is still largely agricultural, even if tobacco farming is giving way to more modern crops.  Emily became Canada's first practicing female physician and a founder of the women's suffrage movement in Canada. Homeschooled, in a Quaker community that encouraged education for women, and taught herbal remedies by her mother, she pursued a teaching career until her husband contracted tuberculosis. That led her to focus instead on medicine.  Of course she faced obstacles. The Toronto School of Medicine denied her access because of her gender, so in 1867 she went to New York and earned her degree. She then promptly returned to Canada to open a medical practice in Ontario. Her fight was only just beginning. And it wasn't until 1880 that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario finally granted her a license to practice ...