Pat Taub
I’ve chosen trailblazers in literature, music, painting, political activism and medicine. Many communities lost their own notable women last year, whom you might want to include in your personal remembrances.
Alice Munro (1931-2024)
An acclaimed Canadian short story writer who won almost every literary award including the Booker and the Nobel. Munro’s stories of ordinary small town Canadian women are remarkable for her flawless writing and surprising psychological twists. She ranks as a favorite among women readers.
However, Munro’s reputation has been tainted, when two months after her death, her daughter Andrea Skinner, wrote an op-ed for the Toronto Star, accusing her mother of turning a blind eye to her stepfather’s repeated sexual abuse of her.
Alice Munro in 2012 (The New Yorker)
Niki Giovanni (1943-2024)
A legend in her time for her riveting poetry, that when performed, had the cadence of blues and jazz music. Giovanni was a prolific star of the Black Arts Movement, the wave of Black nationalism that erupted during the civil rights era. She penned over 30 books, and, as a leading public intellectual, emerged as a beacon of courage for women of all races.
Nikki Giovanni speaks at the Genius Talks during the BET Experience on 29 June 2014 in LA (The Guardian)
Iris Apfel (1922-2024)
Apfel became, in her words, “a geriatric starlet,” in her 80’s and 90’s when her eccentric fashion style was discovered, cemented by the Metropolitan Art Museum’s 2005 fashion exhibit of items from her wardrobe.
If Chanel represented the fashion advice, “Less is more,” Apfel will be remembered for ‘more is more,’ represented by her layering of necklaces and bracelets and an idiosyncratic combination of clothes, Her joyful clothes inspired women to break the rules and have fun with fashion.
Iris Apfel at 100 (Vogue)
Mary Wings (1949-2024)
In 1973, Wings, an openly gay woman, created the first lesbian comic after visiting a bookstore in Portland, Oregon that featured a ‘coming out’ story written by a straight woman.
Wings found it unconvincing, prompting her to create “Come Out Comix,” which was initially printed on a friend’s basement printer, but once launched was picked up by a publisher. Within the year it was said to be on the bookshelf of every lesbian in the country.
Wings’s Come Out Comix was published in 1974
Faith Ringgold (1931-2024)
Recognized for her “story quilts,” large panels of canvas, painted with narrative scenes and framed by borders of pieced fabric and often incorporating written text. Meant for the wall rather than the bed, the quilts tell of the joys and rigors of Black lives — and of Black women’s lives in particular — while simultaneously celebrating the art of dreaming to transcend suffering.
Ringgold’s illustrated children’s books, notably the Caldecott-winner, “Tar Beach,” have become childhood staples.
Ringgold quilt, “American People” (Chicago Art Museum)
Bernice Johnson Regan (1942-2024)
Founder of the gospel group, “Sweet Honey and the Rock,” Regan is credited for providing the soundtrack for the civil rights movement. She wrote, “I sang and heard the freedom songs and saw them pull together sections of the Black community at times when other means of communication were ineffective.”
Bernice Regan performing in 2008 (The New York Times)
Mildred Thornton Stahlman (1923-2024)
Stahlman developed one of the first modern intensive care units for premature babies, helping newborns to breathe with lifesaving new treatments. Based on findings from her research on newborn lambs, she helped launch a new era of treating respiratory lung disease, a leading killer of premature babies.
In the 1960s, Dr. Mildred Stahlman saved 11 of 26 babies who had respiratory disease by pioneering the use of miniature iron lung machines (The New York Times)
Nora Morales de Cortinas (1930-2024)
Founding member of Argentina’s “Mothers of the Disappeared,” who searched for their children who were disappeared by Argentina’s military dictatorship in the 1970s. Cortiñas led a quiet life until her son Carlos Gustavo suddenly disappeared on April 15, 1977. He studied economics at the University of Buenos Aires and was an activist in a left-leaning political group, which made him a target of the right-wing dictatorship that seized control of Argentina in a coup in 1976.
Cortiñas, center right, with an enlarged photo of her son Gustavo, during a protest in Buenos Aires in 1982 (The New York Times)
The 100’s of women health care workers and journalists who were 2024 causalities of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
May their extraordinary courage and dedication not be forgotten and carried on by all who stand for Gaza.
Women health care workers in Gaza, similar to those who have been killed by Israel
