You stumble upon women making history so often, but let me tell you some of these gals are going in the books with their names bold and big. I can guarantee they will probably be taught about in-school curricula sometime soon… but for now, you have me to tell you a little about them!
1. Kathleen Martinez
Dr. Martinez is a Dominican archeologist baddie literally digging and exploring scary murky tunnels and waters to give us the inside scoop of what she and her team speculate could be Cleopatra’s — that’s right, thee last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt — tomb. This news is extremely exciting for many history lovers and archeologists, because it feeds the curiosity about one of Egypt’s greatest female leaders. She has been working on this project for over fifteen years, and is discovering amazing physical evidence. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiques, there are accounts of tunnels over 4,000 ft long with connection to the Mediterranean sea and gold coins with Cleopatra’s face on them. Martinez is a great example of women in humanities and history following their passion, and teaching us to never give up. Cleopatra is quoted often for saying “No man will ever find my tomb”, and boy I’m glad she may be right.
2. Malala Yousafzai
Malala is one of the coolest and bravest gals ever. She is a girl’s education activist from Pakistan who has been fighting and succeeding at making her voice heard since she was as young as 11 years old when she gave her first speech “How Dare the Taliban Take Away My Basic Right to Education?”. Since then Malala has been attacked and ridiculed by the TTP and its supporters, and even survived an assassination attempt at 15. With her fame, she has co-established the Malala Fund for girls’ education and opened a girls’ school for refugees in Lebanon. The courage she has and her determination for her education have always inspired me to do better in school, because she taught me to appreciate the privilege to learn. Every time I get an A I’m like “this one is for you, Malala!”
3. Amanda Gorman
For all my poets and political baddies, Amanda’s your girl. Amanda Gorman is an American poet and Activist who recently gained more attention from her poem reading, “The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country “(2021) which focused on the hope for the country and the faults of the past at the U.S. Capitol for the Inauguration of President Biden. She is one of the youngest people to read for the Inauguration at only 22 years old despite her speech impediment. Her speech impediment gave her problems from a young age, but that never stopped her from public speaking and writing poetry, which even helped her practice and improve. She is an example of Black excellence and a promising writer from Generation Z. I recommend looking at some of her reads, including “The Hill We Climb” and “Call Us What We Carry”; she is also planning to release a book for younger audiences called Something, Someday in the fall of 2023.
