We’re getting there!
There are now more than 8,500 stories in the archive and it is still very much an active initiative at the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS). It began in 2015 as part of the five-year celebration of women’s activism connected to the Suffrage Centennial. DORIS created WomensActivism.nyc to honor the anniversary of women winning the right to vote in New York State in 1917 and in the United States in 1920.
The inspiring women’s stories archive features women from around the globe who made a difference through their activism and, in turn, inspire activism today. Some are famous; many are unknown; but all have contributed to making change in some way.
What better time than Women’s History Month to consider contributing a story to the archive? Here are the stories of just three of the inspiring women included in the archive:
Alexa Irene Canady
Alexa Irene Canady was the first African-American woman neurosurgeon in the United States. However, her career began tentatively. She almost dropped out of college while a mathematics major, because “I had a crisis of confidence,” she has said. When she heard of a chance to win a minority scholarship in medicine, “it was an instant connection.” After earning a B.S. degree in zoology from the University of Michigan in 1971, her additional skills in writing and debate helped her earn a place in the University of Michigan Medical School, where she graduated cum laude in 1975. “The summer after my junior year,” she explains, “I worked in Dr. Bloom’s lab in genetics and attended a genetic counseling clinic. I fell in love with medicine.” In her work as a neurosurgeon, she saw young patients facing life-threatening illnesses, gunshot wounds, head trauma, hydrocephaly, and other brain injuries or diseases. Throughout her twenty-year career in pediatric neurosurgery, Dr. Canady has helped thousands of patients, most of them under the age of ten.
Such credentials still could not shield her from prejudice and dismissive comments. As a young black woman completing her surgical internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1975, on her first day of residency, she was tending to her patients when one of the hospital’s top administrators passed through the ward. As he went by, she heard him say, “Oh, you must be our new equal-opportunity package.” Just a few years later, while working as a neurosurgeon at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia from 1981 to 1982, her fellow physicians voted her one of the top residents. Dr. Canady was chief of neurosurgery at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan from 1987 until her retirement in June 2001. She holds two honorary degrees: a doctorate of humane letters from the University of Detroit-Mercy, awarded in 1997, and a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Southern Connecticut, awarded in 1999. She received the Children’s Hospital of Michigan’s Teacher of the Year award in 1984 and was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1993, she received the American Medical Women’s Association President’s Award and in 1994 the Distinguished Service Award from Wayne State University Medical School. In 2002, the Detroit News named Dr. Canady Michigander of the Year. She is an inspiration because she was the first black woman to become a neurosurgeon.
Michele Ciechalski
When I think of what strength looks like, the first person that comes to mind is a woman named Michele Ciechalski. Well, I call her mom. I have watched life throw so many bricks at her and she has managed to build something remarkable out of them every time. During my seventeen years of living, I have seen her go through a career change, a cancer scare, a divorce, and many more challenges. Through them all, she has stayed true to her character and never given up hope. Michele worked in a telephone company for about twenty years until she realized her true calling was to be a teacher. At forty years old and with two children, Michele went back to college to obtain a master’s degree in education. That was the first major lesson I learned from her—that it is never too late to chase your dreams. She is now a high-school teacher at Lavelle Preparatory Charter School. There are times when I feel like I am living with her students because of how often she tells us stories about them. I admire how much she cares about her students. Whenever they need help, she is there for them. From the college application process, to conflicts with other students or teachers, to personal problems, my mother will always listen and help her students as if they are her own children. Her students don’t just call her Ms. Ciechalski; some call her mom, too. Through my parents’ divorce, my mom remained my rock—even when she didn’t have someone to be hers. She was always patient with me and my sister during those trying times. As a single mother, she tries her best to give us everything we need and want, even if it means that she has to make sacrifices. At one point, Michele took on two jobs to support us. When she would return home in the evening, her mood would be just as bright as it was when she left for work in the morning. Regardless of what happens in her day, Michele never passes up a chance to dance in the kitchen with her daughters while disco music plays. Another lesson I’ve learned from her is to always find time to laugh because, if you can find something to laugh about, then you can get through any struggle. Michele is not only a great mother and an amazing teacher, she is my hero. She taught me that a queen does not need a king nor does a princess have to get saved by a prince.
Maud Gonnne
Maud Gonne, married name Maud MacBride, (born December 21, 1866, Tongham, Surrey, England—died April 27, 1953, Dublin, Ireland), was an Irish patriot, actress, and feminist, one of the founders of Sinn Féin (“We Ourselves”), and an early member of the theatre movement started by her longtime suitor, W.B. Yeats. The daughter of an Irish army officer and his English wife, Gonne made her debut in St. Petersburg and later acted as hostess for her father when he was assistant adjutant general in Dublin. Converted to republicanism by an eviction she saw during the 1880s, she became a speaker for the Land League, founded the Daughters of Ireland (a nationalist organization), and helped to organize the Irish brigades that fought against the British in the South African War. In the meantime Gonne had become a noted actress on the Irish stage. In 1889 Yeats fell in love with her, and the heroine of his first play, Cathleen ni Houlihan (1892), was modeled after her; she played the title role when the play was first produced at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. However, Gonne refused Yeats’s many marriage proposals. She had become involved with a French journalist in 1887 while recovering from an illness, and she later bore two children by him (a son, Georges, and a daughter, Iseult). The death of their first child, Georges, at about age two, helped to precipitate her interest in spiritualism. In 1903 Gonne married a fellow revolutionary, Major John MacBride. After suffering abuse at the hands of MacBride, she legally separated from him in 1906 and gained custody of their son, Seán MacBride, who later became foreign minister of Ireland and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. John MacBride took part in the 1916 Easter Rising, after which he was executed. Following his death, Gonne began using MacBride’s name again to advance her standing in revolutionary circles. She herself was imprisoned for six months in 1918 for her supposed involvement in a pro-German plot. A book of her reminiscences, A Servant of the Queen (i.e., Ireland), was published in 1938. Yeats’s 1893 poem “On a Child’s Death” is thought to have been inspired by the death of Gonne’s son Georges, whom Yeats thought Gonne had adopted. (The poem was not published in Yeats’s lifetime; scholars say he did not want the poem to be part of his canon, as it is of uneven quality.)
You can add the stories of women who have inspired you from the past and the present. How about a description of your one of the thousands of essential workers who have kept our City going? Or add a story about your grandmothers. All it requires is for you to provide basic information about their lives and what makes them memorable and inspiring. Wouldn’t it be fun several years from now to go to the Archives to show younger family members the entry?