To mark the NWR national theme for the year we each researched a woman who we felt had shown courage when facing adversity. These women showed real courage in choosing to stand up for or working for something they believed in. They variously faced barriers because of their gender, race, beliefs, disability or social standing. We found their stories and quotes inspirational.
Rosa Parks – American Activist in the Civil Rights Movement
“Each person must live their life as a model for others.”
Lillian Bilocca – Leader of the Headscarf Revolutionaries, Trawler Safety Campaigner
“If I don’t get satisfaction, I’ll be at that Wilson’s house, private house, until I do get satisfaction in some shape or form.”
Rosalind Franklin – British Chemist – the unsung hero of DNA
“In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall succeed in our aims: the improvement of mankind.”
Dorothy Lawrence – First World War English journalist – she posed as a male soldier to report from the front line
“I’ll see what an ordinary English girl without credentials or money can accomplish.”
Virginia Hall – one of the greatest spies of the Second World War
“Traditionally, British secret services had drawn from a shallow gene pool of posh boys raised on imperial adventure stories, but this regard for breeding over intellect was scarcely a match for the ruthless barbarism of the Third Reich.”
Harriet Tubman – American abolitionist born into slavery. Nicknamed “Moses” for liberating enslaved people.
“There was one of two things I had a right to: liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would take the other, for no man should take me alive. I should fight for liberty as long as my strength lasted.”
Malala Yousafzai – Pakistani Education Activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17
“One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”