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In True Grit, Charles Portis gifts us True Grit was published in 1968 at that her story is worth retelling. She with a most unconventional narrator the beginning of the second wave is a character who has withstood the in Mattie Ross, a fourteen—year—old feminist movement in the United test of time and still inspires readers spitfire with a clear sense of purpose States. At the time there was a hunger of all ages to accept the hand they’re and no tolerance for frivolity or for representations of independent dealt and get on with it. In the words of idleness. For Anglo-American women, girls and women, including an interest Mattie Ross, “I have never been one to frontier life in the late 1800s was a in females throughout history. flinch or crawfish when faced with an solitary and challenging existence, For Mattie’s story, Portis chose a unpleasant task.” favoring only those with the boldest retrospective structure laced with of constitutions. Mattie’s personality is humor, making it an unthreatening one Amy Retartha, shaped by a desolate and unforgiving in a moment when American culture Community Engagement Program Assistant landscape that ends up giving her the was in upheaval. The 1970s also saw strength and perseverance needed to a republishing of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Based on a conversation with April Lidinsky, Ph.D. and Associate Professor of Women's avenge her father’s murder. Mattie is Little House on the Prairie series and the and Gender Studies Program at IUSB, who independent and guileless, naive and Caddie Woodlawn books with strong will be offering a discussion entitled “Strong sharp-witted. She has a duality and is female protagonists surviving (and Women of the Wild West” on April 29, at an unlikely heroine, able to outwit and thriving) in a harsh frontier wilderness. the Francis Branch. (pg. 7) out-grit the men around her. Mattie lives to a ripe old age and notes

MARY “STAGECOACH” FIELDS 1832 - 1914, TENNESSEE FIRST FEMALE AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPRESS MAIL ROUTE CARRIER Born into slavery, Mary was emancipated in 1865 when slavery was outlawed. She made her way to Ohio, then Montana where she won a job by being the fastest applicant to hitch a team of horses. As a result, Mary was awarded the coveted job of express mail route carrier. She single-handedly drove the dangerous Montana route for eight years and became known and beloved for her toughness-- drinking, smoking, wearing pants, toting guns, and fighting off wolves. She was “one of the freest souls to ever draw breath, or a .38.”

TIEN FUH WU (far right in photo) BORN APPROX. 1891, CHINA ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING PIONEER At a very young age, Tien was sold by her father to pay his gambling debts. She became a child servant and was sent from China to San Francisco where she became a household slave in a Chinatown brothel. Young Tien was mistreated and physically abused by the women who operated the brothel. When a compassionate neighbor notified the staff at Occidental Mission House, Tien was rescued and brought to the mission home to live. A sponsor paid for her education at a boarding school in Philadelphia, and Tien received a college education in Toronto. Following her time in the East, Tien went to China to look for her family but was unable to locate them. She chose to return to San Francisco and threw herself into work at the mission home where she became second-in- command and worked for decades as a translator, rescuer, advocate, and group home manager, fighting the trafficking of Chinese girls.

March | April 10 featured

NELLIE CASHMAN 1845 - 1925, COUNTY CORK, IRELAND IRISH IMMIGRANT TO GOLD RUSH “BOOMER” Nellie immigrated to the U.S. as a young child with her mother and siblings. The family settled in Boston where they faced rampant anti-Irish discrimination. Seeking better opportunities, the family relocated to San Francisco. In her 20s, Nellie followed the silver boom to Pioche, Nevada, where she prospected for silver and opened a boarding house. She soon declared her life’s mission to get rich and help people along the way. An energetic follower of the mining booms, Nellie convinced a party of all-male miners to let her join them in a gold prospecting expedition to British Columbia’s Northern Interior where she opened a boarding house and saloon while prospecting nearby. Returning to the U.S., Nellie settled in Tombstone, Arizona, and opened a boot and shoe store as well as two restaurants. She was continually fundraising to help people in difficult circumstances and to establish the town school, hospital, and church. Her expeditioning adventures continued in 1883 with an unsuccessful prospecting trip to the Baja Peninsula. The 1897 Klondike Gold Rush drew Nellie to Alaska where she spent the remainder of her life. She opened a restaurant and grocery store, staked a claim and made $100,000 from it, giving much to charity.

ZITKALA-SA 1876 - 1938, SOUTH DAKOTA ADVOCATE FOR NATIVE AMERICANS The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota was home to Zitkala-Sa until age 8 when she begged her mother for permission to attend school in the East. She enrolled in White’s Manual Labor Institute in Wabash, Indiana. The school was harshly rigorous and banned students from speaking their native languages or practicing native cultural traditions. After spending several traumatic years at the school, Zitkala-Sa attended Earlham College where she entered speech competitions and delivered passionate messages about racial equality. She consistently won first prize and the admiration of her audience. Zitkala-Sa was equally talented in music and attended Boston’s New England Conservatory. When her education was complete, she wrote a series of articles for The Atlantic Monthly about her internal struggle between “being wild or becoming civilized...an endless evolution--that keeps me in continual Purgatory.” Several years later, Zitkala-Sa was unexpectedly launched into the national spotlight with her contributions to the successful Sun Dance Opera, a production that was “an uneasy duet of cultures.” She used this platform to begin advocating in Washington DC where she wrote, lectured, and lobbied Congress on behalf of Native American causes.

MARIA AMPARO RUIZ DE BURTON 1832 - 1895, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO EARLY CONTRIBUTOR TO CHICANA LITERATURE Born to a well-respected family, Maria was 16 when she fell into a star-crossed love affair with a U.S. Army captain who had come to claim Baja California for the States. Maria insisted on marrying the captain in spite of the local outcry and was subsequently banished from the Catholic Church. She and her new husband moved to Monterey, California, where Maria attended school, mastered the English language and began writing plays. The couple later moved to Virginia where Maria circulated in prominent political circles and soon became known for her intelligence and strong opinions. After her husband’s death, Maria turned to writing for solace and as an outlet for social criticism. Laws in the States at this time did not recognize women as landowners and prejudice against Mexicans was particularly strong. Upon the threat of losing her land in California, Maria returned to the West Coast and spent 23 years fighting legal battles to keep Rancho Jamul. She published novels in 1872 and 1885 that would establish her as one of the first contributors to Chicana literature.

March | April 11