Her Ruby Shoe Moment Adina de Zavala sat down in the darkness to catch her breath. At 46 years old, she wasn’t used to running up the stairs of dilapidated buildings. It was the evening of February 10, 1908 and she had just locked herself inside the Long Barracks of the San Antonio de Valero Mission (AKA the Alamo). It … Read More
Lizzie Magie Phillips
Her Ruby Shoe Moment Lizzie Magee Phillips paced around her home on a winter’s day in January 1936, waiting for the reporters she had phoned to arrive. There were three board games sitting on her kitchen table. Two were versions of a game Lizzie invented, called The Landlord’s Game. The other was a brand new game just released by a … Read More
Ida Wells Barnett
Her Ruby Shoe Moment Ida B. Wells held a copy of her book, The Red Record, in her hands and had a sense of deep satisfaction. At about 100 pages, it was her biggest project ever. After months of research and writing, it was finally published in spring of 1895. The book was the first of its kind — it … Read More
Susan La Flesche Picotte
Her Ruby Shoe Moment Susan La Flesche Picotte had a lifelong dream. She wanted to build a hospital on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska. She was the first Native American doctor in America and served the medical needs of the Omaha people. But she couldn’t help anyone who needed acute care — the closest hospital was 30 miles away (a … Read More
Emma Willard
Her Ruby Shoe Moment Emma Willard felt defeated. The New York Legislature again had refused to provide her school, the Waterford Academy for Young Ladies, with a public endowment after years of promises. The school was so successful, and her students so accomplished, that she had been confident of success this time, even breaking her usual rule to not spend … Read More
Frances Watkins Harper
Her Ruby Shoe Moment It wasn’t the first time Frances Watkins Harper had seen her work in print. She had published books of poetry and serialized novels in magazines. Her suffrage and civil rights speeches had been featured in many newspapers and pamphlets. But holding the bound edition of her novel Iola Leroy; or, Shadows Uplifted was different. The number … Read More
Jeannette Rankin
Her Ruby Shoe Moment Jeannette Rankin knew what she had to do, but spent a minute gathering her courage and resolve to do it. It was December 8, 1941 and Jeannette was on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. It was her third term as a Congresswoman from Montana, but there had been 22 years between this … Read More
Chien-Shiung Wu
Her Ruby Shoe Moment Chien-Shiung Wu rushed into the Union Depot in Washington DC. It was a snowy Christmas Eve in 1956 and she was trying to catch the last train bound for New York City. As Wu boarded the train and settled into her seat, the magnitude of her discovery sank in. Wu had just completed a science experiment … Read More
Judy Baca
Her Ruby Shoe Moment Judy Baca took a step back to inspect her latest work in progress, a mural to commemorate the upcoming 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She was standing under the overpass connecting 4th Street to the 110 freeway. Los Angeles was known for its colorful murals, and its community of urban artists, many whom were Mexican-American, … Read More
Maria Mitchell
Her Ruby Shoe Moment Professor of Astronomy Maria Mitchell looked around the Pacific Railroad car at the women seated around her. It was wonderful to be surrounded by some of her favorite students again. She had missed their sharp minds and probing questions since they had graduated from Vassar College. Now they were together, crossing the country by rail on … Read More