The new books in this week’s book club feature women who began as outsiders, but have ascended the ranks and are trying to change misogynist, racist, and capitalist systems from the inside. No matter how established their names have become, they’re still radicals to the fossilizing status quo.
<em>Elizabeth Warren: Her Fight. Her Work. Her Life.</em>
The words “Nevertheless, she persisted” have become something of a mantra for feminists, revolutionaries, and Elizabeth Warren supporters. They were hurled as an accusation against Warren when she was silenced for reading Coretta Scott King’s 1986 letter, detailing concerns about Jeff Sessions’ history of racist judgments, during his Attorney General confirmation debate. Now, they are seen instead as an accolade, a mark of pride at how much Warren has been able to get under the political establishment’s skin. In her new biography of the first female senator elected in Massachusetts, Antonia Felix argues for Warren’s legacy beyond that phrase — which in itself has a more complex background than its current use, having started in a debate about race.
<em>Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America</em>
“I stood at the entrance of the U.S. consulate in Calcutta in 1982. In 1965, American immigration laws had been rewritten to allow for a greater number of non-Europeans to enter the country. Not only were Indians and other Asians considered unwanted newcomers before 1965, even naturalization-the process by which a foreign-born immigrant becomes a U.S. citizen-was disallowed for most who were not white until the 1950s. I knew little of this history when I entered the consulate with my parents. I did not even know I had something called race. Race as a category had not been part of the Indian census since 1951. I was about to move to a nation where nearly every official form had a section in which I would be offered an array of racial categories and expected to pick one.”
<em>A Politically Incorrect Feminist: Creating a Movement with Bitches, Lunatics, Dykes, Prodigies, Warriors and Wonder Women</em>
Phyllis Chesler was a major player in Second Wave Feminism. Daughter of a working-poor Orthodox Jewish immigrant and his American wife from a Polish family, Chesler grew up a rebel. Now an emerita Professor of Psychology at the College of Staten Island (CUNY), she taught one of the very first college courses in women’s studies, eventually turning it into a minor and a major, and co-founded the Association for Women in Psychology. Writer of influential works from 1972’s Women and Madness, about the double standards that plague gendered mental health care, to 2005’s The Death of Feminism and 2011’s Mothers On Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody, her consultations have been integral to several landmark legal cases.
More From Creativity
Fall is right around the corner, and we're getting amped up for our next session of Selfmade, Brit + Co's 10-week interactive startup school. Designed to help you create a new business or grow your existing one, this course is personally led by Brit + Co founder Brit Morin and co-founder Anjelika Temple, and supported by more than a dozen of the top female entrepreneurs, creatives, and investors in the country. Students receive personalized coaching on everything from how to get out of your comfort zone to how to scale your business, and everything in between. And now, thanks to Office Depot, even more of you can join the course!
For the fall session, we're thrilled to team up with Office Depot to grant 200 FREE scholarship seats to the course. Scholarships are open to US residents, focusing on women of color, women from underserved and underrepresented communities, and women in need of support to help them trail-blaze. After all, we firmly believe that your support system is a huge part of how you achieve greatness, and we are here to cheer all of you on.
To nominate yourself or someone you know for a scholarship, head to our nomination form right here. The deadline for scholarship nominations is September 27th — it's time to take the leap!
Beyond the scholarship, Office Depot is all about helping you accomplish more. Whether it be the start phase, growth phase or keep businesses going phase, Office Depot offers a full suite of business solutions, including services and products, to help you work from anywhere, organize and save time and help build your brand.
So what are you waiting for? Take a chance on yourself and get yourself one step closer to truly being selfmade. Learn more about the Selfmade program, apply for a scholarship and prepare to be inspired :)