Our woman of the week is Rosa Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005)
Rosa Parks, born Rosa Louise McCauley played a big role in the fight against racism and segregation. One December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the colored section of a bus to a white passenger after the whites only section was full. She was subsequently arrested and charged with civil disobedience in violating Alabama segregation laws.
Her defiance and the Montgomery bus boycott which followed became important symbols of the civil rights movements. It brought about changes and the city of Montgomery was forced to lift the law requiring segregation on buses.
Rosa Parks action has taught us that just one person standing up for what her or she believes in can make a difference and bring about change. Rosa Parks we salute you and draw strength from your courage.
A Burning Torch or Light
To dream of holding a burning torch or light is a good sign. Young people so doing
will be successful in love, prosperous in business, victorious over enemies and honored and respected by friends and kinsfolk.
Our Woman of the Week is:
Mother Teresa 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997
Mother Teresa also known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta was born in Skopje, which is now the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. At the age of eighteen she moved to Ireland and later to India where she lived for most of her life.
In 1950 Mother Teresa founded The missionaries of Charity which had over 4500 sister and was active in 133 by 2012. They manage homes for people dying of AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. The also manage schools, orphanages, soup kitchens, dispensaries and mobile clinics. The also offer children and family counselling programs.
Mother Teresa received many honors including a Nobel Peace prize in 1979. She was canonised by the Catholic Church on September 4, 2016. We pay tribute to this great woman who gave of herself selflessly to help the less fortunate.
Have you ever had a dream and can’t figure out what it means. Yes I have been there to. It is nice to have an idea of what your dream could mean. In the next few weeks I will be sharing some dreams and their meanings as explained by Dr. MacDonald.
To dream of seeing apple trees and of eating sweet apples, signifies joy, diversion and recreation, particular to females ; sour apples denotes quarrels and sedition.
Are we headed for another war? One can only ask as talk heat up between the United States and North Korea. We can only hope that good sense previls as there are no winners in war and the casulties are usually the innocent civilians who want no part of it. #LetsTalkPeace
This Week’s Woman of the Week is:
Harriet Tubman – 1822 – 1913
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross) was an American Humanitarian and Abolitionist. She also served as a spy for the US Army during the American Civil War. Harriet was born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland. As a child she was beaten by her various masters. She suffered a traumatic head wound when a heavy piece of metal thrown at another slave by an angry master caught her instead. The injury caused her dizziness, pain and hypersomnia which affected her throughout her life.
In 1849, Harriet escaped to Philadelphia and quickly returned to rescue her own family. Thereafter she made it her mission to free other slaves. Using a network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad she made a total of thirteen missions and rescued approximately seventy enslaved families and friends. Harriet (also called Moses) never lost a passenger.
When the civil war began Harriet worked first as cook and nurse for the Union army and later as an armed scout and spy. She was the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war. She guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which freed more than 700 slaves. After the war she retired to her family home in Auburn, New York where she had purchased property, and cared for her aging parents. She was active in the women’s suffrage movement until she became ill. Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia on March 10, 1913.
Tribute to Harriet Tubman who was truly one of the bravest women in history
This Week’s Woman of the Week is:
Maya Angelo – April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014
Maya Angelo born Marguerite Annie Johnson was a Civil Rights Activists, Poet, Actress and Writer. She published several autobiographies, books of poetry, and three books of essays. She has been credited with a list of movies, plays and television shows spanning 50 years.
She is best known for her autobiographies and in particular, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing, published in 1969 and tells of her life up to the age of seventeen. It brought her international recognition. In the book she tells how she was severely raped at the age of eight and her sense of responsibility when her rapist was found dead because she thought by calling his name she had caused his death. The traumatic event caused her to go mute for five years.
Maya was the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco. She was participant in the civil rights movement working alongside the likes of Malcolm X and later Martin Luther King. Maya held many jobs during her lifetime including working as a dancer, calypso singer, fry cook, prostitute and as manager for lesbians, magazine editor, actress, and administrative assistant. Maya was the recipient of many awards.
Her poem ‘Still I Rise’ speaks to every woman who thinks she can’t rise above her situation.
Still I Rise
BY MAYA ANGELOU
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Heartiest tribute to this woman whose words of wisdom lives on.
Author Marva Seaton 
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