Women Who Dared
Mondays: March 3, 10, and 17, 1:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Bethany Congregational Church 556 N. Hope Avenue, Santa Barbara
VISTAS member price: $40; non-member price: $60
Coordinated by Laurie Guitteau
Women Who Dared is a new course intended to highlight women who ignored the traditions of their culture and era and contributed significantly to their world, always against tremendous challenges. In this inaugural series, a team of co-presenters (Barbara Lindemann, Lois Kaplan, George Frakes, Jill Breedon, Laurie Guitteau, and Barbara Greenleaf) will cover six such women.
Born a slave in 1862, Ida B. Wells, a journalist, was dedicated to full civil rights for Black people and the vote for all women. Frances Perkins, who served under FDR as the first woman cabinet secretary, was a driving force behind the New Deal, helping to create the modern middle class. Gertrude Bell, known as the Queen of the Desert, was an archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century. Margaret Fuller, a taboo-breaking Transcendentalist, was the author of the first major work of American feminism as well as America’s first female war correspondent. Simone Veil, a Holocaust survivor and politician dedicated to women’s rights, was the first woman to serve as president of the European Parliament. Rachel Carson inspired the environmental movement, which is now more important than ever.