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From Sacajawea to Sojourner Truth is the product of over twelve
years of research and travel. It began by chance, during a trip to the
Plains States in 1989, when I stopped by the post office in Keystone, South
Dakota to mail a postcard. There was a wooden plaque commemorating Carrie
Ingalls Swanzey (the sister of author Laura Ingalls Wilder). She had lived
in Keystone as an adult, and had started the town newspaper. Her husband
was the one who named Mount Rushmore. But since their house had burned
down in 1977, this plaque was all that remained to note her existence.
I began wondering how many other women I had driven right by without even
knowing. So I started keeping track! The index cards grew into notebook
pages, then computer files, and as friends asked me for updates and further
information I got the idea of writing a book, to share this information
with others. From Sacajawea to Sojourner Truth is the result.
This book is unique in that it not only looks at the women who made history, but where they did so. I've tried to locate specific places and things that travelers could visit - not 'this parking lot used to be a grand hotel where Sarah Bernhardt played,' but actual buildings, statues, plaques, fountains, monuments and museums which are worth a trip to visit. The book also includes major artworks by women, and lists the museums where they can be found. My only rules were that the women had to be deceased, and there had to be something physical which a traveler could see. The biggest problem with this approach is that the official commemorations of women are few and far between. And those that are honored tend to be either the most famous, the most notorious, or the least threatening. Women of color, working-class women, lesbian women, labor agitators, and other malcontents are even harder to find. I have a lot of listings for women's gravesites, since for many women their headstone is their only monument. I've also had to bend my own rules sometimes, when I wanted to include women I felt were important. Many Native-American women, for example, had to be listed under the forts where the Army troops that fought them were stationed. I've also made a serious commitment that this book be as multi-cultural as possible. America has always been a multi-cultural society, more so than any other in the world, and to ignore this would be to ignore what makes this country so unique and interesting. I hope that everyone can find women with whom they can identify in this book. |
| From Sacajawea to Sojourner Truth is organized
the way a traveler would see the sights - by region, then within region
by state, and within state by area. Cities which have an abundance of sites
are broken down into neighborhoods.
One of the best features about the book is its extensive indexing. It's not just alphabetical, but also indexed by:
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| From Sacajawea to Sojourner Truth has not yet been published. I have an agent, Linda Roghaar, who is handling publisher negotiations for me. I'll post on this site when the book is scheduled to come out. Check back later for ordering information! |