RBG's Brave & Brilliant Women: List 3

by Nadine Epstein
In collaboration with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the author compiled brief biographies of thirty-three Jewish women, from biblical times to the 20th-century, who overcame obstacles to change the world in inspiring ways.

This list covers "Nineteenth Century."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
40 words 17 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. agitate
    try to stir up (e.g., public opinion)
    Even before suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony began agitating for women’s rights, Ernestine was crisscrossing the country advocating religious tolerance, public education, and equality for women.
  2. principle
    a basic truth or law or assumption
    She was a strong believer that women’s rights and the abolition of slavery should be approached as one issue, a controversial proposition at the time. “Emancipation from every kind of human bondage is my principle,” she said.
  3. attribute
    explain or regard as resulting from a particular cause
    Susan B. Anthony recognized Ernestine as one of the foremothers of the nineteenth-century women’s rights movement in America, but despite her early and prominent role, Ernestine is not as well-known as other suffragist leaders. Some believe that is because she retired to England in 1869; others attribute it to the fact that she was an immigrant and a Jew.
  4. prevalent
    most frequent or common
    While Ernestine did not believe in God, she was a fierce defender of the Jewish people and spoke out against anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant attitudes that were then prevalent throughout the United States.
  5. advocate
    speak, plead, or argue in favor of
    Despite the lack of recognition, her lifelong insistence on advocating for justice helped change the destiny of millions of women of all faiths and backgrounds.
  6. endeavor
    earnest and conscientious activity intended to do something
    Fanny married an open-minded painter who encouraged her musical endeavors, and they had a son, whom she named Sebastian Ludwig Felix after her favorite composers, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and her brother.
  7. impoverished
    poor enough to need help from others
    Emma could have devoted all of her time to literary endeavors, but in 1881 she was moved by the plight of thousands of impoverished Ashkenazi Jews, fleeing anti-Jewish persecution and poverty in Russia, who began arriving in New York City.
  8. kindle
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    These immigrants—and the extreme prejudice they faced in New York—kindled in Emma a new interest in her Jewish heritage, and for the first time, she studied the Bible, Hebrew, Judaism, and Jewish history.
  9. resilience
    the ability to recover readily from adversity or change
    And she became a tireless opponent of anti-Semitism: In her Songs of a Semite, written in 1882, her most famous full-length work, Emma celebrated the resilience of the Jewish people.
  10. relevant
    having a bearing on or connection with the subject at issue
    As immigration remains a major issue of debate in the United States, Emma’s “The New Colossus” is still frequently quoted and is as relevant as ever.
  11. indigent
    poor enough to need help from others
    She believed that all sick people, rich and poor, deserved access to quality healthcare, and to be taught how to protect themselves from deadly contagious diseases. Indigent children, in particular, died at too high a rate and deserved a better chance of survival.
  12. innovative
    introducing new ideas or creative methods
    Lillian’s innovative approach to community health included placing nurses in public schools and setting up school lunch programs and special needs classes, all things we take for granted today.
  13. radical
    markedly new or introducing extreme change
    Lillian’s tireless efforts and innovations transformed the way communities in America treated the poor. Once considered radical, the programs she founded are now considered essential.
  14. frugal
    avoiding waste
    She lectured under Hilbert’s name, unpaid, and lived a frugal existence that bordered on poverty.
  15. conundrum
    a difficult problem
    Fascinated by the mathematical conundrums of her time, she wrote a paper applying her knowledge of advanced algebra to Albert Einstein’s 1915 theory of relativity.
  16. tenure
    the right to keep a job permanently, especially a teaching job
    Only in 1922 was she named an “associate professor without tenure” and given a small salary.
  17. bias
    a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue
    The status of women in mathematics has improved since Emmy’s time, but bias and discrimination remain prevalent.
  18. meager
    deficient in amount or quality or extent
    The shifts were long and the pay was meager, and she resented the fact that no matter how well she did her work, the best-paying positions were reserved for men.
  19. delegate
    a person appointed or elected to represent others
    Her ability to organize and speak so impressed her coworkers—and the union’s male leaders—that she became the first woman elected to be the union’s delegate to the New York City Central Labor Union.
  20. dire
    fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
    In 1911, the dire situation of seamstresses made national news after a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Greenwich Village in New York City killed 146 people—mostly young Italian and Jewish immigrant girls between the ages of fourteen and twenty-three.
  21. compelling
    capable of arousing and holding the attention
    Rose’s impassioned speech at a memorial for them was so compelling that it was quoted in The New York Times.
  22. maim
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
    “I would be a traitor to those poor burned bodies, if I were to come here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you good people of the public—and we have found you wanting,” she said, adding that every week, girls working in factories were killed and maimed, and that their lives were considered cheap.
  23. coalition
    the union of diverse things into one body or form or group
    Rose became a leader of the Women’s Trade Union League, a coalition of working and middle-class women, and fought for better safety standards.
  24. deem
    judge or regard in a particular way
    Unassuming and withdrawn, she then dutifully became a seamstress, one of the few professions deemed suitable for women.
  25. charismatic
    possessing an extraordinary ability to attract
    She quickly blossomed into an inspirational teacher and charismatic leader.
  26. bolster
    support and strengthen
    Sarah developed curricula with material about women in Judaism to bolster the movement’s legitimacy in the Orthodox community.
  27. proponent
    a person who argues for a cause or puts forward an idea
    Henrietta was a strong proponent for a Jewish homeland and was a Zionist before that word was coined.
  28. civic
    of or relating or belonging to a city
    Her parents, Polish immigrants, were active in the city’s vibrant, growing Jewish community and civic world; Florence’s father was a merchant, and her mother, a religious school and high school teacher, was one of the first Jewish and female members of the San Francisco Board of Education.
  29. stint
    an unbroken period of time during which you do something
    She also expressed her views during a two-year stint as a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.
  30. constituent
    a citizen who is represented in a government by officials
    Admired for her wit, she was well liked by her constituents, who reelected her five times, and was respected by her male colleagues, who valued her political acumen and debate skills.
  31. acumen
    shrewdness shown by keen insight
    Admired for her wit, she was well liked by her constituents, who reelected her five times, and was respected by her male colleagues, who valued her political acumen and debate skills.
  32. appropriation
    money set aside for a specific purpose, as by a legislature
    Florence was assigned to some of the House’s most powerful committees, becoming the first woman to sit on the Military Affairs Committee, and later, the first woman on the House Appropriations Committee, which helps determine how the government spends money.
  33. pension
    regular payment to allow a person to subsist without working
    Men (and Democrats!) didn’t intimidate her, and many of her colleagues backed measures she proposed to help women, including pensions for army nurses and higher wages for female government employees.
  34. valedictorian
    the student with the best grades
    But when she graduated as valedictorian of her eighth-grade class, her parents pressured her to get married instead of attending high school.
  35. diplomatic
    relating to negotiation between nations
    Since she was now Israel’s chief diplomatic representative, she was asked to choose a Hebrew surname; she selected Meir, which means “illumination.”
  36. stature
    high level of respect gained by impressive achievement
    But following the sudden death of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in 1969, she was asked to become Israel’s fourth prime minister because she was considered the person who had the necessary stature and experience needed to lead the nation.
  37. waver
    pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness
    Known as “the Iron Lady of Israeli politics” and Israel’s “Lioness,” Golda never wavered from her goal of establishing a strong Jewish state.
  38. groundbreaking
    introducing new ideas or creative methods
    Strangely, while many of the television episodes of The Goldbergs have survived, Gertrude’s groundbreaking multimedia career and her alter ego Molly Goldberg, once the most famous fictional Jewish woman in America, have largely been forgotten.
  39. echelon
    level of authority in a hierarchy
    While the top echelons of the entertainment industry remain male-dominated, women continue to make significant inroads.
  40. inroad
    (usually plural) progress or advancement, as toward a goal
    While the top echelons of the entertainment industry remain male-dominated, women continue to make significant inroads.
Created on Fri Jul 05 16:16:06 EDT 2024 (updated Sat Jul 06 13:44:58 EDT 2024)

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