Celebrate March – National Women’s History Month

The name Dorothy C. Stratton (1899 – 2006) caught my eye as I looked at the list of women being honored on the Women’s History website in celebration of Women’s History Month. According to Wikipedia, the surname Stratton happens to be shared by many notables, including Indiana author Gene Stratton Porter (1863-1924).

In April I plan to visit the Gene Stratton Porter Museum in Rome City, Indiana with my eldest daughter Kimberly and granddaughter Hailey. Kimberly became fascinated with Porter after reading one of ­her books, A Girl of the Limberlost.

Growing up in Indiana I had heard of the Limberlost, and I knew it had something to do with deep woods, tangled vines, beautiful moths and butterflies. However, I didn’t realize it actually existed as a swampy area in northeastern Indiana where Porter set her stories. Sadly, the swamp no longer exists. Oil drilling and farms encroaching on these wild acres of land resulted in the swamp being drained, much to Porter’s dismay.

Gene Stratton Porter

As a young married woman, Porter lived in Limberlost Cabin in Geneva nearby the swamp until her precious Limberlost was ruined. She then moved to Sylvan Lake near Rome City, Indiana where her large home is now a museum on a stunning tract of land rich with trees and wildlife. The Limberlost Cabin is an Indiana State Historic Site. Porter’s move to Rome City enabled her to continue her work as a naturalist, photographer and writer. She published 12 novels along with nature, poetry and children’s books as well as numerous magazine articles.

Dorothy C. Stratton

In contrast to Porter’s fascination with nature, Captain Dorothy C. Stratton served the United States in the Coast Guard as director of SPARS (Semper Paratus Always Ready), the very first United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. In fact she was instrumental in the founding of this women’s military unit during WWII and came up with the name. Today there are no restrictions on how far a talented woman can advance in rank in the Coast Guard.

 

As a Girl Scout from Brownies to Senior Scouting in High School, I should have known Dorothy C. Stratton was then serving as the National Executive Director of the Girl Scouts of America during her long and varied career. You can find her complete biography here.

Following is a link to a film about the SPARS with both dated and current clips:

Toward the end of the article about Dorothy Stratton on the Women’s History website mentioned above, I found this quote, “See how Dorothy C. Stratton and SPARs changed women’s lives in this short film with compelling vintage and current video, Dorothy Stratton and the Spars, The Legend Continues https://vimeo.com/18510562   

(If you can wade through the film to almost the end, you’ll hear a contemporary woman Coast Guard Commander setting the record straight following the film clip immediately preceding her appearance.) I’m sure you’ll catch the reference and think about how times have changed for women due to the sacrifices of those who have paved the way.

Always writing with the feminine spirit in mind,

Cheryl

C.K. Thomas, author

“Take a chance, amaze yourself!”

Elizabeth Coleman

Queen Bess, a Barnstorming Pilot

Celebrate Black History Month – February 2016

As a young girl and the 12^th in a family of 13 children, Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman picked cotton in Waxahachie, Texas. Her mother didn’t learn to read, but she made sure to borrow plenty of books from the traveling library for her children. When Bessie reached college age she managed to pay her own way for a semester of college. Unable to afford to continue, she moved to Chicago to live with her brother where she learned to be a manicurist in a barber shop.

During WWI Bessie’s brother had been to France and told her about women there who could fly airplanes. Bessie became fascinated with the idea of being a pilot, but no flight schools in the U.S. would admit a woman, much less a black woman. Finally she realized she would need to go to France to learn how to pilot an airplane. The publisher of the Chicago Defender newspaper, Robert Abbott, agreed to sponsor her and also to fund her Berlitz French language course. As soon as she learned the language she boarded an ocean liner to France.

Bessie returned to the U.S., after earning a Federation Aeronautique International license to fly anywhere in the world. Bessie Coleman had become the first black woman aviator in the world. It had been less than 20 years since the Wright brothers’ first successful flight. Stunt flying was the rage during The Roaring 20’s, and Bessie quickly realized opportunities to perform in air shows were open to women in the U.S. She returned to France for advance training and flew her first show at Curtis Field near New York City. She flew in many more events sponsored by The Chicago Defender until a tragic aviation accident took her life in 1926 at the young age of 34.

Following her death, other blacks in the field of aviation helped bring her dream of U.S. flight schools for blacks to reality. Bessie Coleman influenced the march to equality for both women and blacks during her brief life as a pilot with her outspoken voice for change. Listen to an interview of Bessie Coleman by a young reporter, and you’ll understand how passionate she was about equality and the future of women in aviation. 

If you’re fascinated with early women aviators, be sure to read my January 29, 2016 post about Anne Morrow Lindbergh on the Phoenix Publishing and Book Promotion blog.

Write On!

C.K. Thomas

“Take a chance, amaze yourself!”

Read the Arrowstar Series. 

---