She Takes a Stand: 16 Fearless Activists Who Have Changed the World
To my dear friend Lynn MacMichael a devoted activist for peace and justice who has inspired me to write this
INTRODUCTION SEARCHING FOR SUPERHEROES hen citizens are faced with villains in comic books and movies a superhero arrives in the nick of time to set things right In the real world it takes ordinary people doing the extraordinary to confront violence and injustice Normal people rising up to change the world for the better are as courageous as any super hero Among these heroes are girls and women who have reached the point where they feel they have no choice but to take action In this book you will meet 16 such women young and old from all over the world like Kalpona Akter a girl fired from her job in a garment factory for trying to improve horrid work ing conditions and Ida B Wells a young black reporter who set out armed only with her words to end the lynchings of African Americans Each of them found the courage and perseverance to pursue her goals for as long as it took despite threats against their lives Other activists such as musician Buffy Sainte Marie and painter Judy Baca chose to
use their artistic talents in service of social change These stories and those of 12 other courageous women may inspire you to take action to solve a problem whether it is in your neighborhood or the global community and become one more ordinary person accomplishing one more extraordinary
