Dear friends,
The beginning of a new year is a time for reflection, renewal, and rejuvenation. It’s also a time to DREAM BIG about how the next 12 months can transform our lives – be that a result of achieving personal goals, organizational goals, or a combination of the two.
A few months ago, one of our volunteers made a comment that resonated deeply: “the opportunity for the National Women’s Hall of Fame is too great for small dreams.”
It’s true. We have big, big dreams. We also have vision, leadership, and you and thousands of others to help make them reality.
We recently released a video about the National Women’s Hall of Fame, providing a brief overview of the work we are doing to build out our physical space in beautiful Seneca Falls, NY, and to launch programming that can touch and inspire people from coast to coast. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, please check it out.
Moving forward, I’ll pen a regular column to keep you updated on our plans, celebrate our accomplishments, and share ways for you to be involved.
If there’s one thing that is consistent, day after day, it’s the impact that our 293 Inductees continue to make in this world. Just a few of the great stories that have crossed my desk in recent weeks:
- A rare short story written in the early 1980s by the late Toni Morrison will soon be published as a book. Morrison wrote “Recitatif” in the early 1980s, and the story follows the lives of two women from childhood to their contrasting fortunes as adults. One character is white, and the other Black, but Morrison never discloses which is which. Historians celebrate the insight it provides into Morrison’s experimentation with different styles of writing and the thoughtful conversations that the piece ignites.
- Do you live across the pond? Recently, the University of Bristol unveiled a new statue of Henrietta Lacks, whose pioneering research led to the development of the Polio vaccine, chemotherapy, and contributed to Parkinson’s research. Created by artist Helen Wilson-Roe, who spent 16 years working with the Lacks family, this is the first public sculpture of a Black woman made by a Black woman in the United Kingdom. Read more here.
- And finally, the US Mint has launched their American Women Quarters Program, issuing up to five new quarters each year from now until 2026. For 2022, the Mint honors five women, three of whom are Inductees at the National Women’s Hall of Fame: Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, Wilma ManKiller, Nina Otero-Warren, and Anna May Wong.
I am deeply honored to be leading the National Women’s Hall of Fame and stewarding its mission – but make no mistake, this organization belongs to you. All Inductees we have honored are the result of a nomination from a member of the public. If you’d like to see Nina Otero-Warren, Anna May Wong, or any other great American woman honored, please visit our nominations page for information.
2022 is a year to Dream Big, and we are grateful that you are a part of our growing community of friends, visitors, supporters, volunteers, and donors who are working together to ensure the National Women’s Hall of Fame can inspire us, our nation, and all people for generations to come.
With warm wishes to you and yours for a bright new year,
Jennifer Gabriel
Executive Director