Women Born In The 1920s

"I was able to manage both career and family demands smoothly because of the total support I was given by my husband, children, and friends. It also helped that we were well organized"

"The Asian people were very happy and proud that an Asian woman had taken the first step to bring all the communities together and to learn from each other whilst helping each other. The overall aim was to speed up the social and economic condition of Ugandan women since they could make an increasing contribution to the overall progress of the country. Certainly, the education, outlook, and ambitions of the children and youth in every society, are shaped by women. For me, great hope lay in the fact that women were advancing the causes that would bring benefits to the family, people and the country. That they are now marching at an accelerated rate towards an equal position with men gives me satisfaction"

"I have always had a desire to serve my country . . . I also feel that my social work has been responsible in my taking an interest in politics in view of the confidence I had developed amongst people of all races"

"there were other organisations that I was a member of. Many of these, like the YWCA, continue with their work today. Up to quite recently, I was active with Uganda"

"It took away the rights and privileges of an individual and could also act against political organizations which did not see eye to eye with the government"

"The aim was to provide living accommodation at a minimum charge to young girls who had come to Kampala from rural areas to further their education."

"The organization went from strength to strength and I am glad to say is still in existence and carrying out good works to this day"

"Meanwhile, the more conservative Asian leaders, such as Dr M.M. Patel who led the Kampala Asian Association, and the two Ismailis, Sherali Bandali Jaffer and Gulamhussein Kassim Lakha who were prominent in the Central Council of Muslim Associations, followed a middle course in avoiding support for any one party."

"My initial goal was to help the mothers and children of Uganda to get a good education, obtain better living conditions and have the economic ability to provide a healthy diet"

"I am happy to say that I was given encouragement and assistance not only by women but by men as well, many of whom were in high government offices."

"I had this feeling ... women should be part and parcel of the whole movement, even of running the country. Women should be involved in decision making. That was my aim."

"You know, we are the mothers. We are the ones who bring out children and these children are employed by Wenela [in South Africa] at that time. They go to Wenela and most of them die there. They don't come back alive. And then there's a lot of oppression. There's this thangata and with that federation, unfortunately for them, that time, they had already started removing people in the areas where they thought it was best for Europeans or it was best for farming ... They wanted to make room for Europeans to settle. I said, you can see all these things. Now, we are being removed in our rural areas. We are being pushed here and there. And the women understood. They said, oh yes, then we must do something."

"In most cases, our singing, like in the woman's league, we would take some of the songs sung in the villages, then we put in political words to suit the occasion... There wasn't any particular person at that time, that this was the one who composed those songs for us to sing. No, it was just general singing. Just as we are here. You could start a song, and our songs in most cases, our African songs, they are traditional. They are not difficult to sing. We could easily pick it up, and then we would all sing"

"If William Wilberforce had not been close to my two brothers after he joined King’s College Budo, it is possible that he would not have led me to the altar"

"My husband wishes to return to Uganda. I request that he be allowed a secure arrival and stay in the country,"

"As I look back later after extended experience with tyrannical governance, I know that tyrants are always very insecure about anything they imagine could threaten their power, and in their paranoia, they often react brutally. Kalema was one of Amin’s imaginary enemies"

"He never tired of teaching us the importance of respecting others. Absolute honesty was central to his life and he constantly told us how it was important to have a sense of shame. A person without sense of shame is not a human being"

"the most honest and authentic account of my life"

"Being at Budo meant growing up and learning alongside boys and young men, a thing that was, hitherto, almost taboo. It would mean all the rough bits - competing, arguing, and fighting – as we learnt to live together in mutual respect. It would stretch my capacity to match the standards set for all. At Budo, I was to be groomed to take on the world of men"

"The other four wives had their own quarters in Butukkiro homestead, where they lived with their children. Nonetheless, all the children worked, played and did everything together during the day. Wherever mealtimes found us, there we would sit and have the meal with ‘our mother – it did not matter which one."

"The death of Sara was a great shock to the whole school. I was overwhelmed with grief. I was broken. With only a year’s age difference between us, we were very close. She and I had done everything together. She was not only my sister, but was also my closest friend,"

"To write what one knows is of great benefit to other people."

"To teach patriotism in class is impossible. To love my country, my country must be lovely. Teaching it in class won't yield any results"

"My Life is But a Weaving"

"The strength of my faith had, however, varied from time to time, particularly when my family experienced bereavement. There were times when I would ask; God, where were you when this happened?"

"As a physician, Mr. President, I’d say your gut was anesthetized."

"everything I can get my hands on about Richard Nixon, before and after Watergate"

"If you push me, I may have to run against you, Mr. Mayor. And when I run, I win."

"I do take a relatively scientific approach to politics."

"I got promoted from the mail department to scheduling and appointments for the Philadelphia area."

"I was turned down many times with the usual response that they had no facilities for women physicians."

"let me just say that I am a candidate. Whatever my opponent hasn’t done, I will do. Whatever he has done, I will do better"

"I was always interested in science from age five up. I had an uncle who was a dentist. He motivated me tremendously toward the scientific field. He used to take me to his office, and even though I was never keen on pulling teeth, I was interested in his patient’s reactions and fascinated by the camaraderie between him and his patients."

"Like most people thought about movie stars, I thought about politicians."

"I had been exposed only to my relatives and white schoolmates. I spent all my spare time—virtually every day—at the Free Library… There weren’t that many children in my neighborhood, and I very seldom ventured off our block."

"Franklin Roosevelt was the man, and to see him first-hand, close-up, was just… well, he was my number one man. And Mrs. Roosevelt was my number two gal."

"And although the discipline of Catholic schools does not permit open manifestations of racism, there were times when it was made very clear you were not expected to have intellectual achievement because black people were supposed to have smaller brains and all of that."

"Some two or three months after I arrived in prison [in 1959], I felt a desire to paint and with it came a refusal to surrender to the status quo…I would go up to the roof of the building to paint anything I could find, eventually painting the inmates."

"After some time I lost the desire to paint the prison and its inmates — the whole place disgusted me. I began to paint what nature there was behind bars, as we did have some gardens, trees and flowers. I was fascinated by a tree that was near the barbed wire - I’d paint it in every season, and such meticulous attention to a single object taught me a lot. If I’d be outside the prison I never would have painted just that one tree. My fellow inmates even named the tree after me; they called it ‘Inji’s tree."

"I was met with resentment for being a woman. Yet I talked to them and reminded them of the prophet’s wives and families until they changed their opinions."

"One of the most important subjects I painted from inside the prison was Inshirah, who had been sentenced to death, but her execution had been postponed for one year until her child was weaned. Those sentenced to be executed were placed in a cell under special guard so they wouldn’t commit suicide, and they wore red uniforms. While awaiting Inshirah’s execution, I felt the massive tragedy of her story, as she had killed and stolen under the pressure of extremely harsh conditions and overwhelming misery. When I asked to paint her, the director [of the prison] told me that it would be very depressing. I did indeed paint her and her son - this was one of the paintings that were confiscated by the Criminal Investigations Department."

"There was a small tributary of the Nile where sailboats would pass by. We would watch from inside the prison as the sails caught the wind and men climbed up the masts to tie them down. Seeing the wind in the sails stirred many sorrows in me, and sparked an uncontrollable desire for freedom.. I obtained permission from the General Manager to go up to the roof of the warehouse..[and] when the boats appeared [the other inmates] cried out ‘The boats are here!’ I painted many pictures of sailboats, depicting our immobility against the movement of the sails."

"Mr. Prime Minister, my dear colleagues [she began], "a year ago, I was still a veiled woman. Today, I stand as the elected representative of a department with over one million Muslim French citizens and only 24,000 European French. Despite the views of our colleague Leenhardt, I consider myself as valuable as any other metropolitan deputy. I am proud to be in the French National Assembly, representing all those in the department of Sétif, a former rebel stronghold, who have firmly turned away from the past and chosen to build Algeria's future through France, with France, and within France."

"Hikmat recalled Ms. Ihsan al-Qousi, as well as Ms. Nazla al-Hakim, who cared a lot about her students, both personally and academically, and was keen to listen to their complaints, and to encourage them to give their opinions."

"Hikmat recalled that she travelled to the distant villages and precincts to revive the spirit of national resistance and perseverance. She devoted her articles in al-Gomhouria Newspaper to raise political awareness, and spread the national spirit by discussing models and representations from Egyptian history."

"Hikmat recounted that although Ms. Nazla was against her involvement in the demonstrations, and even suspended her as a result, Ms. Nazla sent a letter to the League of Nations, on Hikmat’s behalf, protesting against the brutal treatment of the demonstrating citizens."

"The degree of a country’s revolutionary awareness may be measured by the political maturity of its women."

"“Try explaining to them that a working woman is no less responsible for her home. Try explaining to them that nothing is done if you do not step in, that you have to see to everything, do everything all over again: cleaning up, cooking, ironing. There are the children to be washed, the husband to be looked after. The working woman has a dual task, of which both halves, equally arduous, must be reconciled.”"

"“A nervous breakdown waits around the corner for anyone who lets himself wallow in bitterness. Little by little, it takes over your whole being.”"

"“A woman must marry the man who loves her, but never the one she loves; that is the secret of lasting happiness.”"