Yesterday, I thought I was going to dedicate Day 4 to Adrienne Rich, but the sad news of her passing has already brought her to the forefront of some of our feeds. Then a good friend posted a link to an article about 10 Muslim women every person should know. I was intrigued and as I read through the article, Sultan Raziyya caught my attention. Due to the fact that I am not well versed in my Muslim women's history, I thought I'd take this opportunity to make sure I included at least one Muslim woman now, and make a note to myself to include more in the future.
While there is not much information out there on the Sultan, there is some. Muslim women have served as revolutionary and heroic leaders throughout history. Since 1988, there has been at least one Muslim woman president or prime minister in the world. Sultan Raziyya was the Sultan of Delhi from 1236 to 1240. She refused to be addressed as Sultana because it meant "wife or mistress of a sultan" and only answered to the title "Sultan." As she solidified her power, she believed that appropriating a masculine image would help her maintain control. So she dressed like a man and wore a turban, trousers, coat and sword. Contrary to custom, she appeared unveiled in public. Sultan Raziyya was known for her belief that the spirit of religion is more important than its parts. She established schools, academies, centers for research and public libraries. (this paragraph stolen from Fazeela Siddiqui's Huff post article.) A couple more fun facts about Raziyya is that there are three disputed grave sites. No one really knows where her final resting place is. Since she was the first female Sultan of Delhi, she is the subject of many legends. There are fictional novels about her, a comic strip about her and a 1983 urdu film. Clearly, I need to do more homework on Raziyya. She caught my attention for a reason. I hope she catches your attention, too.
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When I was a wee baby dyke of only 19, I was in college at Central Michigan University and floundering to find a major area of study that I could excel in. I kept finding myself more and more in the company of women who were part of the women's studies program there. With the help of a couple of guiding professors who later became advisors, I became a history major with a women's studies minor (the only available degree option in women's studies at the time). While I like to say I spent my college years studying women, I did actually do enough work to graduate. I wish I had pictures now of Dr. Carol Green-Devens Ramirez, and Dr. Claudia Clark. But alas, that was before these interwebs had the possibility of recording our every move. Sarah Emma Edmonds (1841-1898) was the first woman I ever wrote a paper on. Professor Carol Green-Devens was then editor of the Michigan Historical Review at Clarke Historical Library where some of Sarah Emma Edmonds' papers were kept. During the Civil War, Sarah enlisted in the 2nd Michigan Infantry as Franklin Thompson. She at first served as a male field nurse, participating in several campaigns under General McClellan, including the First andSecond Battle of Bull Run, Antietam, the Peninsula Campaign, Vicksburg, and others. I was particularly intrigued by the story I read which said she was prompted to join the army by a book she had read in her youth about a girl named Fanny Campbell and her adventures on a pirate ship dressed as a man. In 1864 Boston publisher DeWolfe, Fiske, & Co. published Edmonds' account of her military experiences as The Female Spy of the Union Army. One year later her story was picked up by a Hartford, CT publisher who issued it with a new title, Nurse and Spy in the Union Army. It was a huge success, selling in excess of 175,000 copies. In 1867, she married L. H. Seelye, a Canadian mechanic with whom she had three children. Her two sons and her daughter died young, so she adopted two boys. In 1886, she received a government pension of $12 a month for her military service, and after some campaigning, gained an honorable discharge. In 1897, she became the only woman admitted to the Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War Union Army veterans' organization. Edmonds died in La Porte, Texas and is buried in Washington Cemetery in Houston, Texas. She was a civil war hero and should be remembered as such. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1992. Edmonds book was reprinted again in 1999 with a new title, Memoirs of a Soldier, Nurse and Spy. While I did extensive study on her in the early 1990's and drew from original documents, I have outrageously plagiarized Wikipedia for this bio.For more information on Sarah Emma Edmonds, see Michigan Women's Historical Center and Hall of Fame page, Memoirs of A Soldier, Nurse and Spy, or go go Wikipedia or Google to find out more. |
DawnWomen's history geek, mom, lesbian, theologian, dreamer. Archives
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