We can all probably agree that mothers are some of the strongest, most admirable people on the planet. Bringing a human into the world and raising him or her is no easy feat, and as such, they deserve all the love and admiration we can give them.
Throughout history, we have encountered countless amazing mothers who made it work, even if the odds were stacked against them. Here are a few larger-than-life Super Moms.
Sojourner Truth
African-American women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree) escaped from slavery with her infant daughter in 1826. Shortly after this, Truth learned that her five-year-old son was illegally sold into slavery. She fought for her son’s freedom and won her case, marking one of the first incidents in which a black woman successfully challenged a white man in a United States court. She went on to devote her life to creating reforms in society, being one of the most vocal supporters of the abolitionist cause, prison reform, and universal suffrage.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Years before she became the second woman to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg had to juggle motherhood and the demands of being one of the nine female law students at Harvard. When her husband and fellow law student Martin D. Ginsburg contracted cancer in 1956, Ruth also attended his classes and took notes for him while continuing her own studies, all on top of taking care of her toddler daughter. Her sacrifices paid off: she graduated at the top of her class and went on to become one of the strongest voices of gender equality in the face of the law. Her two children, Jane and James, also found success in their chosen fields: Jane became a lawyer like mom and dad, while James became a record label executive.
J.K. Rowling
Before she found success as the author of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling was a struggling single mom doing all she can to make ends meet. “I was a Single Parent, and a Single Parent On Benefits to boot,” she wrote. “Assumptions made about your morals, your motives for bringing your child into the world or your fitness to raise that child cut to the core of who you are.” When the Harry Potter books became big, she became a Patron of the National Council for One Parent Families (now Gingerbread), an organization that empowers single parents to support themselves and their families.
Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton
Broadway fans might be familiar with Eliza Schuyler Hamilton: She’s the wife of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, whose life is immortalized in his namesake bestselling musical. But Eliza’s life is just as worthy of being set into a play: she was her husband’s top supporter, did an exemplary job at maintaining the Hamilton household, and raised eight children. Two years after her husband’s death, Eliza co-founded the Orphan Asylum Society, which continues to exist today as the family and youth development organization Graham Windham. Not only is she a
Ann Jarvis
photo via Wikimedia, licensed under public domain
In 1858, while she was pregnant with her sixth child, Ann Jarvis sought to improve health and sanitary conditions in West Virginia by setting up Mother’s Day Work Clubs. These clubs provided assistance and education to families in an effort to reduce disease and infant mortality, raising money for medicine and hiring women to work in families where the mother suffered from health problems. When the American Civil War broke out, she acted as a mother to West Virginia by offering her clubs’ services neutrally to both Union and Confederate troops. After the war, she planned a “Mothers Friendship Day” to promote reconciliation and peace. On the first anniversary of her death, her daughter, Anna Marie Jarvis, organized the first official observance of Mother’s Day.
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