Saturday, January 24, 2009

Sophie and Elizabeth and Susan

Last night, we had an unexpected, but totally delightful overnight with Sophie. Unexpected meant that all my research notes, documents, books, manuscript pages, etc. etc. for my current project Stirring Up The World: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, A Biography of a Powerful Friendship were spread out in my basement office; a shared space when Sophie comes where we draw together and read books, and play zoo and circus, etc.
"Is this your book?" she asked as we were replacing primary source documents with elephants, lions, clowns, a circus band, etc.
"Yes."
"What is it about?
"It's about two women--Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony."
Opening the picture research folder on my computer, I showed her this picture (the first one taken of them together, 1870).
"They were really good friends and reformers who fought to make the world a fairer and better place for women. They lived a long time ago."
"Oh," Sophie interjected, "when women couldn't vote."
She knows at age 5 what I didn't learn much, if anything about, until years after I earned a masters degree in history! I'll bet she'll never take the vote for granted!
She's also on the road to acquiring a storehouse of powerful role models.

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