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The Legacy of Granny D & Other Like Minded Women This paper focuses on women over the age of fifty that demonstrated passion for their cause regardless of age or gender stereotypes. Woman can make a difference in politics and for social change, quite often they do, but older women are often forgotten or deemed too old to make change. There are significant women in history that helped to change the assumption that older women are simply at home knitting, cooking, or being caregivers, rather than at the front lines of politics and social movements. The information about these women is not readily available and takes digging to find. Many of the women that fought for change or made a vast impact started in their earlier age, which is recognized, while their later years are not documented in the same manner. Doris Haddock, Granny D, is a central figure in this paper. She accomplished great objectives in the early and middle years of her life but it was not until the age of ninety that all of America knew her name. Granny D is an exceptional role model for patriotism and relentless ambition. She is not the only woman in U.S. history to achieve momentous goals in the latter years of life. Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross at the age of sixty. Clara McBride Hale opened the Hale House, a home for orphaned children with aids, at the age of sixty four. Susan B. Anthony, well known woman suffragette, continued activism until her death. These women were tireless in their efforts to make a difference and neither their gender nor age would stop them. This paper is intended to help trounce preconceived notions about the intersection of gender and age as potentially debilitating characteristics Susan B. Anthony was an activist for the majority of her adult life. She was born in 1820 and by 1897, she had been involved in more than a half a centuries worth of womens evolution and progress (Barry 1988:304). Anthony was still striving for womens rights in marriage, education, in the professional realm, equal pay, and unions. Before her seventy-fifth Birthday, and her close friend and colleague, Elizabeth Cady Stantons eightieth Birthday, Anthony was traveling the country giving lectures (Barry 1988:307). Anthony maintained her stamina, motivation, and passion no matter her age, inspiring a new generation of feminist activism. She continued striving for womens rights until her death. Age did not slow her down in reaching for her goals and spreading the word of her cause. Helen Suzman worked effortlessly through her fifties, and later, for equal rights in South Africa. Susan B. Anthony had an inclination towards activism for her whole life, much like Granny D, which she followed through until her death in 1906. Doris Haddock, known as Granny D, was an extraordinary woman for a number of reasons. She was an activist for most of her adult life. At the age of ninety she decided to go out with a bang. Doris walked across the United States for campaign finance reform, until she arrived in Washington, D.C. with America chanting in applaud of her triumph (Ramer, 2011). Granny D is an inspirational role model for every American and should be remembered as such. There is some awareness that she was a ninety year old woman crossing America with a mission, but her name is not as widespread as it could be yet. Her ambition can be a touch stone for every man, woman, and child, but her age and gender truly do belong to elderly women. Granny D,
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Doris, gave old ladies their life back by signifying to the world that ninety years old is not dead and there is still time to make a difference. Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881 at the age of sixty. She was a humanitarian and volunteer during the American Civil War. Clara brought supplies to the wounded soldiers and eventually began the American Red Cross, as well as run it for twenty three years. She was a pioneer among women but at the time simply wanted to do her part for the country ("Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross"). Clara is a representation of the intersection of age and gender in American history. She was sixty years old but not afraid to begin a journey for the benefit of the country. Clara was a woman activist at a time in history when women had no role in politics in the United States. The American Red Cross has continued to be an important and well known organization since its founding. In 1969 the Hale House was established in Harlem, New York by Clara McBride Hale, Mother Hale. Hale opened the home for children orphaned because their parents had HIV, the virus leading to AIDS, or they were born with it themselves. She was sixty five years old at the founding and continued to run the Hale House into the 1980s. Hale had been a foster parent for many years prior to opening the Hale House and cared for over forty children (African American Registry 2001). She opened the Hale House after her daughter, Lorraine, brought in a drugaddicted mother and child. With no prior experience with the disease, Hale nurtured the mother and child, whom were only the first of many. President Ronald Reagan recognized Clara McBride Hale as an American Hero in 1985 (African American Registry, 2001). Mother Hale passed away in 1992 at the age of eighty seven and before her death she had received over 370 awards (About Mother Hale, 2012). More than 2,000 people attended Clara McBride Hales funeral and her daughter, Lorraine Hale, has carried on her legacy. Helen Suzman was born in 1917 and by 1989, when she retired from politics; Suzman had received twenty-one honorary doctorates, the United Nations Human Rights Award (1978), the New York Medallion of Heroism (1980), and the American Jewish Committee American Liberties Medallion (1984). She was also named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1990 and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on two occasions (Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers). Suzman did not begin her political activism journey until 1953, at age 36, when she became a United Party Member of Parliament for the predominantly Jewish constituency of Houghton in Johannesburg. Throughout the 1960s Suzman dedicated herself to fighting apartheid in South Africa and rallied for Civil Rights. She also fought Anti-Semitism, as South Africa has a considerable Jewish community. In 1984, in the first step on the road to democratic government in South Africa, Suzman acted as a mediator between the government and the ANC to have the organization legalized (Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers). Even after her retirement, Suzman still remained an activist for both blacks and whites, for equal opportunity to all. Lucretia Mott, born in 1793, is well known for her passionate work advocating equal rights for women. Mott was also a leader in the antislavery movement and spoke openly about both issues at a time when this was simply unheard of for a man or woman. It is not widely
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acknowledged that she accomplished her greatest feats after the age of fifty. In 1845, at the age of fifty two, Lucretia gave an amazing speak with astounding theories for her time. She believed that women had the right to hold property even after marriage, young women had a right to an equal education as men, and that women should have the right to sue and execute legal documents (Stoddard 1970). In 1848, Lucretia began to work closely with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a womens rights activist. Together they held a Womens Rights Meeting, in Seneca Falls, New York at which they discussed matters that were almost unspeakable. Elizabeth went as far as to say that women should have the right to vote, which even Lucretia had yet to consider (Stoddard 1970). One of the most brutal occasions was in Kentucky, in 1853, where Lucretia, now sixty years old, gave a speak for the abolition of slavery and men literally raised knives and pistols in the aisles (Stoddard 1970). In 1866 a seventy three year old Lucretia Mott established the National Womens Suffrage Association, with her good friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Lucretia fought to achieve equal rights for women and slaves, during a critical time in American history and kept fighting until her death. Her final public appearance was not until 1880, at the age of eighty seven, and she still had the enthusiasm of a child. It is important that young girls and women view role models in order to see their own potential. It is just as important that older women realize that they also have a great potential and can achieve boundless goals. The women in this paper made significant impacts in the later years of their life but were as strong, if not stronger, than any young woman could be. Granny D may not have realized at the time that she would be viewed as a feminist pioneer but that impression has been made regardless. Granny D had the spirit to finish her walk across America at any cost, even when she had health issues or had to snowshoe through the mountains. With encouragement and these touch stone women showing the way, we can look to a positive future full of more bright women leaders of all ages. References American Red Cross, "Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross." Accessed March 19, 2012. http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/claraBarton.asp.

African American Registry, Mother Hale Last Modified 2001. Accessed April 15, 2012. http://aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/mother-hale-true-humanitarian

Hale House Center, About Mother Hale, accessed March 19, 2012, http://www.halehouse.org/aboutmch

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Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2001. s.v. "Suzman, Helen," http://www.credoreference.com/entry/abcwsr/suzman_helen (accessed February 17, 2012).

Associated Press. (2010, March 13). Doris "granny d" haddock dies; walked 3,200 miles for campaign finance reform. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031203973.h tml

Ramer, H. (2011, September 25). College preserves the legacy of 'granny d'. The Washington Times. Retrieved from http://washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/25/college-preserves-the-legacy-of-granny-d

Barry, Kathleen. (NY, New York, 1988). Susan B. Anthony: A Biography of a Singular Feminist.

Stoddard, Hope. (NY, New York, 1970). Famous American Women.