OMAHA, Neb. — Lia Neal showed that Olympic swimmers don’t necessarily have to come from California, Florida or any other warm-weather state.
She became the pride of New York City on Saturday night at the trials when she came in fourth in the 100-meter freestyle finals. Her finish gave her a spot on the 400 freestyle relay team. The 17-year-old Neal also became the second African-American woman to make a U.S. Olympic swim team.
“It’s a pretty big title,” said Neal, who is half-African American, half-Chinese.
The first black woman to make the U.S. Olympic swim team was Maritza Correia, a silver medalist in the 4x100 freestyle relay in 2004.
“I definitely knew about Maritza Correia being the first one,” Neal said. “I never thought about me being the second one going into the race, but I guess that’s really a cool title to have.”
>half african american, half chinese
>from NYC
omg the pride is flowing through me right now
“We are suffering from a feudal sense of values in which women are considered adjuncts of the home—for the children, for the kitchen and for the bed…We are not trying to put down these traditional roles, we just want more active involvement from the Filipino women” - Ma. Lorena…
“Stagecoach” Mary Fields (c. 1832-1914) was born a slave in Tennessee and following the Civil War, she moved to the pioneer community of Cascade, Montana. In 1895, when she was around 60 years old, Fields became the second woman and first African American carrier for the US Postal Service. Despite her age, she never missed a day of work in the ten years she carried the mail and earned the nickname “Stagecoach” for her reliability. Fields loved the job, despite the many dangers and difficulties such as wolves and thieves (she was an excellent marksman, defending her route with a revolver and a rifle).
The people of Cascade so loved and respected Fields, that each year on her birthday they closed the schools to celebrate the occasion. They even built her a new house when she lost her home in a fire in 1912.
#boss
This woman is frickin AWESOME. Why don’t we learn about her in history class?!?!?!
fyeahhistorymajorheraldicbeast:
My professor said women aren’t being covered in my western civ class because they don’t have a history prior to the 20th century. I disagree. If there were no women in western civ until the 20th century, where did all the men come from?
uh what maybe he should ask a medievalist, ‘cause I can list a whole string of awesome women off the top o’ my dang head
Don’t for get poc.
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898 – 1989) achieved a lot of firsts in her life.
She was the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in the United States, the first woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the first African American woman to be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar, and was the first national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
