Honoring Remarkable Single Mothers throughout History
Every March, we celebrate Women’s History Month. We honor the mothers, sisters, aunts, neighbors, and grandmothers who’ve come before us, paved the way for our independence, and encouraged our own bravery and choices. We take a moment to teach our daughters about the sacrifices women have made throughout history. We offer prayers of gratitude.
This month, as Ruth’s House prepares to open our doors to young single mothers in our community, we are pausing to recognize single mothers who have overcome their circumstances to make history. We are remembering tenacious, bold single mothers who have overcome challenges, built thriving, independent lives cared for their children, and pursued their dreams. Here are a few who inspire us:
Katharine Graham: When her husband died by suicide at age 48 in 1963, Katharine Graham was left as a single mother of four children and the publisher of a growing newspaper empire. Without much training or self-confidence, she embraced her responsibilities and raised her family while guiding The Washington Post through its institutional rise, including the groundbreaking reporting during the Watergate scandal. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography, Graham writes of the hundreds of meetings in which she was the only woman, the countless times she was belittled, and how it took decades for her to discover and take pride in her capabilities.
Valerie Jarrett: Former special advisor to President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, attributes her decision to pursue a public career to her daughter. She wanted to do something to make her daughter, whom she raised from seven months old as a single mother, proud. After her divorce, she said she had to develop her self-confidence, lean on her support systems, and believe she could do it on her own. And she did. Jarrett went on to become one of the most influential people in Washington, D.C. during the Obama administration and one of the President’s most trusted advisors.
Marie Curie: Few people have left legacies as impressive as Marie Curie, who did it all as a young, widowed mother. In 1903 she jointly won the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the element polonium with her husband, who died in 1906 when their two daughters were very young. Curie then became the first female professor at the University of Paris, and in 1911, she successfully isolated the element radium for the first time, winning a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Her discoveries advanced cancer treatment invaluably, and she was the first and only woman to win two Nobel Prizes and the only person to have ever won two Nobel Prizes in different fields.
We believe every single mother, no matter her circumstances, has the potential to make history in her own way. If you’re looking for a way to celebrate Women’s History Month, consider coming alongside the next generation of mothers paving brave paths by starting a monthly gift to Ruth’s House.