Sister Ardeth Platte is a social justice activist. She was educated at Aquinas College in Michigan and entered the Dominican Order in 1954. An activist for social justice, Sister Platte has fought to reduce poverty, domestic violence, sexual discrimination, and military violence. She was one of the first women to sit on the City Council in Saginaw, MI. During her time in Saginaw, she helped organize a domestic violence shelter and a rape crisis center. Sister Platte lives by the code, "think globally, act personally." (Interview with Amy French, 2009).
Inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1999. http://hall.michiganwomen.org/
She contributed to a grassroots publication, The Red Shawl, in 1976 and 1977. Copies available through the "Child and Family Services of Saginaw, MI" website. www.childandfamilysaginaw.org
Copies also included on this page.
Nurse and a Spy in the Union Army: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38497
Civil War Trust on Sarah Emma Edmonds: http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/sarah-emma-edmonds.html
Eggleston, Larry. Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies, Nurses, Doctors, Crusaders, and Others. (McFarland and Co., 2003).
Ruth Ellis Center: http://www.ruthelliscenter.org/
Saginaw Hall of Fame, biographical sketches by Ed Miller and Jean Beach, published by The Saginaw Hall of Fame, 2000.
Michigan's Women's Hall of Fame, Lansing, Michigan.
Women In Higher Education website
Diversity at the Top: The American College President 2012
Jana Nidiffer and Carolyn Terry Bashaw, eds., Women Administrators in Higher Education: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001).
Mimi Wolverton, Beverly Bower, and Adrienne Hyle, Women at the Top: What Women University and College Presidents Say About Effective Leadership (Stylus Publishing, 2008).
Deborah Stephens was the first female firefighter in the Saginaw Valley region. Stephens faced a lot of challenges being the first female fire fighter. She first joined the Saginaw Fire Department because it looked like a good and interesting job. Having taken a degree from Mississippi State University, she wasn't able to find a full-time teaching job in the area and had worked in various fields. When she joined the department, a Saginaw News reporter quoted her as saying that all she wanted to do was fight fires, not carry a torch for equal rights." (Saginaw News, 2/20/1990) Asked about that statement in 2014, Stephens said that she was happy to have represented females well. That she always tried to set a good standard through continuous improvement and keeping up a good image.
Although an educated and hard-working professional, it was difficult for Stephens to fit into the boys club. As she stated in a 2014 interview, "It doesn't matter how you try to fit in, there is always someone who thinks you should be at home baking cookies." Resentment of her hiring as a result of affirmative action marked the beginning of her career. Physically and mentally, Stephens knew she could do the job, but had to counter those who thought that women weren't strong enough or wouldn't be able to handle the horrors of the job. She stated that she wasn't afraid to do the job, but she was appropriately "cautious"—a good trait in a person who is running into a burning building where other people's lives are at stake. Even though she had all the proper training, she know that she had to "try harder" than a man would. At the time that she was hired, she told a Saginaw News reporter, "I'm going to have to prove myself every day. But whatever I do, I try to do my best." (Saginaw News, 2/20/1990) Doing her best was exactly what Stephens did and earned her a life-long career on the fire department and promotion in 2005 to the officer position of lieutenant. After twenty-two years on the department, she retired. The door that she opened continues to help women. When Ona Hoard became the first female captain in the area, she credited Stephens' mentorship. Women like Deborah Stephens remind us how important it is to have role models and that more women need to continue to integrate the firefighting profession so that young girls have a picture of who they want to emulate and someone to help show them the ropes.