An American Icon
“…[Jacqueline] might almost have been a movie star. Her picture appeared on countless magazine covers, and ‘the Jackie look’ was widely imitated” (Gerston 53). She has been known to be one of the most glamorous first ladies there ever was, and women across America wanted to emulate her style, grace and strength due to the admiration many held for her. Despite Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ elite yet turbulent childhood, she became an American icon who influenced women through her ability to persevere and stay true to herself, accomplishing the American Dream along the way.
Onassis was born in the 1920’s in Southampton, Long Island, New York to John Vernou Bouvier III, a Wall Street broker, and Janet Lee (Caroli). She had a younger sister, Caroline Lee, and both were raised in an affluent, wealthy lifestyle (“Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis”). Onassis spent the winters in New York City where she attended the Chapin School and the summers in East Hampton, Long Island (“Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis”). Throughout her childhood, Onassis “developed the interests she would relish as an adult: horseback riding, writing and painting” (Caroli). When her parents divorced in 1942, Jacqueline’s mother married Hugh Auchincloss, Jr. (“Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis”). At this time in her life, she split her time between “the family's Merrywood estate in Virginia and Hammersmith Farm in Newport, Rhode Island” (Caroli). Onassis had an elite education, attending boarding school from the age of 15 and Vassar College after her graduation from high school (“Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis”). During her junior year of college, Onassis studied at the “Sorbonne in Paris”, where “she polished her French and solidified her affinity for French culture and...
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...rself and her children. She truly is an American icon who will be remembered as a trend-setting first lady, loving mother and strong, independent woman of her time.
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The role of American women has changed significantly from the time the nation was born, to the modern era of the 1950s and 1960s. Many people, "... believed that women's talent and energies ... would be put to the better [use] in the new republic." (Clinton 3) Clearly showing that society has seen the importance of the women's talents and that their skills can be very useful, exploited this and thus, the change of the women's role was inevitable. Society has understood that the roles of women played an important role on all parts of life.
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Abigail Adams married a man destined to be a major leader of the American Revolution and the second President of the United States. Although she married and raised men that become such significant figures during their time, her herself was played an important role in the American society. The events that happened in her life, starting from childhood and ending in her adult years, led her to be a Revolutionary woman. Three main reasons behind her becoming such a strong, independent woman was the fact that she married a man who had an important role in politics, growing up with no education, and raising a family basically by herself.
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis has been placed among saints in Stanley Crouch’s eyes. He associates her with some of the most influential people the world has known. He places her among the ranks of Mahalia Jackson, Bessie Smith, and the Virgin Mary, whom have all had significant effects on race relations. Stanley Crouch grew up in the slum area of Los Angeles, California (Lamb 2). Despite the fact that he is an African American, Stanley fought his way out of poverty to become one of the most famed black jazz critics and foremost authors of many influential speeches and papers. He tells in "Blues for Jackie," how Jackie Kennedy has influenced race relations and the connection she had with the domestics with whom he grew up. It is, in part, because of Jackie and the other individuals with which she is compared, that there are stronger ties between blacks and whites. Without the Jackie Kennedys and Bessie Smiths, the world's pool of racial suppression would be full of sewage.
Even though Kennedy endured many hardships during his childhood, he grew up into a successful and ambitious man. He was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29, 1917 to Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Although, to the public he was known as “Jack Kennedy”. John F. Kennedy was also prone to being ill. He suffered from many illnesses such as chickenpox, measles, and whooping cough. However, this was not all that he had to endure. Before the age of three, Kennedy was diagnosed with scarlet fever, a life-threatening disease. Fortunately, he fully recovered from it and continued the routines of daily living (“John F. Kennedy”). Numerous individuals look back on someone’s life and evaluate of what importance their life was. Kennedy demonstrates that even though one may n...
As a social studies girl, I knew most famous women in history. But without a doubt, I would choose Susan B. Anthony. She was a social reformer who played a significant role in women’s suffrage movement. As a feminist, she went against women stereotypes. During the 1800s, women were recognized as a social inferior group. Their jobs were categorized as a phrase- Republican Motherhood. This phrase means that as a woman, our job is to take care about domestic issues and we cannot take over men’ jobs. As a young woman, I had experienced gender stereotype in China. I believe that I state it in my personal statement. If I had a chance to talk to her, I would love to ask about her role as a political figure. What did she experienced that made her a
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“Thus had died and been laid to rest in the most quiet, unostentatious way the most useful and distinguished woman America had yet produced,” (Wilson, Pg. 342).
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Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia to a family of sharecroppers. He was the youngest child, he had 4 siblings. In 1920 his father left the family, leaving his mother to take care of all 5 children. His mother, Mallie Robinson, moved the family to a predominantly white neighborhood in a suburban part of Pasadena, California. This was Jackie’s first experience being a pioneer in integration.
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Biography in Context, in the article “John Fitzgerald Kennedy” claims that JFK’s legacy is one of the largest and most memorable legacies in the history of Presidents of the United States. In their article, they use quotes from historians and other people who observed JFK and his family in order to emphasize the impact of JFK’s presidency and the Kennedy family. For example, they quote historian Doris Kearns Goodwin who claims that “no American family has had a more vivid and powerful impact on the life of their times” (Biography in Context 94). This evidence suggests that JFK had an extremely large impact on the United States.
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