Katharine Hepburn
Graceful, charming, hilarious, self-confident, hard-working, determined, outrageous; Katharine Hepburn has been gathering adjectives for years, adding them to her image with carelessness and calculation. In an era of changing roles for women, Katharine Hepburn was able to use her influence on the American film to stand out as an early role model of the modern American woman. She had the essence of the successful adventuress: no mater the challenge, she survived in tact with her sense of humor in good working order.
Born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut, Katharine had the good fortune to be born to her well-to-do parents, Katharine and Thomas Hepburn, who believed in freedom of thought and put no obstacles in their daughter's way. Both were active in the fight for many social and medical reforms for women: the vote, prostitution, white slavery, teen-age pregnancy, venereal disease, domestic hygiene, birth control; topics that were not discussed in polite private conversation, much less publicly. Although opposed by conservative neighbors, the Hepburns were eventually praised for their forward thinking (Anderson, 93). Their lesson to their daughter, Katharine, was clear: do what you know is right, even if you are out of step with the popular morals of the time. If you are right, the times will catch up with you. This attitude was instilled in her from birth and is evident in her "do what is right for you" personality. In her book Me, Katharine Hepburn wrote that her character is the power behind the throne, the thing that gives her common sense and the strength to keep going through the rough times. And that her character is a gift from her parents. When thinking about her background it is easy to understand why she chose and was successful in her roles involving family ties; she was the member of an extraordinary family that she was very close with. Her family life was not wealthy, but as a successful surgeon, her father provided a financially secure life for his family, sending Katharine to Bryn Mawr Collegea good background for her many roles she would later play as rich young socialites with a strong family presence. "The family with us was strong and remains strong
. We're sort of a group, going through the world together
.I feel cared for and always felt cared for"(Hepburn, 30).
During the 1930’s, the Great Depression was in full swing. The Depression was a period in American History when the economy was horrible. Most people did not have jobs, and if they did their paycheck was barely enough to put food on the table. At that time, many people did not experience happiness very often because of their money situations. However, there was one person who could turn any frown upside down, Shirley Temple. Shirley Temple, the best known child star of her time, ascended to unparalled box-office heights during the worst of the Great Depression, and brought humor and happiness to people in a time of great need.
Katherine Dunham, born on June 22, 1909 was an African American dancer. Her mother Fanny June Dunham died when she became sick and her father Albert Dunham Sr., left to work as a salesman. Dunham and her older brother Albert Jr., were raised by their loving aunt Lulu on the ghetto side of Chicago. At four years old, Dunham would go to the salon, her aunt’s workplace, and would always remember how much her mother loved music. It was not long before that when Katherine noticed how people would look at her aunt because of the color of her skin. It was why Lulu lost her job and had to move in with other relatives as her aunt could not afford their little apartment anymore. They moved several times with Dunham family members, where Katherine discovered
Born in Maine, of April, 1802, Dorothea Dix was brought up in a filthy, and poverty-ridden household (Thinkquest, 2). Her father came from a well-to-do Massachusetts family and was sent to Harvard. While there, he dropped out of school, and married a woman twenty years his senior (Thinkquest, 1). Living with two younger brothers, Dix dreamed of being sent off to live with her grandparents in Massachusetts. Her dream came true. After receiving a letter from her grandmother, requesting that she come and live with her, she was sent away at the age of twelve (Thinkquest, 4). She lived with her grandmother and grandfather for two years, until her grandmother realized that she wasn’t physically and mentally able to handle a girl at such a young age. She then moved to Worcester, Massachusetts to live with her aunt and her cousin (Thinkquest, 5).
Personality wise, she was persuasive, determined, confident, ambitious, risk-taking, and hardworking. Some of those personality traits are those of which I do not possess. However, they are traits that I desire to be able to portray and use in my life. I am, personally, not a very confident or risk-taking type of person so to attempt to apply these two traits to the way that I go about my life, might influence the way that I decide to try and accomplish certain things. I could use the personality trait of being confident for school presentations, or even sports events. Being the type of person who is risk-taking would allow for myself to be daring enough to go for what I desire in life, both academically and athletically. Margaret Sanger is someone to look up to because she wasn’t willing to back down, and stood up for what she believed in as well as what she thought was
Dorothy Rothschild Parker was born on August 22, 1893, in Long Branch, New Jersey. She was the youngest child of three siblings. Her mother Eliza Annie Rothschild was a Scottish descent, and her father was German Jewish descent. Her mother was devout to Catholicism. Her mother (Elizabeth Jane Barrett) was a survivor from the Titanic; she boarded the Titanic as first class passenger. Her mother died in July 1898, after her father remarried to Eleanor Frances Lewis. Dorothy was not close with her stepmother. She an had unhappy childhood, and she was lonely. She later accused her father of being physically abusive. In You Might as Well Live: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker she shows her father as being a monster. Dorothy’s stepmother was into Roman Catholicism, and Dorothy was sent to a boarding school run by nuns. Dorothy Parker was one of most accomplished feminist in her time and a successful literary writer in history. Dorothy attempted suicide and struggled with alcoholism, and spent some of her years to overcome it. Dorothy Rothschild was known in her time the most significant woman for writing books, poem, and short fictions.
Before and during her rapid rise to Hollywood stardom, Temple’s family played an important role in her childhood. Born in Santa Monica, California on April 23, 1928, Temple was welcomed into the world by her parents and two older brothers. Mr. George Temple worked as banker while Mrs. Gertrude Temple devoted her time to nurturing her baby girl, since her two older sons, George Jr. and John, were already independent teenagers (Dubas 7-8). ...
Marilyn Monroe, Norma Jeane Mortenson. A devious soul but a pure heart, a black past, but a bright future; she became one of the most idolized figures in society. Norma was definitely not born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and she never sugar coated her life to the media. She was straight forward which made her heavily known for her quotes such as “I learned to walk as a baby and I haven’t had a lesson since.” (Marilyn Monroe). This was the beginning to her life story as a hero. This may not seem inspiring or heroic to many by the lack of knowledge a person may have on Norma. In the depths of her quotes lay a deep, heartfelt life though. For this quote may seem sensational and comical to the ear, but Marilyn was transferred to many foster homes not really having a parent that would show her the way. What a good role model would do though, and what Norma courageously has shown society, is that when life knocks you down, get up and hit life back twice as hard. Norma Jeane Mortenson, married Jim Dougherty, and started working. Soon she created the character Marilyn Monroe, she dyed her hair blonde, wore short dresses, and she became the momentous and inspirational character that everyone saw through television, newspapers, and photos. She was one of the greatest actors, singers, and models of the nineteen forties and fifties. But like every hero they suffer and create their own demise. Jeane, Marilyn Monroe, is a shakespearean tragic hero, because like every hero she must fall.
The youngest of five children, Clarissa Harlowe Barton was born on December 25, 1821 to a middle class family in North Oxford, Massachusetts. In this rocky New England countryside, Clara, as she quickly became known, learned the value of hard work and hard principles through her labors on the family farm. From the beginning, Clara's family had an immeasurable influence on her. Her older siblings, who were all quite intelligent, helped educate Clara and could scarcely keep up with answering her never-ending barrage of questions. Her active mind readily absorbed new lessons and novel stories about famous ancestors. Something of a tomboy, she portrayed exceptional equestrian skills and could play sports with surprising aptitude, compliments of her brothers and male cousins.
This film is based on the real life story of Crystal Lee Sutton and her involvement with Ruben Warshovsky and the organization of the textile workers at the J.P. Stevens Company in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina (Labor Films). Sally Field plays the lead role of Norma Rae (Crystal Lee Sutton) fighting poor working conditions at O. P. Henley Company in 1978. This company is a southern textile mill, working with a union organizer to overcome pressure from management, implied dangers, and the struggle to organize her fellow employees. Although, the film is very entertaining, there are many examples of labor and management interactions including unfair labor practices by management, unfair labor practices by the union, and the procedural process of unionization process.
Grace Abbott was born November 17, 1878 in Grand Island, Nebraska. Grace was one of four children of Othman A. and Elizabeth Abbott. There’s was a home environment that stressed religious independence, education, and general equality. Grace grew up observing her father, a Civil War veteran in court arguing as a lawyer. Her father would later become the first Lt. Governor of Nebraska. Elizabeth, her mother, taught her of the social injustices brought on the Native Americans of the Great Plains. In addition, Grace was taught about the women’s suffrage movement, which her mother was an early leader of in Nebraska. During Grace’s childhood she was exposed to the likes of Pulitzer Prize author Willa Cather who lived down the street from the Abbott’s, and Susan B. Anthony the prominent civil rights leader whom introduced wom...
Born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts (SBA House), she was brought up into a large Quaker family with many activist traditions. Quakers believed highly in education and a strong work ethic from an early age. “They believed in peace, temperance and justice, and this was to affect her adult concerns about injustices toward women, as well as social problems that come from alcohol,” (Grace). As well as believing that men and women were equal partners before God, which later had an influence on her belief in women's rights. Her mother, Lucy, loved to sing and dance which led to much controversy between her father’s harsh Quaker faith, which later on to her convictions of women equality. “No toys or music were allowed in the Anthony home for fear that they would distract the children from God's word” (Linder). Anthony’s father, Daniel, ran a cotton mill with strong values to refuse slave-picked cotton. At the age of six, Anthony and her family moved to Battenville, New York because Daniel was asked to manage other mills (Grace). Her education began in quaint schools in the small of New York but at fifteen, bega...
Born on December 25, 1921, Clara grew up in a family of four children, all at least 11 years older than her (Pryor, 3). Clara’s childhood was more of one that had several babysitters than siblings, each taking part of her education. Clara excelled at the academic part of life, but was very timid among strangers. School was not a particularly happy point in her life, being unable to fit in with her rambunctious classmates after having such a quiet childhood. The idea of being a burden to the family was in Clara’s head and felt that the way to win the affection of her family was to do extremely well in her classes to find the love that she felt was needed to be earned. She was extremely proud of the positive attention that her achievement of an academic scholarship (Pryor, 12). This praise for her accomplishment in the field of academics enriched her “taste for masculine accomplishments”. Her mother however, began to take notice of this and began to teach her to “be more feminine” by cooking dinners and building fires (Pryor, 15). The 1830’s was a time when the women of the United States really began to take a stand for the rights that they deserved (Duiker, 552). Growing up in the mist of this most likely helped Barton become the woman she turned out to be.
Clara Bow’s fame did not leave her nature tainted, in a sense. She did not become spoiled or uppity. She remained rather self-less and ignorant to fame and those in its power. Her impudent attitude never faltered; she continued to live as the “chewing-gum-smacking eight-grade drop-out kid,” unaware of convention. Hey psychological welfare, though, was greatly affected. She was institutionalized, slit her wrists and throat, and eventually became the embodiment of an actress-gone-bad; booze, men, gambling, drugs, and insomnia.
was raised by an upper-class family who resented her and did not want her, therefore
She has a "natural elegance" and a mixture of "innocence and crudity," and yet, as seen in her response, her character proves to go beyond the boundaries of this character type of the natural beauty (1564 and 1574)."