Vashti Cromwell McCollum: Infidel Idol
Apr. 14th, 2007 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarahmichiganI have been a long-time reader (and one-time contributor of an article to) "Freethought Today," the newsletter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. I was tickled by their memoriam for Vashti Cromwell McCollum on several levels. First, I love older people who are non-conformists and hell-raisers. Second, I love women who were progressive and kicking ass well before the radical 1960s. Lastly, I love the symbolism of her name!
http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2006/oct/vashtimccollum.php
According to the FFRF's obituary for her:
"Vashti became "a very unpopular woman," as she put it, for taking and winning the first case before the U.S. Supreme Court to halt religious instruction in the public schools. McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 212 (1948) is the lynchpin of Establishment Clause law keeping religion out of public schools."
She also wrote her memoirs, "One Woman's Fight," which I think I will have to read at some point this year.
If you know much about the Bible or Jewish history, you probably have heard of Queen Esther, but you may not remember or know about the woman she replaced, Vashti. Vashti has become something of a feminist icon for her refusal to "show her beauty", which probably means "to dance naked," in front of the king. Her refusal got her deposed as Queen and paved the way for Esther to become the Queen and save her people.
It seems fitting that the woman who said, "No, you're not going to indoctrinate my fourth-grade son in your religion during school hours," is named after another woman who stood up to the powerful and said, "Nope. Not going to do that."
http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2006/oct/vashtimccollum.php
According to the FFRF's obituary for her:
"Vashti became "a very unpopular woman," as she put it, for taking and winning the first case before the U.S. Supreme Court to halt religious instruction in the public schools. McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 212 (1948) is the lynchpin of Establishment Clause law keeping religion out of public schools."
She also wrote her memoirs, "One Woman's Fight," which I think I will have to read at some point this year.
If you know much about the Bible or Jewish history, you probably have heard of Queen Esther, but you may not remember or know about the woman she replaced, Vashti. Vashti has become something of a feminist icon for her refusal to "show her beauty", which probably means "to dance naked," in front of the king. Her refusal got her deposed as Queen and paved the way for Esther to become the Queen and save her people.
It seems fitting that the woman who said, "No, you're not going to indoctrinate my fourth-grade son in your religion during school hours," is named after another woman who stood up to the powerful and said, "Nope. Not going to do that."
