That is why, through the centuries, most rulers were men – men who charged into battle on a thundering war horse wearing thick armor and carrying heavy swords. They kept their crowns many times by facing their foes on the field of battle.  

One such king was King Henry VIII of England.  He became king in 1509 at the age of 17. He was a big, powerful man standing over six feet tall with broad shoulders and a fighting spirit.  He was a fierce competitor in battle against the French, Scots, Irish, and even enemies within his own realm.  He ruled England for 38 years and had six wives, but the one thing he didn’t have was a slew of sons to inherit the throne.  At that time in history, the crown was generally passed down to the males in the royal family.  But King Henry VIII had two daughters, Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, and only one son, Prince Edward, who was sickly and weak.   

Both Mary and Elizabeth had an unhappy childhood due to the whims of their father.  King Henry divorced Mary’s mother, Queen Catherine, because she could not produce a son.  He sent her into exile and she eventually died alone and abandoned by the king and court.  

King Henry did something worse to his next wife, Queen Anne Boleyn.  He tired of her manipulations and inability to birth a son.  He ordered her executed based on false accusations concocted by her enemies at court.  Their daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was just 2 years old when she lost her mother.  King Henry then declared that Elizabeth was “illegitimate” – not a true royal princess or heir – and sent her away to live in the country.  Elizabeth quickly learned that life can change in an instant:  one minute she was a princess and the next she was abandoned by her father and kicked out of the line of succession, meaning she would never sit on the throne.  She determined that she must study and learn all she could to survive in this world.  She practiced many languages, including French, Latin, Italian, Flemish, Welsh, Cornish, Scottish, Irish, German, Spanish, and Greek.  She studied people and their personalities, learning valuable skills about diplomacy and public relations.  She cultivated her charm, poise, cunning, and intelligence.

When she was 10, her father changed his mind about Elizabeth and restored her princess title and her succession to the throne behind Edward and Mary.  He died four years later and Elizabeth, then 14, was sent to live with his last wife, Catherine Parr, and her new husband.  Unfortunately, Catherine’s husband was a scoundrel and used to tickle, tease, and corner Elizabeth when she was alone or asleep.  Elizabeth tried to dress very early in the morning, or have her servants around her at all times, so that her stepfather would not try something tricky, like marry her in secret, in the hopes of becoming king if Elizabeth ever became queen.

King Henry’s son, Edward, was now king at only nine years old.  But Edward was very sickly and died when he was 15 from tuberculosis. Before he died, Edward, a Protestant, drafted a will to make his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, also a Protestant, the next ruler instead of his older sister, Mary, who was a Catholic.

Lady Jane Grey was then proclaimed queen against her wishes and thrust on the throne based on Edward’s will, plus the manipulations of powerful men in her family and at court.  She knew in her heart that Edward’s oldest sister, Mary, should be the rightful queen.  And Mary thought so, too!  Mary quickly gathered troops and rode to London, throwing Jane off the throne and locking her in the Tower of London.  Jane Grey lost her life at only 16 years old on Mary’s orders due to her nine days on a throne she never wanted.  As you can see, kings and queens in those days did not sit easily on a throne.  Anything could happen to throw them off of it – angry enemies, untrustworthy family members, manipulative counselors, or faithless friends.

Mary then took the throne and became Mary I.  She was a very strict queen and had many people burned at the stake for their religious beliefs, thus gaining the nickname “Bloody Mary.”  She was an ardent Catholic and wanted everyone to practice that religion, but she knew that many in her kingdom were Protestant, including her younger sister Elizabeth.  

Elizabeth, now 19, possessed a charming personality and keen intelligence.  Mary grew very jealous of Elizabeth and thought Elizabeth was plotting to overthrow her and take her crown.  Mary ordered that Elizabeth be taken captive and rowed by boat in the pouring rain to the Tower of London and imprisoned.  Elizabeth passed under “Traitor’s Gate” proclaiming her innocence.  She was held in the Tower for two months before she was released and sent to a country home, where she was held under house arrest.

Queen Mary I only ruled for five years before dying of stomach cancer at the age of 42.  At the time, she was married to Prince Philip of Spain, but they had no children.

Thus, on January 15, 1559, Princess Elizabeth, age 25, was crowned Queen Elizabeth I in Westminster Abbey.  She arrived at the Abbey a young beauty in an elaborate gold gown, shimmering jewels, ornate crown, and fur-lined robe.  No one thought that the little, red-headed toddler, the only child of King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn, a traitor’s daughter, would one day be queen.  Through her intelligence, iron will, and perseverance, Elizabeth survived a tyrannical father, the execution of her mother, abandonment by her family, imprisonment and false accusations by her half-sister, and a sly stepfather, to survive and thrive.  She became the ruler of a powerful nation as a single woman in her own right.  She never married nor had children.  She ruled for 44 years, much longer than her siblings, or even her all-powerful father.  She survived several assassination attempts, foiled the Spanish Armada, and thwarted various plots to overthrow her.  One of these plots was allegedly masterminded by her own cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. Her reign was called the “Elizabethan Era” and saw literary achievements by William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlow, plus successful sea exploits by Sirs Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake.  She was called “The Virgin Queen,” “Glorianna,” and “Good Queen Bess.”

In honor of this historic queen and her coronation in January, consider visiting your local library to find a book about her life and reign, or listen to our prior episode, “History of the Spanish Armada and Queen Elizabeth.”  This young princess-turned-queen lived in a world of men and rose to the highest position of power and prestige during a ruthless time in history.  She knew that if she married, her husband would assume control over her and her country; therefore, she never married and kept her power.  Throughout her life, she had few people she could trust.  Everyone around her, including her own family members, courtiers, counselors, and other rulers, plotted against her for power, position, or property.  Being a queen during that time was one of the loneliest jobs in the world.  And with no children, she had no one to love or mentor as the next monarch.  

Today, British monarchs no longer make laws or act as the sole ruler of the United Kingdom.  They are considered a “figure head” – or symbol – of their nation, while their parliament rules the kingdom and makes the laws.  Kings and queens today approve bills, appoint Prime Ministers, and open Parliament every season.  They no longer make laws, start a war, or order their enemies imprisoned or executed. Instead, they tour the country speaking with their countrymen, listening to their concerns and shining a spotlight on organizations and causes.  They conduct outreach to other nations to foster peace and goodwill.  Their life is much different in many respects than the kings and queens of the past. Today, a monarch’s power rests not in their swords but in their statesmanship.  They work for the betterment of their people and promote their interests.  In many respects, the weight of the crown today is much lighter and the risks much fewer.

What do you think of Queen Elizabeth I and her rocky road to the throne?  Would you have liked to live as a king or queen during that time in history?  Does her story change your opinion of royalty?  If so, how?  Do you live in a country with a king or queen?  If so, where?

The post History of Queen Elizabeth I for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

If I asked you this same question about 70 years ago, you would have had a lot fewer options to pick from. And one thing’s for sure. You would have almost surely named a male athlete. This is because, in the 1950s, the greatest sports legends, and basically the only sports legends were men. 

It was very rare for women to play professional sports. When they did, they were told that they weren’t as competitive or fun to watch as the men playing the same sport as them. This meant that young girls had nobody to look up to. They had no Naomi Osaka or Alex Morgan to dream of becoming. 

A young girl named Billie Jean King was growing up in those days. She loved sports. She was born in California in 1943 into a family of athletes. Seriously, at least one of her family members had excelled at just about every sport you can think of. Her mother was a swimmer, and her father did basketball, baseball, and track. Her younger brother played baseball, and he even became a pitcher in Major League Baseball. 

Today, we might think that  Billie Jean was born to be an athlete. But this was 70 years ago. So, it was something of a surprise when Billie Jean wanted to follow in her family’s footsteps and be an athlete. 

Her family’s skills meant that she had high expectations and big shoes to fill. But, it didn’t take long before Billie Jean was proving she was every bit the talented athlete as the rest of her family. 

She started in softball. And she was really good at it. So good that when she was only 10 years old, she was playing with teenagers. It didn’t matter that they were bigger and stronger. She was still a strong competitor. 

After seeing one of her friends playing tennis, though, Billie Jean traded her softball bat for a tennis racquet. With that first swing at 11 years old, Billie Jean swiftly showed that she was definitely made to be a tennis player. 

She even told her mom that she was going to become the best tennis player in the world. Not the best women’s tennis player, not even the best women’s athlete, but the best tennis player in the world. 

There was one slight problem. Nobody really paid much attention to women’s tennis players, or really any women playing professional sports. So Billie Jean didn’t have anybody to model her career after. She had no female superstar athletes paving the way for her. Nope, she was going to have to do it all herself. Young Billie Jean had lots of challenges ahead of her. She was definitely going to have to prove that she was a tough opponent on the court.

But what she didn’t know was that some of her toughest battles would be off the court.

Still, Billie Jean knew in her heart that tennis was her sport. She was ready to start training. She was ready to start the path to become the best tennis player in the world. Not so fast, said reality! Her first off-court opponent was quick to show up. And it  stopped Billie Jean in her tracks. 

At the time, tennis was a pretty expensive sport. Her family didn’t have a lot of money, and her parents didn’t think they would be able to afford all of the equipment that she needed to start playing tennis. Billie Jean was used to overcoming an opponent with skill or endurance. That couldn’t help her this time.

But what could help her was persistence and hard work. Billie Jean decided that she would earn the money herself. She asked her neighbors if she could do jobs for them. Slowly, she ended up saving the money to buy herself her first racquet.

One opponent down. She had a racquet. She was ready to start practicing. She took free tennis lessons offered in her hometown of Long Beach, California. 

After a couple years of practice, Billie Jean was getting better and better. At age 14, she even won a championship tournament in Southern California! She was proving to herself and everyone around her that she was an athlete. And a great one.

But more opponents popped up off the court.  People criticized the way she played. They said she played too aggressively for a young girl. Billie Jean couldn’t help that she was a girl. No matter how well she performed, the boys around her were getting much more attention and praise. Billie Jean was frustrated. 

The criticism that she faced because of her gender continued to build. Then, as a teenager, she played in a big tennis tournament. At the end, they gathered all of the players for a photo.   Except for Billie Jean.

Why was she excluded from the photo?  At that time in tennis, women played in a traditional skirt. Billie Jean wore shorts. She was more comfortable and could play better in them. But she wasn’t allowed to be in the photo. Not unless she wore a skirt. Like girls were supposed to wear.

She felt like many people were rooting against her. The people in charge of tournaments didn’t want her to be noticed for her success. Despite this little loss, she kept playing throughout all of high school, and by the time she was ready to go to college, Billie Jean was ranked as one of the best women’s tennis players in the whole country. 

Even though she was winning almost every match in every tournament she joined, she made less prize money than the men who won the exact same tournaments. The people around her told her that she was a very good tennis player…for a girl. 

The college she went to wouldn’t even give her a scholarship just because she was a girl! She won every match she could, but still she felt that her gender was the one rival she would never be able to vanquish. 

Billie Jean was starting to realize that her childhood dream of being the best tennis player in the world was going to be much more difficult than she thought. She accepted that it would be difficult, but she did not accept that it would be impossible. 

Billie Jean was already fighting hard on the court. Now she was ready to start fighting back just as hard off the court. When she thought about her childhood dream, she didn’t just want to be the best tennis player in the world for herself. She wanted to be the best player in the world so she could make sports equal for all the girls who followed in her tennis-playing footsteps. 

To do this, Billie Jean would have to start playing more and bigger tournaments. So that’s exactly what she did. In 1961, when she was 18 years old, she competed in her first Wimbledon tournament. Wimbledon is an annual tennis tournament held in London, and it’s basically the World Cup of tennis. It’s one of the biggest and most watched tournaments all over the world every year. 

Billie Jean and her tennis partner Karen Hantz Susman became the youngest pair to ever win the Wimbledon women’s doubles title. After that, she didn’t stop. She kept winning. For the next 20 years almost, it seemed like Billie Jean won every match she played. 

In 1966, she won her first major singles championship at the Wimbledon tournament. And then she won again in 1967. And again in 1968. She went on to win a record-winning total of 20 Wimbledon titles in her career, which she still holds the record for today. 

Her victories spanned the whole world. From 1961 when she won that first Wimbledon, until 1979, Billie Jean won 13 titles at the major tennis tournament in the United States, four at the one in France, and two at the one in Australia, and 20 – yes, 20 – from Wimbledon.  

Even without doing the  math, we can all agree that those added up to a lot of wins for Billie Jean. Most importantly, she achieved that special goal that she told her mother about when she was a young girl. For a total of 6 years, Billie Jean King was ranked as the best women’s tennis player in the world. 

She’d made a name for herself. Now Billie Jean wanted to use the fame and reputation she’d earned on the court to start tackling some of the challenges and problems she’d dealt with off the court.

She first created an association specifically for women playing in tennis. She wanted to make the sport equal between mens and womens players, not only for herself, but for the women she was competing against, and for the thousands of young girls who might one day break the records she was setting. 

With this new Women’s Tennis Association, Billie Jean started a campaign to make prize money equal for both men and women at all these tournaments. At one point, Billie Jean even said she would stop playing in tournaments that would not offer the same amount of prize money. Unless they offered up some equality off the court, Billie Jean would not play. And without Billie Jean, less people came to see these tournaments.  

So the United States Open in 1973 became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money to both men and women thanks to Billie Jean. This was a big deal! It’s rare, even today, for male athletes and female athletes to earn the same amount of money. Billie Jean’s hard work and international success was changing some people’s minds. 

Of course, not everybody was happy with these changes. One of them was an older men’s tennis player. His name was Bobby Riggs. Bobby was especially upset with Billie Jean. He insisted that men’s tennis was better than women’s tennis. He boasted that he could beat any of the best female players, Billie Jean included. Even though he had been retired from the sport for almost 20 years, he challenged Billie Jean to a tennis match. The winner would get $100,000! And almost as importantly, they would get bragging rights. 

Billie Jean had never been one to back away from a challenge. She had changed the game of tennis and made it better for women. She had paid for her own equipment, been excluded from tournament photos, and spent decades training. Was she going to back down now? Of course, she accepted. 

People were very excited. They nicknamed the match the “Battle of the Sexes.” They put it on TV for the whole country to watch! It was the most watched tennis match ever. This meant that the stakes were even higher for Billie Jean. Could she beat a male tennis player? Could she show everybody watching that women were just as good at sports as men? 

On September 20 in 1973 Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs very easily. But it wasn’t her only victory. Her tougher victory was the respect she won for women by the thousands of viewers across the world. People were starting to agree with 11-year-old Billie Jean. Finally, it seemed that Billie Jean could claim the title of the best tennis player. 

Since then, Billie Jean has retired. She set up the Women’s Sports Foundation and a co-ed tennis team to make sure women would always have a place in professional sports. She continues to advocate for women in professional sports.

Billie Jean’s victories are one reason that we have many successful women’s athletes that we can look up to today. People like Simone Biles, Alex Morgan, and Serena Williams aren’t great athletes in spite of being women. They are the greatest athletes because they are women. And that’s something that Billie Jean worked hard to prove.  

So the next time you hear someone say, “They’re pretty good . . . for a girl,” remind them of Billie Jean King. Who was a pretty good athlete. Period. 

Sources: 

https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Billie-Jean-King/630675

https://kids.kiddle.co/Billie_Jean_King#Early_life

https://kidskonnect.com/people/billie-jean-king/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Battle-of-the-Sexes-tennis

The post The Story of Billie Jean King for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Annie Smith Peck had a pretty normal childhood. I know that’s not an exciting way to start a podcast, but it’s true. Born right in the middle of the 19th century to an old, her Rhode Island family traced its roots to the founder of the state. She went to school, then studied to become a teacher. Her family was a little more open-minded than most–Annie’s father took her to see a women’s rights activist speak once.  But they still expected Annie to marry, start a family, and live the respectable life of a well-off 19th-century woman from an old family. 

Annie had other ideas–not quite plans, but not marriage and children. The fire-brand feminist speaker she’d seen as a child had convinced her she could do bigger things than her family expected. Her old high school teacher, who refused to give Annie a permanent job, also hinted that teaching wasn’t a big enough goal for her. But Annie wasn’t sure what those bigger goals should be. The sheltered life she led with her family in Rhode Island didn’t help her expand her vision. So she drifted around, trying things out. A friend had moved west to Illinois after high school and gotten a job teaching, and Annie decided to try her luck in the Midwest. She moved to Michigan to teach. 

Once in Michigan, it became clear to those around her that Annie was capable of more than just teaching. She became friends with a few professors at the nearby University of Michigan, who recognized her curious and adventurous spirit. Annie had tried to gain admission to Brown University in Rhode Island, the school where her father and brothers had gone, but they refused her. They didn’t take female students. The University of Michigan did though. It was one of the first in the nation to do so, and Annie’s new friends made sure she got the chance to enroll. 

Annie was in her twenties by the time she started college, much older than most of her classmates, but she immediately felt that she belonged. She studied hard, made many new friends, and expanded her mind and her possibilities. When she graduated at 27, Annie was just getting started on her adventures!

After teaching in colleges for a few years, Annie earned enough money to begin her travels, and she never really stopped. Over the next several years, Annie would go back and forth between Europe and the US. She went to a famous archeological school in Greece, took photos, hiked, and made lifelong friends. Between trips, she kept teaching, and also started giving lectures about Greek archeology and history, using photos and experiences from her travels. 

It was on one of these trips to Europe that Annie discovered the passion that would dominate the rest of her life: mountain climbing. She scaled mountains all over Europe and the United States, from one of California’s highest mountains–Mount Shasta–to the Alps in Europe. She climbed the Matterhorn, a famously steep and treacherous peak in the Swiss Alps in 1895, becoming the second woman to do so. Even though she wasn’t the first woman to climb it, her accomplishment did attract some attention, though not so much for the climbing part: people were aghast that she had climbed in PANTS! Annie just thought this was the sensible thing to wear when climbing mountains, but some people thought she should be arrested for not wearing a skirt! 

By the time she climbed the Matterhorn, Annie was 45 years old, but she was just getting started on her climbing career. Between mountains, she spent all her time planning and raising money for the next expedition. She lectured, wrote articles, and flat-out asked her friends and acquaintances for donations. She didn’t feel at home unless she was traveling and climbing. She turned her sites southward and traveled to Mexico, where she became the first woman to climb the two highest peaks in that country: Pico de Orizaba and Popocatepetl, both over 18 thousand feet. For a brief time, she held the world record for the highest peak climbed by a woman, though another climber, Fanny Bullock Workman soon bested her on a climb in the Himalayan mountains. 

Annie decided she wanted to climb bigger mountains, summits that no one– male or female– had ever climbed before. She researched peaks in South America, looking for one that might be the highest on the continent. After much research–and a few more climbs–she decided Huascaran, a mountain in the Peruvian Andes, would be her target. It would take all her grit and perseverance to get there.

Planning a climbing expedition is no simple matter. Climbing was, and is, dangerous: many mountains, especially the higher ones, have snow all year. Glaciers cut around them, with snow camouflaging deep crevasses. There was constant danger of avalanches and falling rocks. Freezing temperatures bite at you day and night, with only your clothes, tent, and sleeping bag–along with occasional fires–to warm you up. Frostbite could set in quickly if you weren’t careful. Sun glaring off the snow could burn your skin.

You need the right gear and clothing. You needed a rope to tie yourself to the other climbers, so if one person slipped, they wouldn’t go sliding down the side of the mountain. Of course, this could work the other way around too: one person slipping in the wrong place could pull everyone with them! Ice axes helped climbers cling to steep ascents, or even cut stairs in the ice. Many climbers, including Annie, also wanted to contribute to science, so they’d bring tools for measuring the height, or altitude that they reached.  

Shocking at the time, Annie considered pants a necessity. Many women did climb in long skirts at the time, but she considered them cumbersome and did away with them. You needed four pairs of thick wool socks under boots four sizes too big, along with several pairs of wool long underwear, which you might wear all at once! Hats, gloves, sunglasses, camp stove, blankets…the list goes on!

But the most important item to pack, according to Annie? Chocolate!

Even experienced climbers like Annie need guides or companions to help them on the mountain–it’s definitely not a solo sport. Good guides–professional mountain climbers who had the equipment and expertise to make sure you were as safe as possible–were expensive and hard to find. You would also need to pay porters to help carry your equipment and find donkeys or mules to carry larger bundles. 

Annie struggled to raise the money she would need to buy equipment and hire guides to climb Huascaran. She tried three times, crossing the ocean on steamers and trekking for days each time to reach the mountain. The guides and porters she found were often inexperienced and unreliable, and many of them insisted on turning back when the going got rough. 

But after years of failed attempts, Annie and two Swiss guides finally made it to the peak in 1908, She was 58 years old. It still wasn’t an easy expedition. The group started on their first attempt in early August of 1908, but had to return when one of the guides got sick and snowstorms lashed their campsite. The three tried again in late August, and finally made it to the summit! They took photos and measurements of the altitude. Annie’s measurements showed that she had reached a greater height than any other woman before her.

But the victory was not without its consequences: one guide developed serious frostbite and had to have several fingers and part of his foot amputated when they returned to the nearest city. 

When she got back to the US, Annie used her connections to help raise money for him, since he couldn’t work as a mountain climbing guide anymore. 

But more challenges were in store. Annie’s old rival, Fanny Bullock Workman, claimed that one of her climbs in the Himalayas was higher! She even hired engineers with better instruments to measure Huascaran. Unfortunately for Annie, this showed the summit wasn’t quite as high as she’d measured, so Workman did hold the world record for the highest altitude climb for a woman. Never willing to admit defeat so easily, Annie would remind a reporter later that she had still climbed higher than any man in America!

Even if her pride was a little wounded, Annie wasn’t deterred. She wanted to keep climbing. She’d made a specialty of climbing peaks in South America and wanted to keep exploring to see if she could find the highest mountain on the continent. Her next target: Coropuna, another peak in Peru that had never been climbed before. This time, her competition wasn’t just the brutal conditions of the mountain itself. Hiram Bingham, a young scholar from Yale, also wanted to be the first to climb Coropuna. He didn’t think too highly of Annie or any woman who didn’t want to be a wife and mother. The race was on, and Annie meant to win it. 

The two climbers planned their expeditions for the summer of 1911. Annie left a week earlier, but Bingham caught up with her, and for a while they were even on the same steamer ship. Talk about awkward! Bingham wouldn’t even talk to Annie, but described her as a “terrible bore.” A few weeks into Annie’s journey through Peru, she received surprising news: Bingham had decided not to climb until October! He had other work he had to do in Peru for his university, though he did hope Annie would fail in her attempt so he could still beat her. 

Annie didn’t fail. This time, she had a reliable, committed team. She encouraged them when they were afraid to go on, saying no one had to climb all the way to the top except her, and she would give them a bonus if they stuck with her. They reached the peak. She measured the height and realized it was almost certainly lower than Huascaran, but she was still satisfied. Annie planted the flag of a “votes for women” flag on the peak, and her companions planted a Peruvian flag. 

Annie loved Peru and South America. The people there were always willing to help with food or a place to sleep when she passed through on one of her expeditions. After Coropuna, she wrote a book describing her climbs and the people there and became known as an expert on the region. The presidents of Chile and Peru honored her with awards and medals, and the Lima Geographical Society in Peru renamed the Huascaran peak she had summited “Cumbre Aña Peck.”

Annie never wanted people to think of her as a “woman climber.” She wanted to be recognized as one of the best climbers, male or female, period. But she knew her climbs stood for something more because she was a woman. Maybe that’s why, once she found her place on the mountain, she never stopped climbing. She climbed Coropuna when she was sixty years old, and climbed her last mountain at 82 years old. She took an airplane tour of South America at 79, then wrote another book about the continent. And she fought tirelessly to get women the right to vote. Even though no one in her life expected her to do great things– and some outright discouraged her– Annie kept aiming her sights higher. She found what she was meant to do, and even when people thought she was too old or too female, she kept going. She climbed higher and higher, until she stood above the clouds, gazing out over deserts, mountain peaks, and distant oceans, and saw farther than any of them.

Sources

Kimberly, Hannah. (2017) A Woman’s Place Is at the Top. St. Martin’s Press, New York.

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2021/06/historical-badass-annie-smith-peck/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Smith_Peck

The post History of Annie Smith Peck for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine standing on the center court of the biggest tennis match in the World, The US Open, facing your toughest opponent yet. The sun beats down on your skin, and the crowd’s roar fills your ears as you prepare to serve the ball.

As you toss the ball into the air, your mind flashes back to all the hours you’ve spent practicing, training, and pushing yourself to become the best tennis player in the world. You remember the countless sacrifices you’ve made, the injuries you’ve overcome, and the doubts you’ve silenced.

With a powerful swing of your racket, you send the ball flying over the net and into your opponent’s court. The crowd erupts into cheers as you begin the intense rally that will decide the fate of the match.

As the ball flies back and forth between you and your opponent, you stay focused and determined, using every ounce of your strength, speed, and skill to keep the rally going. You hear your opponent’s breaths getting heavier, see her movements slowing down, and you know you’ve got her where you want her.

In a sudden burst of energy, you make a bold move, charging forward to the net and delivering a stunning volley that catches your opponent off guard. The ball flies past her, landing squarely in the corner of the court, and you raise your arms in triumph as the crowd explodes with excitement.

You’ve done it again. You’ve proven yourself to be the best tennis player in the world, and nothing can stop you. As you bask in the glory of your victory, you can’t help but feel grateful for all the hard work, dedication, and passion that have brought you to this moment. 

You are Serena Williams in a tennis match and it’s nothing short of exhilarating.

Serena Williams is one of the most famous tennis players in the world. She has won countless championships and is known for her incredible athleticism, strength, and skill on the court. But before she became a tennis superstar, she was just a little girl with a big dream.

Serena was born in Saginaw, Michigan with 6 siblings, in 1981 to parents Orancene and Richard Williams who worked hard to keep their big family happy. 

One day while watching a tennis tournament on TV Richard Williams, had an amazing idea. The winner of the tennis tournament received a large amount of money, and Richard believed that his daughters could also become tennis champions. He decided to learn everything he could about the sport and coach his daughters to become superstars. He even wrote a book outlining what they needed to learn about tennis and how he would teach them. He was determined to make his daughters into tennis champions. 

When Serena was just three years old, her father started teaching her and her older sister, Venus, how to play tennis. He would take them to the public courts in their neighborhood and give them lessons on the basics of the game.

Serena learned to play on old and cracked tennis courts in Compton. These courts were not like the ones found in fancy tennis clubs. The nets were held up by chains and ropes, and the fence surrounding the courts was broken in some places. The area around the courts was also not very safe. There were often gang members causing trouble, and sometimes the girls even heard gunshots nearby! It was definitely not an easy place to practice and play tennis.

As the young girls kept practicing their tennis skills, something amazing started to happen. The court began to feel like a safer place to be. Some people who lived nearby even remember seeing gang members standing outside the courts, keeping an eye on the girls and their dad while they played.

Serena and Venus quickly fell in love with tennis. They would practice for hours every day, hitting balls back and forth and working on their technique. They also played other sports, like basketball and track and field, but tennis was always their favorite.

The girls continued taking tennis lessons from their dad and kept improving their skills. 

Serena’s older sister Venus was around nine years old when she started playing in tennis tournaments against other kids her age and Serena was only 8! She was so eager to compete that she surprised her dad by secretly filling out forms to enter a tournament without telling him. He only found out when he saw Serena win her first match!

During that same tournament, her dad got to see both of his daughters play against each other for the first time in the tournament final. Venus was nine and Serena was eight. It was a big moment for the family!

As the sisters began to win more and more games everyone in the tennis community began to notice them. What made Venus and Serena stand out was that they didn’t come from a fancy tennis club. They wore regular clothes without designer labels and they played differently from most young players. Instead of just trying to hit the ball where their opponents couldn’t reach it, they used power and slammed the ball so their opponents couldn’t even see it! The Williams sisters’ success didn’t just stay in California. It caught the attention of people all over the country. The sisters were interviewed and during the interview, Venus said that if she didn’t become a tennis player, she wanted to be an astronaut or an archaeologist and Serena said she wanted to be a gymnast or a veterinarian. 

Their dad had been teaching them all he knew about tennis, but soon he realized that his daughters needed more help to improve their skills. That’s when he decided to hire a professional coach named Rick Macci, a coach in Florida who had trained other young champions like Jennifer Capriati, the youngest player ever to reach the top ten in the world rankings at age fourteen in.

Macci flew to Compton, where the Williams family lived, to see the girls play. Macci was surprised by the run-down courts that the sisters were practicing on, but he was even more impressed by how well the girls played. He saw that they were not only strong, but also fast and graceful. After he watched them play he explained to Serena and Venus that they needed better coaching to take their game to the next level.

Macci saw that Venus and Serena had a burning desire to win, and he believed that they had the potential to become champions. But to do so, the family would have to leave California and move to Florida, where Macci’s tennis academy was located. 

In 1991, the Williams family packed up an RV and drove across the country to start a new life in Florida.

The move was not easy for some of the older sisters to pack up and leave their home, but their parents knew that it was the best decision for Venus and Serena’s tennis future. 

In Florida, the girls practiced six hours a day, six days a week for four years, hitting hundreds of serves every day. They also attended a private school that was part of the tennis academy, where they focused on both tennis and school every day.

Soon after turning fifteen, Serena played in her first professional tournament. And once she started playing professionally the German shoe company Puma offered her a lot of money to wear their name and logo while she played in tournaments, this is called being a sponsor. When you are really good at something like playing tennis, racing cars, or skating, businesses will give you money to wear their logo!

Making money while playing tennis was a big deal for Serena’s family because it helped them to have a better life. It allowed them to pay for travel expenses to tennis tournaments around the world. 

Serena and Venus worked very hard to become professional tennis players, and their success allowed them to support their family and live a more comfortable life.

The sisters were able to  move their family to a big house in Palm Beach, Florida. The house had two tennis courts that were in perfect condition, which was much different than the tennis courts they grew up playing on. 

Serena’s dad started coaching her and her sister again, and they hired tutors to help them with their schoolwork. On the way to the courts, Richard put up signs with encouraging messages for his daughters. One sign said that Venus needed to take control of her future, while another told Serena to use more top spin on the ball.

When Venus and Serena started playing in professional tournaments, they sometimes ended up playing against each other. Venus won against Serena in their first match at the Australian Open in 1998, but Venus said it wasn’t fun to eliminate her little sister. They both celebrated when they won tournaments, and in 1999, they made history by becoming the first sisters to each win a tournament on the same day! Venus won in Oklahoma, while Serena won in Paris.

Serena was only 14 years old when she turned pro in 1995. Over the years she has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, which is more than any other player in recent history! That means she’s won the biggest and most important tennis tournaments in the world many times over! She’s also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Venus, and four Olympic gold medals too!

Serena’s powerful serve and aggressive style of play are famous around the world. She’s been ranked No. 1 in the world eight times by the Women’s Tennis Association.

Her success hasn’t come without challenges though. She’s had to overcome injuries, setbacks, and tough opponents. But through it all, she’s shown us that with hard work, dedication, and a positive attitude, anything is possible!

Serena is an inspiration to millions of people around the world. She’s not only an amazing athlete, but she’s also a businesswoman, a fashion designer, and a philanthropist who gives back to her community. Serena is proof that you can achieve anything you set your mind to, and she’s a true champion both on and off the court!

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So, what have you noticed so far about these two pirates?  Long hair?  Yes.  Weapons?  Yes.  Fighting spirit?  Definitely.  But there’s one other thing they have in common:  they’re both men!  Have you ever heard of a female pirate?  Well, there really was one and her name was Grace O’Malley.  She was known as the “Irish Pirate Queen!”  She was a very brave lady who was also a chieftain – meaning a great lord who ruled over the people in her area.  She was a daring sailor, leader, and rebel – and even parleyed – or negotiated – with Queen Elizabeth I!  Want to hear more?  Me, too, so let’s get started!

Many years ago, around 1530, a girl named Grace was born in Mayo County, Ireland.  We do not know much about her mother, but her father, Owen O’Malley, was a great lord of his county, an experienced sailor – and some even say a pirate.  But it is hard to say if he was an actual pirate – meaning a sailor stealing things from other ships – or if he was just demanding payment as a land owner for ships to sail, trade, or fish in waters around his land.  For generations, the O’Malley men had been great seafarers, traders, and, yes, maybe pirates – who sailed the Irish coastline – and even as far as Spain and Scotland.

Pirate or not, Grace loved her father, her older stepbrother, and sailing.  She was raised as a boy – or at least more leniently than girls at that time.  She was allowed to join her father on his ships.  She would watch, fascinated, as sailors shouted and raced around, pulling lines and setting sails.  This thrilled Grace and she wanted to sail, too! But even though females were considered equal to men at that time in Ireland, there were still rules about how they should behave and what they should do with their lives – like staying home and raising children.  But Grace was having none of that.  She wanted to learn, sail, and rule!  She was very smart and could speak Gaelic and Latin, and possibly other languages like Spanish and French, too.

One day, when Grace was young, her father prepared to set sail for Spain.  Grace wanted to join him but her father said, no, her hair was too long and would get caught in the lines.  So, what did Grace do?  She cut off all her hair – and the sailors started calling her “Bald Grace!”  But she was allowed to sail and that was the important thing!  In the ensuing years, Grace learned all there was about sailing and became an experienced deckhand.

When Grace was 16, she married another sailor and landowner named Donal O’Flaherty.  She moved into Donal’s castle and they had three children.  Then one day, while Donal was out hunting, he was killed by members of the Joyce clan.  The Joyces then marched to Donal’s castle, thinking it would be easy to take it away from Grace, who was, in their opinion, “just a woman.”  But that was their mistake.  Grace fought back fiercely, protecting her family and land, and forced the Joyces to retreat!  She acted like a mother hen protecting her roost.  People then started calling the castle, “Hen’s Castle” and it is still called that today!

After her husband’s death, Grace returned with her children to her family’s land on Clare Island and worked to rebuild their stone tower house.  Her husband’s followers admired Grace so much that they followed her to her lands.  Grace’s father died and she then took over the family ships and land and became the new chieftain.  She and her loyal men sailed the waters like her father had done before her, boarding ships and demanding payment for safe passage, trade, or fishing around her land.  This is how she acquired the name “The Pirate Queen.”

And there is a legend that during this time, Grace saved a stranded sailor and they became very good friends.  Tragedy struck once more when this sailor was killed by another clan.  Grace was furious!  To avenge her friend, she marched to Doona Castle and killed the men who murdered her friend.  She then acquired another nickname, “The Dark Lady of Doona.”  

Between sailing trips, Grace married Richard Burke, called “Iron Richard” for his ironworks.  He was also a chieftain and had a lot of lands, which allowed Grace to sail more ships out of more ports and continue her adventures.  She birthed a son nicknamed Tobey while on one of her ships.  Legend states that Grace was below decks the day after Tobey’s birth when pirates attacked her ship.  The battle was not going well and it looked like Grace’s crew would lose the fight.  Grace grabbed her musket, climbed the stairs to the deck, and went into battle.  Grace was as brave as any man and rallied her crew, shooting two pirate captains in the battle.  Together they beat off the pirates and Grace’s reputation grew.  

Additionally, Grace divorced Richard within a year and changed the locks on their castle, but he still remained close to her for the rest of his life.

You may be wondering by this point how a fiercely independent female pirate would meet the Queen of England, especially since the Irish hated the English.  The English had taken their lands and property, causing constant battles between them for hundreds of years.  Additionally, the current queen, Queen Elizabeth I, was playing a ruthless game of pitting one Irish clan against the other.  She would give land and gifts to clan chieftains for their support and for fighting other Irish clans.  This made the Irish fight amongst themselves, as well as against the British. 

Grace was quite the powerful woman by this point, ruling the Western shores of Ireland and launching attacks against Queen Elizabeth’s ships with her pirate-honed prowess.  The Queen sent ships and men to attack Grace’s castle, but Grace beat them back.

Around 1577, Grace was captured and put into several cold, Irish prisons for a year.  However, thanks to some important British gentlemen who disliked how the English were treating the Irish, Grace was eventually set free.  She returned to her lands and started a rebellion against the British.  In retaliation, one of her sons was killed and one or two others were taken prisoner.  Her castle, lands, and fleet were confiscated – meaning taken away from her.  Grace was also arrested but later released.  At this point, she was sick and tired of fighting the English and decided to speak to the Queen herself!  No one thought this would ever happen.  You just don’t walk in and say, “I want to speak to the Queen!” – especially if you’re a pirate!

Queen Elizabeth demanded that Grace answer some questions first, called Articles of Interrogatory before she would meet with the Pirate Queen.  Grace must have answered them wisely because the Queen agreed to see her!  According to legend, when Grace arrived at Greenwich Palace, she did not bow to the Queen because she considered herself equal to the Queen!  Grace was searched and found to be wearing a dagger.  You are never supposed to wear a weapon in the presence of the king or queen, but Queen Elizabeth must have admired and trusted Grace because she let her keep her dagger! 

It is said that this meeting lasted a long time and the two women talked in Latin because the Queen did not know Gaelic and Grace did not, or would not, speak English.  Finally, they came to an agreement:  the Queen would release Grace’s family and her property – and Grace would provide 500 men and her ships to help support the English cause in Ireland. 

Some British nobles didn’t trust Grace and didn’t think she would keep her promise once released.  So, they took their time releasing her family.  And in spite of her agreement with the Queen, Grace supplied ships to Irish rebels under the command of Hugh O’Neill.  Although Grace did not fight in the ensuing battles, it is said that she convinced one – and possibly more – of her sons to fight for the British against O’Neill.  This did not make her very popular with the Irish – or future historians.

That is why for hundreds of years, no one knew the story of Grace O’Malley, the Irish Pirate Queen.  She is said to have died in 1603 – the same year as Queen Elizabeth I – of natural causes at one of her three castles.

So, what do you think of Grace O’Malley?  Do you think she was a pirate?  Do you think she was brave to be a rebel woman in such tumultuous times?  Do you think it was right for her to break her word to Queen Elizabeth I? Feel free to click the link in the show notes below and tell me your thoughts.  You might just be mentioned in a future episode.

I think this is an amazing story of a remarkable woman and warrior!  She was roughly the same age as Queen Elizabeth I and equal to her in many ways: in cunning, bravery, intelligence, and power.  They were both headstrong and independent, ruled over a large group of subjects, inspired loyalty, excelled in a man’s world, and loved winning! 

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Have you ever planned something, only to have things turn out completely different in real life? Sometimes, you spend hours, days, or even weeks planning something– maybe a birthday party, a Halloween costume, or a trip– only to have things change at the last minute. Sometimes, this change is disappointing and frustrating. Other times, you realize there’s an even better way of doing things. Either way, we all have to make changes to our plans sometimes, and no one knew this better than the subject of today’s podcast: Rachel Carson.  Rachel made many plans in her life, and many of them changed unexpectedly, for better and for worse. But she learned how to make the best of these changes, staying true to herself and, in the end, making the world a better place too.

Rachel’s parents had moved to their land near the Allegheny River, in Springdale Pennsylvania with the intention of selling it off piece by piece. This was one of the first plans Rachel witnessed unraveling. Her father, Robert, wasn’t able to sell many plots, and the family struggled to make ends meet on his salary as an insurance salesman. But, it did leave the land open for other uses–some of which would have a bigger, more important impact than money ever could have. 

The Allegheny River valley was a perfect place for a child to go exploring: rolling hills and lush forests turn from vibrant green in the summer to yellow, orange, and red in the fall, cut through with the wide, winding Allegheny River. And Rachel, Robert’s youngest child by far, was just the child to discover its natural wonders. Being the youngest in her family came with its advantages though. While her older brother, Robert, and sister, Marian, were at school, Rachel’s mother, Maria, took her on walks around the property. 

Maria was curious and intelligent. As a young woman, she had been a schoolteacher and taught piano lessons. Like many women in the late 1800s, she gave up her job when she got married, but she kept her sense of wonder about nature. She and Rachel would ramble around their land for hours. Maria would teach Rachel about the different kinds of birds. Naturally enough, Rachel caught her mother’s love of nature. She felt connected to every bird, animal, and bug, and would give each one she spotted its own special name.

Rachel also loved books, especially stories about the sea. Even though she’d never seen it, she was drawn to the descriptions of its power, wildness, and majesty. She decided she wanted to be a writer when she grew up, and she didn’t wait to get started! She began to write, sending her stories to magazines when she was ten years old. Two of her stories won prizes, and were printed in a magazine! 

But as Rachel grew up, she started to notice changes in her town and the surrounding area. And to Rachel’s way of looking at things, these were not good changes. A glue factory opened nearby, and the air was filled with the terrible fumes it let off. Two power stations were built in town. The water in the Allegheny river became polluted. Rachel mourned the loss of the pristine natural beauty she had explored from childhood.

But Rachel didn’t want to stay in Springdale forever. She wanted to go to college. Her parents supported her, but they didn’t have the money to pay for it. Fortunately, she was a good student and the Pennsylvania College for Women, in Pittsburg, offered her a scholarship. Rachel launched herself into her studies head first, grateful that this was one plan she could keep. She wrote for the school’s student newspaper and magazine – stories inspired by World War I battles and the oceans she had still never seen. Even though she’d still never seen it, her story gave such detailed descriptions of the ocean that readers felt like they were there, the rushing sound of the waves and salty air all around them!

It seemed that Rachel was well on her way to becoming a writer, just like she’d planned. But, once more, things didn’t go according to plan. In order to graduate from college, Rachel had to take one science class. Rachel chose to take biology – the study of living things. For someone who loved nature and animals, this made sense, but Rachel had no idea that the decision would change her life forever.

Rachel’s teacher, Mary Scott Skinker, was inspiring and energetic–excited to share her passion for science. Rachel soon learned that there was so much more to nature than she had even realized: that animals and plants and their environment were all connected and worked together in a delicate, complex system. Because of that one class–with that one teacher–she decided to get her degree in Biology instead of English. 

After she graduated, Rachel finally had the chance to see the ocean…Not just see it, but work with it! Her teacher, Mary Scott Skinker, helped her get a summer job at the Marine Biological Institute at Woods Hole in Maryland, part of Johns Hopkins University. Rachel spent the summer studying ocean creatures. Most days she was on a boat or at the beach, collecting specimens to study. Rachel loved this time. Her coworkers were a group of smart and welcoming scientists, and she called it “a delightful place to biologize.”

Rachel continued on to study at Johns Hopkins and got a Master’s degree. But soon after, she had to change her plans yet again–and not because she wanted to this time. She had hoped to continue studying and get a Ph.D., but her family was having trouble with money. Her family–brother and sister included–had come to live with her in Maryland while she was in school, and they were very close-knit. Rachel decided she had to find a job so she could help them out.

She eventually found a job at the US Fisheries Bureau, writing radio shows about different types of fish. A radio show about fish might sound a little dry, but Rachel was just the right person to make a splash with it (get it?). She had studied fish for her Master’s degree and had the writing skills to make her subject vibrant and entertaining. She also started writing articles about nature and the environment for newspapers. She exposed problems with overfishing in the Chesapeake Bay and chronicled efforts to conserve nature. 

Even though it wasn’t what she had planned, Rachel suddenly found herself in a position to combine her talents as a writer and a scientist. Eventually, she wrote a book about the ocean that became very popular, allowing her to quit her job and move to a cottage on the coast of Maine. But even though Rachel didn’t like fame and attention, she wasn’t going to fade into a quiet, unbothered retirement. She cared too much about the world and its creatures to ignore the problems humans created for it. 

Starting during World War II, Rachel became concerned about a new pesticide that the government was using. I won’t make you listen to me trying to pronounce the full name, but it’s usually called DDT. DDT was first used to kill mosquitos, which spread diseases like malaria, during the war. But after the war, the government started spraying it all over the eastern United States to kill moths, and people began to notice things in the sprayed areas. Bad things.

Fish and birds were dying at an alarming rate, and bigger animals, like dogs, cats, and even humans, were getting sick. Rachel wanted to write about the problems caused by spraying, but almost no magazine wanted to print such a story. In fact, most were printing stories about how great DDT was! The companies that made the insecticide had a lot of money and power, and they made sure their perspective was heard. 

Rachel didn’t give up though. She decided to write a book instead. She scoured government reports and academic papers related to pesticides. She found out that the substance didn’t just kill birds, it also made their eggshells weaker, so fewer baby birds were born. She found out it was linked to cancer in humans. These were hard years for Rachel. Her favorite niece, then her mother passed away, and then she had her own cancer diagnosis a few years later. She kept researching and writing through it all though. She had to make sure people knew the truth.

Finally, in 1962, the book, Silent Spring, was ready. Instead of publishing it all at once, the magazine the New Yorker printed it as a series of four articles. Rachel’s research was solid and her writing was persuasive and eloquent. The companies that made the pesticides were furious and tried to convince people that Rachel was wrong. But many scientists read the book and wrote reviews saying she had gotten it right. Rachel went on television to be interviewed about her work. The government began paying attention and even released a report that backed up much of what Rachel had written. President Kennedy’s administration said they would change the government’s policy on spraying pesticides. By 1980, DDT had been banned in the United States.

Sadly though, Rachel didn’t live to see the full impact of her work. She died of a heart attack in 1964, before much had really changed. In the 10 years after Silent Spring came out, the government passed laws that would protect people from dangerous pesticides like DDT. One law said that companies had to prove chemicals in pesticides were safe to use around people. The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, was set up and began testing for traces of dangerous chemicals in the environment – air, water, and land. 

But more than changing how people thought about pesticides, Rachel Carson and Silent Spring changed how people thought about everything in the environment. Through her writing, Rachel helped people see that everything in nature – trees, fish, birds, even humans – is connected to everything else. Pesticides on plants or in water make animals sick when they eat the plants or drink the water. People could get sick from eating animals exposed to toxins like DDT, or breathing it in as it wafted through the air after being sprayed. Nothing in nature just stays put where you leave it — it becomes part of a system. People began to realize that they needed to take care of this planet. Today, Rachel’s legacy lives on with climate change activists and other environmentalists. When everything is connected, you can’t pretend that your actions don’t make a difference. You have to pay attention to how things affect each other in that web of people, animals, and the planet. And sometimes, like Rachel Carson, you have to change your plans in order to make the difference you want to see in the world.

Sources

Hile, Lori. (2015) Rachel Carson: Environmental Pioneer. Heineman Library, Chicago. 

Shea, George. (2006) Rachel Carson: Founder of the Environmental Movement. Blackbirch Press, Farmington Hills, MI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson

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Augusta Ada Byron was born December 10, 1815, in London, England. Her father was Lord Byron, a world-famous poet — and her mother was Lady Anne Isabella Byron. Only a few weeks after Ada was born her parents separated and her father left England. When Ada was 8 he passed away, so Ada never met her famous father. 

Early Childhood

Many times during her childhood, Ada was sick. When she was eight she had lots of headaches, then when she was 14 she had measles and had to stay in bed for nearly a year! Eventually, she was able to walk with crutches, but during this time she continued to study and learn about her favorite subjects such as math.

Unlike most girls at her time, Ada was taught math and science by her tutors. A tutor is someone who teaches children individually, which means she didn’t go to a normal school like kids in our day. Ada’s mother insisted she learned math and science and made sure she worked very hard to be educated. Sometimes her mother made her lie still for long periods of time because she thought it would teach her to have self-control. Self-control is being able to control your emotions and behavior. But from a young age, Ada showed talent with numbers, meaning she was very good at math. 

When Ada was 12, she decided she wanted to figure out how to fly. Very carefully, she planned out how she would do this and first designed her own wings. She tried different materials of different sizes, she studied birds to figure out how they flew. She even wrote a book called Flyology with drawings and descriptions about how someone would fly. Her final idea was to use steam power to fly. She never attempted to fly herself, but her investigations were a good example of how curious she was and the passion she had for a single project.  

Famous Acquaintances

When Ada was young she met many different famous scientists, inventors, and authors due to her social position. She often went to court and became popular even at a young age due to her smarts. At parties, some of the famous people she met were Michael Faraday, Charles Dickens, and Charles Babbage, a well-known inventor. Charles Babbage became Ada’s mentor, which means someone who taught her personally. She began to learn advanced math at this time and was very interested in Babbage’s ideas. Babbage was one of the first people to have the idea for a computer. He imagined a machine that could do the math on its own and he eventually created this machine, which he called The Difference Engine (Learn more about the history of computer science). Ada was fascinated by this new machine — which became one of the earliest versions of a computer. Babbage went on to create another machine called The Analytical Engine.

Ada Publishes Her Ideas

Ada also knew many languages, so she was asked to translate an article about Babbage’s Analytical Engine. But while making the translation she added many of her own ideas. The notes and ideas she added ended up being three times longer than the article! Her article was later published in an English Science Journal. In the article, Ada shared her ideas about how codes could be used to handle letters and numbers. She also had the idea of how these codes could be used to loop computer programs. Because of all of her original ideas, many consider Ada to be the first computer programmer! 

William King

In 1835, Adam married a wealthy Baron named William King, who later became the Earl of Lovelace, so Ada became the Countess of Lovelace. They had three homes and lived in luxury, both sharing a love of horses. Together they also had three children. In 1837 Ada became very sick and due to some of the medications she was given suffered from other problems. At the age of 36, Ada passed away from cancer.

Ada’s Contributions

While she was alive not many people read Ada’s article about computer programming. It wasn’t until the 1950s that her article was found and people realized how brilliant her ideas about computer programming were. Her ideas were shared in new books about computer programming. In 1980 the United States military named their new programming language after her, calling it “Ada.” Also, the Association for Women in Computing has an Ada Lovelace Award each year and since 1988 the British Computer Society awards a Lovelace Medal, named after Ada.  

Like Ada, you can be curious about the world around you and take the time to study subjects such as math and science. Ada not only learned about these subjects, but she took what she learned and started her own projects, like investigating how to fly and writing her own book. Ada showed that it was important to meet lots of different people and learn from their ideas. This is another great way you can learn, too, by meeting new people and asking lots of questions! Have you ever wanted to create your own app or website? You can do this by learning computer programming. If you’re interested in learning more about coding check out code.org or Scratch, which is a website kids can use to learn how to code.

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Can you imagine what it would be like to not be able to see or hear? Your world would be completely dark and silent. How would you talk to your friends and family? How would you eat? How would you walk around the house and play with your friends? Tonight we are going to talk about a girl who lived most of her life without being able to see or hear. This is the amazing story of Helen Keller!

Birth

Helen Keller was born June 27, 1880, in Alabama. She was a healthy child and lived a pretty normal life for her first year. She learned to talk at 6 months old and walked like most kids when she was 1. When she was 19 months old she became very sick. After she was well her mother noticed she couldn’t see or hear anything. Helen had permanently lost her sight and hearing. Close your eyes again and cover your ears. This is how Helen lived and it was very difficult for her to cope with life afterward. Imagine trying to walk around the house or eat your dinner. Imagine trying to go outside and play and do basic things like play with your toys or friends. Because Helen couldn’t hear her ability to speak never improved, so she wasn’t able to talk to people in her family. All of these challenges led to Helen acting out in ways that made life for her and her family even harder. If you put yourself in Helen’s shoes you can think of how hard it would be to act normal under such circumstances. 

Helen would often kick and pinch her family members. When she was angry she would fall on the floor and screen and yell. At the dinner table, she grabbed food off their plates. The family felt so bad for Helen that they let her do whatever she wanted. They didn’t know how to deal with a child who couldn’t see or hear. Some friends and family said they should send her away, because she was causing so much trouble for the family, but her parents loved her too much to do that.

Anne Sullivan

One day her mother was reading about another child who was blind, but received help by Alexander Graham Bell. Alexander Graham Bell was also known for the invention of the telephone. They met Bell, who recommended them to a school called The Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts. They traveled there, and for the first time met Anne Sullivan. Anne Sullivan agreed to move to Alabama to help Helen.

Anne first taught Helen sign language. Sign language is where you move your hands and fingers in different ways to communicate words. For example, if you want to say “you” you point. If you want to eat you move toward your mouth with your fingers. But, of course, this didn’t work for Helen, so they tried to spell words into Helen’s hand so she could feel them. But Helen didn’t understand and became frustrated. One day at the dinner table yelled and started grabbing everyone’s food off their plates. Anne took control of the situation and had everyone leave the room. This made Helen even madder, but Anne was determined to show her that even when she threw tantrums she wouldn’t get what she wanted. Before she could improve at sign language, she’d need to learn some basic discipline. 

Anne soon realized that the only way to teach Helen would be to live somewhere else. So they got in a carriage and rode circles around the family’s home for a while and then stopped at a small home nearby. They did this so Helen thought they had traveled very far, when really they were living around the corner. But it was important for Helen to know only Anne was around, so she’d have to rely on her to learn. 

One day Anne had the idea to put Helen’s hand under the water to let her feel it first. Then she held her hand and spelled W-A-T-E-R into it with sign language. She did this over and over until it clicked for Helen that she could use these signs to communicate with others. She spelled the word back into Anne’s hand. Helen became very excited! By that evening they learned 30 new words! Once Helen could learn to communicate, she wasn’t as frustrated. Often when someone else is angry or acts out in ways we don’t understand, they may do this because they aren’t understood. Before you judge others and criticize them, first try to understand why they may be behaving this way. Anne did this with Helen and it completely changed her life.

With Anne’s help, Helen continued to learn new signs and eventually learned to read books using braille. Braille is bumps on a page that represent words. When a person cannot see they feel the words instead. For example, the letter “A” is a single dot and the letter “B” is two dots. 

Attending School

Helen also attended a school in Boston for other children who were deaf. She really wanted to be able to speak and for many years worked on improving this ability. She was also determined to go to college, but it was very expensive so she wasn’t sure how to make it happen. Around this time she met Mark Twain, the famous American author who wrote books like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. They became friends and Twain introduced her to a wealthy friend who decided to pay for her college. Helen attended and later graduated college, a major achievement for someone who was deaf and especially for someone who was deaf and blind. 

Charitable Acts

Helen later wrote a book about her life and traveled and spoke to others about her experiences and ways to improve the world for people with disabilities. She also spoke in favor of women being able to vote. Soon people all over the world knew about Helen Keller and listened to her speak and read her books. In 1920 she helped start the American Civil Liberties Union. 

Over the years, Helen traveled to 35 different countries, sharing her ideas and spreading her influence to others who were inspired by her incredible life. 

Helen once said:

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

She also said:

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.

Conclusion

Spend some time thinking about what it would be like to live like Helen. Do you know anyone who can’t see or hear? When you try to see the world the way someone else does, we call this “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes”, it helps you to understand them. Often we get caught up in our own little world and realize that the world is made up of people with many different life situations and experiences. When you get the chance, look up sign language symbols and letters and try to learn a few. It can be a lot of fun! 

Think of the challenges Helen faced and think of your own challenges. It may not be obvious, but everyone has their own struggles and their own challenges. Spend some time thinking about yours, and what you might do to change your situation. You also may realize there are some things you just can’t change. For example, Helen wasn’t able to change the fact that she couldn’t see or hear. You may have similar challenges. You may be stuck in a place you don’t like or with someone who is hard to be around. Or maybe you have physical disabilities like Helen. But remember, even though you can’t always change your situation, you can change how you react to it. Helen couldn’t make herself see, but she could learn new ways to communicate. She learned sign language and learned braille, so she could read. She learned how to type, so she could write books. Everyone has their own unique challenges, so it is up to YOU to come up with a plan for how you can act and improve your situation. And this will often mean asking for help, and that is ok, too!

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Close your eyes and imagine you’re riding a motorcycle. The air is pulling at your clothes as you go faster and faster. You round the edge of the track, then speed up to 90 then 95 miles an hour. The people watching flash by. You push harder on the gas. 100 miles an hour! The crowd stands up and cheers! For another lap around the track, you hold that speed and finally cross the finish line. Everyone congratulates you. You beat the record of the highest speed around the track! 

This is the story of motorcycle racer and engineer, Beatrice Shilling!

Birth

Beatrice Shilling was born on March 8, 1909, in Waterlooville, England. As a child, Beatrice loved mechanical things. This means she loved to understand how devices worked on the inside. Have you ever seen household items like a microwave or refrigerator or your family car and wondered how they do such amazing things? Beatrice wondered, too, so she used her extra money to buy tools to take these devices apart and figure out what made them tick. She was especially interested in engines. In her time, cars and motorcycles with engines were still very new, so these wonderful devices that made vehicles fly down the road made her very curious. Curiosity is a strong desire to know or learn something. 

When Beatrice was 14 she bought her first motorcycle and loved to ride it around. She spent many hours tinkering with the engine and figuring out ways to make it go faster. Early on Beatrice decided she wanted to be an engineer. An engineer is someone who creates devices like engines.

Electrical Engineer

After middle school, Beatrice got a job at an electrical engineering company, where she learned more about how electricity worked and was able to practice her new skills by installing wires and generators. A generator is what creates electricity and wires are what allow it to move around. Beatrice’s boss saw how talented she was and encouraged her to go to school to become an even better engineer.

Beatrice followed her advice and enrolled at the University of Manchester. In her day it was very unusual for a woman to become an engineer, but Beatrice was determined to do it anyway. She worked hard at math and the other subjects until she was able to pass all of her classes and become an even more skilled engineer. She even graduated with honors, which means she did very well in engineering school. Beatrice went on to get a Master’s Degree.

World War II

After university, Beatrice got a job with the Royal Aircraft Establishment. She had many different roles there, but eventually became a Senior Technical Officer and worked on airplane engines. At this time it was very important to be an engineer working on airplanes because England and its Allies were fighting against Germany in World War II. The German Air Force had very powerful fighter planes that were faster and therefore more dangerous than England’s fighter planes. To fight back against these powerful planes, England designed a plane they called the Spitfire, which was also fast and could maneuver quickly through the sky to dodge bullets and get in a position to fight back. But even though the Spitfire was an amazing fighter plane, it had a serious problem. When pilots flew downward too fast the engines stopped working. This was a serious problem during a dogfight. A dogfight is when planes are fighting each other in the sky. Many Spitfires crashed as a result of this problem with their engines. 

As an engineer, Beatrice was determined to solve this problem. She thought long and hard about this and finally came up with an idea to add a diaphragm and hole inside the engine that only allowed some fuel to move across it when the plane was diving. This solved the problem! Once Beatrice’s new device was added to all of the Spitfire fighter planes they were able to dive and outmaneuver the enemy planes and win more battles! Her device saved many pilots and helped win the air war against Germany.     

Motorcycle Racer

Beatrice loved to work on hard problems, but she also loved to have fun. Over the years she kept tinkering with her motorcycle and riding it fast. Her knowledge of engineering helped her have one of the fastest motorcycles around. She even started racing! She often rode her motorcycle faster than 100 miles an hour. During one race she rode around the entire track at over 100 miles an hour and earned Brookland’s Gold Star for her achievement. She broke a record and became the fastest woman racer at this track reaching 106 miles an hour. 

Beatrice married a man George Naylor, who she met while working at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and continued to work there until she retired in 1969. Her biographer said about her: “Her idea of relaxation was to drive a fast car at full throttle, and if the car was not fast enough, her workbench was there in the back room to machine new parts to make them faster.”

Conclusion

Spend some time thinking about what drove Beatrice to accomplish what she did. First, she was curious. Everyone is born curious, we all have the desire to learn more about the world around us. But we may all be curious in different ways. What are you curious about? What do you like to ask questions about? Next time you have a question, instead of just being curious and wondering, take it a step further and try and figure out the answer. This might mean looking up a video or searching for the answer in a book or online. The more you learn, the more you’ll understand the world around you. And when you figure out one thing, you can figure out the next and you’ll continue to build your knowledge and grow and the world will become more exciting and interesting. 

And even though most girls weren’t engineers, it didn’t stop Beatrice from doing it anyway. Jobs like engineering and coding are becoming very important in our day as more and more jobs are becoming automated. Automated means being done automatically by devices like robots. This means the future will need more engineers and coders. Take the time to figure out if this is the kind of job that interests you!

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