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While we must depend on the living to actively guide us toward a progressive and sustainable future, we cannot discount or ignore the Titans of the past who built the foundations of our present understanding of ourselves, our universe and everything. Herewith, a monthly compendium which provides a tiny taste of the greatness upon which we walk and float and fly: Those who have contributed mightily to the advancement of the environment, science or society.
NELLIE BLY 1864-1922 written August 2001
Nellie Bly was a trail-blazing journalist who pioneered investigative journalism and was dubbed "best reporter in America". She was a reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World in the 1880s and 1990s. She went behind the scenes to expose society's ills. She helped reform care for the mentally ill. After her husband died she reformed his failing industries making them model workplaces and more profitable businesses. She was trapped in Europe when World War I broke out and covered the war from the eastern front. She was a great researcher, reporter, industrialist and reformer. She traveled around the world in 72 days. She went undercover as a madwoman in a mental asylum, as a domestic employee, as a chorus girl and as an unwed mother. At 25 she was the most famous woman on earth. Click PBS Film/transcript and Great Women for more information.
JOSEPH PULITZER 1847-1911 written September 2001
Joseph Pulitzer was the journalist and newspaper publisher who founded the Pulitzer prizes. He made the New York World the US's biggest daily. He was a powerful ally of oppressed workers and an enemy of big business/government corruption. His bequest founded Columbia University's School of Journalism. He created many of the best aspects of the modern newspapers of today. He helped Nellie Bly become the most famous woman on earth of her day. Click Encyclopedia.com and OnlineConcepts for more information.
DIAN FOSSEY 1932-1985 written October 2001
Dian Fossey was the world's foremost expert on mountain gorillas. She was murdered by a gorilla poacher or other person who profited from exploiting/killing gorillas in Africa. She became very close and friendly with the gorillas. When the adult male Peanuts touched her hand it was the first friendly gorilla-to-human contact ever recorded. Dian engaged in intense observation for thousands of hours and learned many previously unknown aspects of gorilla behavior. She waged a public campaign against gorilla poaching. She dedicated the rest of her life to the protection of the gorillas. She wrote Gorillas in the Mist which was made into the major motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver. Click Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International , Bio (Minnesota State) and (Bio) (Mount Holyoke) for more information.
KEN KESEY 1935-2001 written November 2001
Ken Kesey was an artist, an intellectual and the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and other books. One Flew... was made into an excellent and influential movie. He was an inspired writer and charismatic character long before he volunteered for drug experiments at Menlo Park Veteran's Hospital. He was generous and kind to all and forgiving of all. He had great influence in central Lane County, Oregon and throughout much of the world. He could step out of conventional thinking/perceiving and come closer to the underlying reality of our lives and closer to experiencing the broadband of human potential. Click Sites about Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and American Literature/Kesey for more information.
BARBARA McCLINTOCK 1902-1992 written December 2001
Barbara McClintock was the great genetic researcher who won an unshared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983 for her discovery of mobile genetic elements (jumping genes). Beginning in 1922, genetics was her passion and her life. She received numerous other honors and awards from The University of Rochester, Western College for Women, Smith College, University of Missouri, Williams College, The Rockefeller University, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Cambridge, Bard College, State University of New York, New York University, Georgetown University, Association of University Women, , Botanical Society of America, National Academy of Sciences, National Medal of Science, Lewis S. Rosenthal Award, Louie and Bert Freedman Foundation, Genetics Society of America, The Society for Developmental Biology, Wolf Prize in Medicine, Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, MacArthur Prize Fellow Laureate, The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry and Academie des Sciences Institut de France. Click Nobel Autobiography and Nobel In Memorium for more information.
BOB ECKHARDT 1913-2001 written January 2002
Bob Eckhardt was a progressive and compassionate Texas Congressman, a member of the Texas Legislature, a legal scholar, a historian, a visionary, a devoted father, a freedom fighter, a labor lawyer, an environmentalist, anti-racist, a bicycle rider, a great brain, a cartoonist, an author, and an expert generalist. Texas and the nation are better off than they otherwise would be if he had not existed. He stood tall against the anti-communist hysteria that once swept the Congress. He was a brilliant and eloquent populist politician. He was an early very effective protector of the environment. He opposed escalation of the Vietnam war. He co-founded the biweekly Texas Observer. Click Austin Chronicle , Common Dreams and Sacramento Bee for more information.
EMMA GOLDMAN 1869-1940 written February 2002
Emma Goldman was an early advocate of free speech, birth control, women's equality and independence, union organization, the eight-hour workday and anarchism. She was imprisoned in the US for 2 years for being a pacifist in World War I and was then deported to Russia. She also was imprisoned in 1893 for incitement to riot. She did many lecture tours. She edited and published Mother Earth, a monthly. She worked for the Spanish Republican government during the Spanish Civil War. Several books and many articles. She was probably the most articulate and best-known critic of the excesses of governments (especially their warmongering) of her era. Click Berkeley Digital Library and LOPA for more information.
JOHN LENNON 1940-1980 written March 2002
John Lennon was the progressive and compassionate singer, songwriter, actor, activist and leader of the Beatles. He was hounded by Nixon's FBI because of his criticism of the war in Vietnam. He was assassinated in 1980 in New York City. He was a great believer in peace and real democracy and an important political activist. John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged many political and peace demonstrations. They were married in 1969. Click John Lennon.com for more information.
QUEEN SILVER 1910-1998 written April 2002
Queen Silver was a child prodigy, a girl scientist, a feminist, a freethinker, a lecturer and a social activist. In Los Angeles in 1919 she spoke on six occasions to packed houses on science subjects from Darwin to Einstein's theory of relativity. She published the Queen Silver Magazine. Cecil B. DeMille made a movie about her. She founded the Junior Atheist's League at Hollywood High. Wendy McElroy wrote a book based on interviews with Queen and on Queen's documents - Queen Silver: The Godless Girl, 1999. Queen and her mother, Grace Verne Silver were activists who sometimes utilized the free speech zone in Los Angeles. Click Queen Silver for more information.
STEPHEN JAY GOULD 1941-2002 written May 2002
Stephen Jay Gould was the noted paleontologist and science writer. He also engaged in public debates with creation "scientists" and with other evolutionary theorists. He originated the theory of Punctuated Equilibria. He used statistical deviation patterns to help flesh out evolution. He wrote columns in Natural History magazine; published collections of essays and wrote books on evolution, on intelligence testing, on Science and Religion and on Natural History. He was an excellent lecturer and media personality. He wrote nearly 20 books and hundreds of essays, reviews and articles. He was a professor of Geology and Zoology at Harvard University and a Curator in the Harvard Museum. Click CNN Profile, Stanford Lectures and links: and Sherilyn Gould links for more information.
SARA & ANGELINA GRIMKE 1792-1873 & 1805-1879 written June 2002
Sara and Angelina Grimke are the only Southern white women ever to become leading abolitionists. They were pioneers in both abolition of slavery and women's rights. There were powerful prejudices against women and against African Americans working against them. They were the first US-born white women to take to the public platform to assert women's rights. Click Gerda Lerner book; The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women's Rights and Abolition for more information.
HENRY B. GONZALEZ 1916-2000 written July 2002
Henry B. Gonzalez was a Texas Congressman for 37 years. He was an unabashed populist and a defender of the downtrodden. He rose from poverty to become a city councilman, a state senator and a Congressman from the San Antonio area. He was chairman of the powerful House Banking Committee and dean of the Texas congressional delegation. He tried to impeach Presidents Reagan and Bush. He helped expose the savings and loan excesses of the 80s and crafted tough legislation to deal with it. He exposed the techniques used by the US to help Saddam Hussein fight wars. The Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center is in San Antonio and his archives are at St. Mary's University Law School, also in San Antonio. Click CNN obit and St. Mary's for more information.
MARGARET SANGER 1883-1966 written August 2002
Margaret Sanger was a US social reformer and a birth control crusader. She was jailed for mailing birth control information, established the first US birth control clinic and founded the American Birth Control League which became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She then became the first president of International Planned Parenthood. She was also an organized labor activist, a nurse, a women's health activist, a sex education activist, an anti-censorship activist, a columnist and a feminist. Click New York University and University of South Carolina for more information.
HOMER DAVENPORT 1867-1912 written September 2002
Homer Calvin Davenport was the greatest US political cartoonist of his day and the highest paid. He showed how harmful the corporate trusts of his day were. These special interests bought politicians then as now. He created characters that were excellent at getting his points across. The trusts tried to pass legislation to ban his cartoons but the cartoons were too popular by then for their despicable anti-cartoon bill to be passed. Davenport concisely showed what was right and wrong in the US of his day. He also wrote stories and editorials for newspapers and wrote two prose books. He published a large book of his cartoons: Cartoons. Click photo, bio and links for more information.
FANNIE LOU HAMER 1917-1977 written October 2002
Fannie Lou Hamer's light shown most brightly in her quest for black civil rights in the 60s and 70s. She was severely beaten in June 1963 by southern white fascists and suffered permanent damage to her feet, kidneys and one eye. Be it noted that white fascists are still with us for they helped select George W Bush to be our first fascist president (with the help of one foolish black man). Fannie helped found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party which challenged the regular Mississippi delegation at the Democratic National Convention in 1964. She also helped found the National Women's Political Caucus. She was a delegate at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. She did great work to help the poor including the Freedom Farm Cooperative which she spoke about around the country. Click A Woman A Week and Fannie Lou Hamer Project for more information.
PAUL WELLSTONE 1944-2002 written November 2002
Paul Wellstone was the best US Senator Minnesota ever had and one of the best US Senators the USA has ever had. He died in a plane crash October 25 in the midst of a campaign while enroute to a funeral. It was an accident or an assassination: you choose the most likely scenario. If it was an assassination, we all know who gained from it. His agenda was virtually the same as mine: a decent world free of war and other international aggression, free of poverty and starvation, free of elections bought by corporations, free of bigotry and hate and patriarchy, free of environmental degradation, free of criminal CEOs giving workers and investors the shaft, free of torture and slavery and brainwashing and free of terrorism created by governments and other despots. Click Wellstone Action and Wellstone as FUTURESAVER for more information.
LORRAINE HANSBERRY 1930-1965 written December 2002
Lorraine Hansberry was an excellent writer and an excellent activist in the American Civil Rights Movement. She wrote A Raisin in the Sun, To Be Young, Gifted and Black, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, The Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for Equality and The Drinking Gourd. She was the first black woman to win the New York Drama Critic's Circle Award as Best Play of the Year. She was an editor of Paul Robeson's newspaper, Freedom. She gave outstanding speeches, raised money and took part in panels and interviews for the causes. She was a feminist visionary. Click Voices From the Gaps: and KIRJASTO for more information.
SAUL ALINSKY 1909-1972 written January 2003
Saul Alinsky clearly articulated what a real democracy would be like and created a blueprint of how to get there. He pioneered "Community Organizing" in Chicago's old stockyard neighborhood. His early work led him to conclude that criminal behavior is a symptom of poverty and powerlessness. He teamed with existing leaders and ethnic groups. Alinsky formed the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) and wrote the best-selling book Reveille for Radicals. He co-founded The Woodland Organization (TWO) which struggled for civil rights. He wrote Rules for Radicals which urged youths to be realistic radicals. Time magazine hailed Alinsky as a prophet of power to the people. He was a mentor to generations of organizers. Click Independent Television Service and Virginia Tech for more information.
SARA McCLENDON 1910-2003 written February 2003
Sara McClendon was a White House correspondent for over 50 years and dedicated almost 60 years to raising human rights issues in the mass media. She asked controverial and provocative questions of eight presidents. She also worked as an analyst and a lecturer and she appeared on countless radio and TV broadcasts. She wrote three books; My President, My President! ; My Eight Presidents and My Eight Presidents: Part II. She provided a strong and assertive model for women in journalism. She founded the McClendon News Service, a biweekly newsletter. She also worked for several newspapers. Click Democratic Underground text & pic and Interview for more information.
PAUL ROBESON 1898-1976 written March 2003
Paul Robeson was excellent in many fields as a political, constitutional and civil rights activist, a singer, an actor, an orator, a scholar, a writer and an athlete. He suffered the slings and arrows of numerous outrageous bigots like J. Edgar Hoover. He was adored by millions of people all over the world. He was a great fighter for freedom and against slavery. His father was a former slave who became a pastor. His mother was a school teacher descended from English Quaker, Delaware Indian and African Bantu lines. Robeson starred in numerous concerts, plays and movies worldwide. Robeson had high praise for Martin Luther King, Jr's methods of nonviolent direct action. Click Rutgers Robeson Timeline and Princeton Robeson on the Web for more information.
MARGARET CHASE SMITH 1897-1995 written April 2003
Margaret Chase Smith from Maine was the first USA woman to serve in both houses of Congress and the first to be elected to the US Senate in her own right. She delivered the famous "Declaration of Conscience" speech which chastised those in the US Senate (Senator Joseph McCarthy and others) who engage in unjustified character assassination and upheld the right to protest and the right to hold unpopular beliefs. She said that the American People are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guilty people whitewashed. Click Margaret Chase Smith Library and National Women's History Project for more information.
BAYARD RUSTIN 1912-1987 written May 2003
Bayard Rustin brought Gandhi's protest techniques to the American civil rights movement and helped mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international symbol of peace and nonviolence. Bayard was the organizer of the gigantic 1963 March on Washington. Bayard was imprisoned, tortured, silenced, threatened and fired. He was a highly successful activist for peace, racial equality, economic justice and human rights. He helped organize the first "freedom ride" in the South. He served 22 days on a chain gang in South Carolina and 3 years in a federal penitentiary as a war protester. He was instrumental in eliminating segregation in the armed forces and supported human rights struggles worldwide. Click PBS POV and Social Democrats CHAIN GANG for more information.
ELIZABETH BLACKWELL 1821-1910 written June 2003
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the USA. She graduated first in her class. She also studied in Paris and London. She had a medical practice in New York City and she promoted hygiene, preventive medicine, medical education and opportunity for women physicians. She lectured on the health benefits of physical education and exercise. She had a free clinic and then a free infirmary/training facility for women physicians/medical students/nursing students. She deplored sexual segregation in established medical schools. She wrote six medical and related books. She was a true pioneer in women's medicine and in women's liberation. Click NIH/NLM Exhibet, NIH/NLM Exhibet press_release, Womens History and HWS Colleges for more information.
CESAR CHAVEZ 1927-1993 written July 2003
Cesar Chavez founded the first successful USA farm workers' union and eventually became president of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO. He became a migrant farm worker when his father lost the family farm during the Depression. He left school after the 8th grade to help support his family. He became an organizer for the Community Service Organization sponsored by Saul Alinsky, created new CSO chapters in California and Arizona and became CSO national director. He left CSO and founded the National Farm Worker's Association which later merged with the UFW. He led a successful grape strike-boycott and forged a support coalition of unions, church groups, students, minorities and consumers. Click United Farm Workers and Cesar E. Chavez Institute for more information.
HARRIET TUBMAN 1820-1913 written August 2003
Harriet Tubman ran away from slavery in Maryland and led hundreds of slaves to freedom over a period of 10 years. They used the Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses. Later, she became an abolitionist leader, was a spy in the Civil War for the federal forces and became a nurse and a cook. As one of the most famous conductors of the Underground Railroad, she helped about 300 slaves become free. She was a fearless adventurer wise in the ways of successfully managing each one of her freedom missions. She was associated with other abolitionists: John Brown, Frederick Douglas, Jermain Loguen, Gerrit Smith and others. Click New York History Net and PBS for more information.
DAVID KELLY 1944-2003 written September 2003
David Kelly is the British biological weapons expert and microbiologist who committed suicide ? after being exposed as the BBC source of allegations that the British government exaggerated aspects of Iraq weapons capability to "legitimate" aggressive war against Iraq. Regardless of exactly how he actually died, he is a martyr in the cause of truth in politics and in war. He was an enemy of the lying liers who rule most of the world. He was a whistleblower in the cause of decency, justice and peace. He was an exposer of fascists who masquerade as democrats. He was a believer in decent societies living in decent environments instead of corrupt societies corrupting environments. Click BBC and Guardian obituary for more information.
ZAHRA KAZEMI 1949-2003 written October 2003
Zahra Kazemi is the Iranian/Canadian photojournalist who was beaten to death in prison after being arrested for photographing a student demonstration outside of Tehran's Evin prison. She died of a brain hemorrage caused by a broken skull. This illustrates how women are treated in a fundamentalist patriarchal theocracy which deviates so seriously from a compassionate real democracy. Fortunately, Iran is moving away from beastiality and needs no interference from the fundamentalist Bush beast. She was born in Shiraz, Iran; moved to France to attend the University of Paris; immigrated to Quebec, Canada and gained dual citizenship. She worked in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq. Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International are very concerned about the adverse journalistic conditions in Iran. Click Holy Crime.com, Hoder.com and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for more information.
EDWARD SAID 1935-2003 written November 2003
Edward Said was a professor at Columbia University (New York City), an acclaimed literary and cultural critic (especially of nationalism, moral choices, lack of human rights, political repression), a writer of books and America's foremost spokesman for the Palestinian cause. He wrote numerous magazine and newspaper articles. His most influential book, Orientalism (1978) was an examination of how the West perceives the Islamic world. In 1998 he received the Sultan Owais Prize (the premier literary prize of the Arab World) in honor of his life's work. His writings have been translated into 29 languages. He was a frequent commentator on global radio. He was president of the Modern Language Association (the professional association of literary scholars). He documented the Jewish state's history for the BBC from a Palestinian point of view (a film). He also criticized the USA "peace process". Click Electronic Intifada , The Progressive and The Edward Said Archive for more information.
ALVA MYRDAL 1902-1986 written December 2003
Alva Myrdal won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 (co-recipient) and she won the Albert Einstein Peace Prize Foundation award in 1980. She was a Cabinet Minister, a Diplomat and a Writer. She was excellent at promoting social welfare, discussing population problems, housing and school problems, international post war aid and reconstruction, international peace and welfare, disarmament. She helped create the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. She wrote many articles and books on disarmament and other vital issues. She was an outstanding feminist. She criticized both superpowers for failing to end the arms race and for creating a cult of violence. She led the social development of modern Sweden. If she were alive today she would be leading the charge against Bush's cult of violence and corporate looting of the world. Click Nobel Museam, Nobel Archive and Nobel Lecture for more information.
SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO 1948-2003 written January 2004
Sergio Vieira de Mello was killed by a bomb blast at UN headquarters in Iraq. He was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and had worked for the UN for over 30 years including Transitional Administrator in East Timor and Special Representative for Kosovo. In Iraq he was working for full human rights there and return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. He spent the majority of his career working for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and served in humaniarian and peace-keeping operations in Bangladesh, Sudan, Cypress, Mozambique and Peru. He was Senior Political Advisor to UN forces in Lebanon and served in many other UN positions. Click CNN, UN, Counterpunch and BP for more information.
ELIZABETH HEYRICK 1769-1831 written February 2004
Elizabeth Heyrick was a fiery Quaker pamphleteer who was instrumental in igniting the largest slave rebellion ever seen in the British West Indies. 20,000 slaves rose up in Jamaica. Planter's grand homes went up in flames as did sugar works. This was followed by the most massive campaign of petitions and demonstrations yet seen in England. The eventual result was that almost 800,000 British Empire slaves were freed. The successful campaign originated democratizing techniques still used today: consumer boycotts, newsletters, petitions, political posters and buttons, national campaigns with local committees, etc. Elizabeth was in favor of "Immediate not Gradual Abolition", the title of her widely read pamphlet. She died two years before the 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act was finally passed. Click schoolnet and suite101 for more information.
THOMAS CLARKSON 1760-1846 written March 2004
Thomas Clarkson, an Anglican divinity student, began his antislavery work by entering a Cambridge Latin essay contest whose subject was the morality of slavery. His extensive research led him to win the contest and he became intensely antislavery. He had his essay published in English and became a full-time antislavery organizer. His allies were Quakers, the only antislavery British religion at the time. He did field research exploring slave ships; talking with merchants, sea captains, army/navy officers and others and writing down what he learned right after each trip or conversation. He and the Quakers planned their organizational details including how to influence public opinion. They targeted the slave trade and gathered the harsh details of slave life. For many years he was the movement's only permanent full time organizer. The British slave trade was banned in 1807 and British slaves became free in 1838. Click SPARTACUS EDUCATIONAL and BRYCCHAN CAREY for more information.
HUDA SHAARAWI 1879-1947 written April 2004
Huda Shaarawi was a pioneer Egyptian feminist. She was an educator and women's rights activist. In her early years Egyptian women were mostly confined to the house or harem. In public they were required to cover their faces and hair. She organized feminist lectures and helped establish a women's welfare society for poor women and opened a school for girls. She helped organize the largest women's anti-British demonstration in 1919. After her husband died in 1922 she stopped wearing her veil and started public defiance of such restrictive traditions. She helped found the Egyptian Feminist Union and became its president for 24 years. They campaigned for higher minimum marriage age for girls, increased educational opportunities, improved health care and helped better other conditions for women. She founded the All-Arab Federation of Women from many countries. Click Emory.edu and Sunshine for Women for more information.
FRED DANBACK 1923-2003 written May 2004
Fred Danback is the environmentalist who became an early pioneer in the fight against companies polluting the Hudson River in New York. He was working as a janitor (he was the union president) for Anaconda Wire and Cable Co. when he became aware that they were dumping copper filings, waste oils and sulfuric acid into the Hudson. He documented the dumping, left the company and with the Hudson River Fishermen's Association sued Anaconda. In 1973 Anaconda paid a $200,000 fine which was the largest fine paid to that date by a US company for polluting. The fight against polluters that Fred Danback began is now in the hands of Hudson Riverkeeper with Robert Boyle, John Cronin, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Alex Matthiessen and Harrison Ford. Click PBS Now , Greenlite and Voice Yourself for more information.
BARBARA TUCHMAN 1912-1989 written June 2004
Barbara Tuchman is the Pulitzer prize-winning (twice) historian who covered the Spanish Civil War for The Nation. She was clearly aware of the follies of national leadership, of empire and of war. Her most famous book is The Guns of August and her most perceptive book is The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam. She knew that government remains the major area of folly because its leaders seek power over others then base their power on that active dominion. Governments defend their mistakes and failings instead of defending the people they are supposed to protect. She knew that wiser government must pass the test of character and the test of moral courage. Today the Bushies fail these prime tests. Click Britannica, Kirjasto and Amazon for more information.
JOHN O'NEILL 1952-2001 written July 2004
John O'Neill is the FBI agent, FBI Chief of Counterterrorism Section, FBI Deputy Director and Head of Security at the World Trade Center who died at the World Trade Center 9/11. O'Neill resigned from the FBI over Bush's defective policies on terrorism and Osama bin Laden when his department was told to "back off" their bin Laden and Al Qaeda investigations. There is considerable evidence that top officials in the FBI, CIA and Bush Administration helped insure the success of the 9/11 attacks to pave the way for making war against Afghanistan and Iraq and to cinch re-election in 2004. Click Remember John, PBS Frontline, The New Yorker and Democrats.com for more information.
SIRIMAVO BANDARANAIKE 1916-2000 written August 2004
Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world's first woman Prime Minister in 1960 in Sri Lanka for the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Her husband had been shot by an extremist Buddhist and she vowed to continue her husband's policies. She urged her supporters to practise simple living, decorum and dignity. She declared Ceylon a republic in 1972 and changed its name to Sri Lanka. She nationalized some companies. She set an example for all women to be leaders and became an icon in Sri Lankan and world politics. She was considered by many to be the mother of democratic Sri Lanka. She was also the first woman chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement. Click (BBC 1960), (BBC 2000), (BBC tributes) and rootsweb for more information.