Alice Duer Miller was born on July 28, 1874, in Staten Island, New York. Her work was influential to women’s suffrage, and her satirical poetry collection, Are Women People? (1915), became a slogan for the movement. She died August 22, 1942, in New York City.
There, little girl, don’t read,
You’re fond of your books, I know,
But Brother might mope
If he had no hope
Of getting ahead of you.
It’s dull for a boy who cannot lead.
There, little girl, don’t read.
Sometimes in the fight for equality I forget how far we’ve come. I also sometimes forget just how recently such things stopped. My grandma wasn’t allowed to wear pants to school, but she did anyway. She got into so much trouble, but she just kept pushing.
You should never hide your light from anyone. No matter what! if you’re being smart bothers someone, that’s their problem! Keep pushing forward! I hope one day that the world will be an equal place.
