Geraldine Ferraro, again, is all over the news. Whether you agree or disagree with her comments on Obama and Hillary, you may still find some of the things she’s said over the years inspiring:

“¢ Tonight, the daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been chosen to run for vice president in the new land my father came to love.

“¢ We fought hard. We gave it our best. We did what was right and we made a difference.

“¢ We’ve chosen the path to equality; don’t let them turn us around.

“¢ Unlike the American revolution, which began with the “shot heard round the world,” the rebellion of Seneca Falls [for women's equality] — steeped in moral conviction and rooted in the abolitionist movement — dropped like a stone in the middle of a placid lake, causing ripples of

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Geraldine Ferraro and her Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama comments have set off quite a media frenzy. But I don’t want to talk about Geraldine Ferraro’s role in the 2008 elections. I want to talk about Ferraro’s role in history, specifically women’s history, especially during women’s history month. Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman nominated by a major political power as its candidate for Vice President of the United States.

Ferraro, who would become the first woman to be nominated as the Vice President by a major political party in the United States, was born in 1935 in Newburgh, New York. When Ferraro was 8, her father, an immigrant from Italy, died and she and her family moved to the Bronx before settling in Queens where her mother worked in the garment industry. The gifted Ferraro won a scholarship to Mary Mount, became a public school teacher, and went to Fordham’s law school at night. Ferraro ran successfully for Congress from New York City’s 9th District in 1978 and served as a women’s and human rights advocate, worked for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, sponsored the Women’s Economic Equity Act (ending pension discrimination against women), and fought for increased job training and opportunities for displaced homemakers.

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