May 2009 Wilmington Newsletter

by AAUW Wilmington
June 11, 2009

November 25 is recognized worldwide as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women but the reason for the UN selecting this date is not widely known. In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly chose this date to honor the Mirabal Sisters, three Dominican sisters and political dissidents who were assassinated by henchmen of the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo on this day in 1960.

The sisters, Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa were active opponents of the brutal Dominican dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. The women formed an opposition group against the Trujillo regime called the Movement of the Fourteenth of June, named after the date of a massacre Patria witnessed. Within the group, the sisters were known as Las Mariposas (The Butterflies).

Minerva and Maria Teresa were imprisoned and tortured on several occasions and their husbands were also frequently incarcerated. After the Organization of American States sent observers to the Dominican Republic, the sisters were freed but their husbands remained imprisoned. It was on a return trip from one of their prison visits on November 25, 1960 that the sisters were stopped by members of Trujillo's secret police and murdered.

Trujillo himself was assassinated the following year and the sisters have long been regarded as heroes in the Dominican Republic for their courage and activism against the dictatorship. A final sister, Dedé Mirabal, who worked to preserve her sisters' memory for many years, passed away in 2014 at the age of 88.

On November 25, we remember and honor the contributions and sacrifices of the Mirabal sisters and all of those who work toward a world free of violence. This date also marks the beginning of an annual campaign called the "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence" which ends on International Human Rights Day on December 10.

To learn more about their heroic story, there is an excellent historical fiction novel about the Mirabal sisters, "In the Time of the Butterflies," which is recommended for older teens and adults at www.amightygirl.com/in-the-time-of-the-butterflies

Two films have also been made about the sisters' story - both for older teen and adult viewers - "In the Time of the Butterflies" (amzn.to/2gme47d) and "Tropico de Sangre" (amzn.to/2g9hrLJ)

For two books for younger readers about girls living under the oppressive Trujillo regime, we recommend "Before We Were Free" for ages 10 to 14 (www.amightygirl.com/before-we-were-free) and "The Color of My Words" for ages 8 to 12 (www.amightygirl.com/the-color-of-my-words).

For more stories of girls and women living under oppressive circumstances around the world, visit our "Oppression & Repression" book section at amgrl.co/1OfQseu

And, for true stories of girls and women who have worked to create positive change in the world, visit our ‘Activist Biography’ section at amgrl.co/1R6cGAu ...

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AAUW of North Carolina

1 week ago

This 2020 version includes the effects of the pandemic on women's pay.

www.aauw.org/app/uploads/2020/10/SimpleTruth_1.8.pdf ...

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AAUW of North Carolina

2 weeks ago

Karin Gleason
Meteorologist, Climate Monitoring
NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

www.aauwnc.org/weather-climate-and-you-11-19-2020/

Karin has been with NCEI, formerly the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), for the past 20 years. Early in her career, she focused on quality control of historical weather data, expanding the digital climate archive with the Climate Data Modernization Program (CDMP). She has been a member of Climate Monitoring for the last 19 years, developing applications to make climate data accessible online, contributing to global climate reports, summarizing and communicating the climate of the U.S., adjudicating state climate extremes records, and connecting with stakeholders to create meaningful products for a wide array of customers. Karin is an advocate for use-inspired product development.
Karin received a BS in Meteorology from Valparaiso University and a MS in Meteorology from Texas A&M University. She has two teenage children and has been married to her husband for 25 years.

Climate Monitoring at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information is committed to the monitoring and assessment of the state of the Earth's climate in near real-time, providing decision-makers at all levels of the public and private sectors with data and information on climate trends and variability. Karin is a key scientist, providing data research and analysis and is the developer of the Climate Extremes Index (CEI), often used to quantify recent extremes in observed temperatures, precipitation, and drought across the contiguous US. She also is the lead author for the monthly report on US climate information published as the NOAA Climate Science & Services Monthly Climate Update. Locally, Karin teaches a 4-week course at the NC Arboretum and enjoys adult education and media interactions. ...

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AAUW of North Carolina updated their cover photo.

2 weeks ago

Register Here: www.aauwnc.org/weather-climate-and-you-11-19-2020/ ...

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AAUW of North Carolina updated their cover photo.