Innovation

Cleveland Amory: Animal Ally

December 2011

“As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.”

― Cleveland Amory

Cleveland Amory was a best-selling author, critic and devoted animal rights advocate.

Amory was born in Boston on Sept. 7, 1917. Upon graduating from Harvard, he pursued a career as a newspaper reporter before becoming the youngest-ever editor of The Saturday Evening Post. Amory rose to literary prominence with the publication of The Proper Bostonians in 1947, a critically acclaimed, lighthearted critique of elite Boston society. He followed with two other nonfiction works and later served as a commentator for NBC’s “Today” show and a critic for TV Guide.

In addition to his esteemed literary career, Amory was a passionate animal rights activist. He founded The Fund for Animals in 1967, and his courage, sense of humor and eloquence as the organization’s leader allowed for the expansion of the animal rights movement. He orchestrated a number of highly publicized activities against animal cruelty, including airlifting 575 unwanted burros out of the Grand Canyon and rescuing baby harp seals in the Magdalene Islands.

He wrote three children’s books — The Cat Who Came for Christmas (1988), The Cat and the Curmudgeon (1990) and The Best Cat Ever (1993) — about his cat named Polar Bear, who he rescued from an alley on Christmas Eve.

Amory died on Oct. 14, 1998. He is buried on the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas with his beloved cat, Polar Bear. Run by the Humane Society of the United States, the ranch carries on Amory’s legacy by providing a safe and loving home for abused and neglected animals from across the country.

Wilma Mankiller: Champion Chief

November 2011

“I believe in the old Cherokee injunction to ‘be of a good mind.’ Today it’s called positive thinking.”

― Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller was the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, the second largest tribal nation in the U.S. She is remembered as a champion for tribal community development and the security of the Cherokee people.

In the 1970s, Mankiller began working for the Cherokee Nation and learned how to establish much-needed health and education programs in her community. Despite extreme opposition and even death threats, she persevered to become the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1985, a position she held for a decade. Her leadership helped to double employment and build new housing, health centers and children’s programs in northeast Oklahoma, where most of the 200,000 or so tribal members live. In 1990, she persuaded the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs to sign an unprecedented agreement to surrender direct control over millions of dollars in federal funding to the Cherokee Nation.

For her hard work and dedication, Mankiller was honored as Ms. Magazine’s Woman of the Year in 1987, and President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998.

Gloria Anzaldúa: Radical Woman of Color

October 2011

“I change myself, I change the world.”

― Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Anzaldúa was a renowned author and thought leader in the field of cultural theory and an important contributor to the culturally competent approach to modern communications.

Born in southern Texas in 1946, Anzaldúa was a migrant farm worker throughout high school and college, allowing her to support her family and fund her education. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Pan American University and a master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where she worked primarily with children who were bilingual or had special needs.

The publication of This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color in 1981, co-edited by Anzaldúa, challenged traditional feminism by describing the unique experiences of women of color. It went on to win the American Book Award in 1986.

Anzaldúa’s semi-autobiographical book, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, was a platform for her progressive thoughts on cultural awareness and acceptance. In it, she introduced the term “mestizaje,” now commonly used in academia to express the understanding between culture and identity. Borderlands is also recognized for the ground-breaking way in which Anzaldúa weaved together eight variations of English and Spanish to cross linguistic borders and further communicate about social divisions.

Anzaldúa’s body of work includes children’s books, fiction, and poetry. She died in 2004 due to complications from diabetes, but her work has inspired others to journey toward a more inclusive world.

Carlos Bulosan: Freedom Fighter

September 2011

“The old world is dying, but a new world is being born. It generates inspiration from the chaos that beats upon us all.”

― Carlos Bulosan

Carlos Bulosan was a Filipino-American novelist and poet who gave a much-needed voice to Asian Americans during the labor movements of the early 20th century.

Born in the early 1900s, Bulosan grew up on a farm in the Filipino countryside during an economic depression. The hard times of his youth became one of the main themes of his writing. He immigrated to America to seek new opportunities, but when he arrived in Seattle, he was met with racial hostility and low-paying job prospects. After surviving years of discrimination, starvation and sickness, Bulosan underwent surgery for tuberculosis. During his recovery, he taught himself to write and began describing the economic and racial struggles facing Filipinos in his homeland and in America.

His childhood experiences served as the starting point for his most celebrated work, the semi-autobiographical novel, America Is in the Heart. Published in 1946, the novel describes the collective experience of Filipino Americans, introducing their cultural experiences to a new audience while making a plea for acceptance among Americans. Bulosan died on Sept. 13, 1956, but his work will forever be credited for serving as a civil and labor rights platform that motivated activism among Asian Americans.

Upton Sinclair: Influential Investigator

August 2011

“I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.”

― Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair Jr. was a prolific author whose most acclaimed work, “The Jungle,” exposed the brutal conditions of the American meatpacking industry and led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

Sinclair was born on Sept. 20, 1878 in Baltimore, Md. He studied at Columbia University and wrote dime novels and magazine articles to pay for his tuition. He continued to publish after he graduated, and in 1904 he was commissioned by the editors of the popular socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason to examine the lives of Chicago stockyard workers. He spent seven weeks undercover in the city’s meatpacking plants, learning every detail about the work itself, the home lives of workers and the structure of the business. “The Jungle” was born from this research and was first published in serial form in Appeal to Reason. In 1906, “The Jungle” was published in its entirety.

With the instant success of “The Jungle,” Sinclair became a true “muckraker,” a term coined by Theodore Roosevelt about reporters who were working to expose the downside to the Industrial Revolution. No novel since “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” first published in 1851, had made such a social impact. Public pressure led to the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, which established the Bureau of Chemistry that later became the Food and Drug Administration. Ultimately, Sinclair was disappointed that the novel had become known for exposing tainted beef rather than the poor treatment of immigrant workers, including women and children.

With the income he received from publishing “The Jungle,” Sinclair founded the utopian Helicon Home Colony in Englewood, N.J. In 1913, he moved to California and became actively involved in politics, organizing the socialist reform movement End Poverty in California (EPIC). He wrote and produced several films, including “¡Qué viva México!” in 1930-1932. He also hoped to become the Democratic nominee for Governor of California in 1934, but was defeated by Frank F. Merriam.

Sinclair died on Nov. 25, 1968. The Upton Sinclair House in Monrovia, Calif. is now a National Historic Landmark.