Why I Chose Emma Goldman for my Research Project
I had a difficult time choosing the right person for this project. We had to choose an American women who lived in the 1900's that brought about change, shared her beliefs to the country or world, was or is someone to look up to, etc. When I first started looking around for women to do, I came up with Indira Gandhi, Rosalind Franklin, and Abigail Adams. All of them were remarkable women, but I had forgotten the criteria, and I had chosen two women from different countries, and one who lived in the three hundred years ago. Discouraging as this was, I kept on searching and searching. I wanted to do someone different, unique, strong, brave. Someone that maybe nobody has heard of before, but was a strong activist and stood up for what she believed in. I then came across Emma Goldman; an anarchist, a feminist, passionate, and pretty unknown. I read about her, researched her, and learned more about her.
Emma Goldman was an anarchist. She went to jail many times for riots and for speaking about the issues she thought were important. She never married -- free love was more her style, and she grew up with a violent family. She traveled the world, wrote books, helped her lover in his attempt (that failed) to assassinate someone, and died of a stroke. After my dad read my first draft of Emma's biography, his remark was, "What a life."
And what a life she had! I am definitely not an anarchist like Emma, but I was immediately sucked in by this powerfully zealous and tough woman. Her actions were extremely radical, but she never gave up. I hope after looking around this website you can get an in-depth idea of Emma and even though most of us completely disagree with some of her strong beliefs, (I know that I would never try to assassinate someone) this woman had an amazing, carefree, unique, and wild life. And that is why I chose Emma Goldman for this project.
