Sunday Stamps

First up, we have Astrid Lindgren, a Swedish author of children's books, among them, Pippi Longstocking.  

Though her stories for children were loved, her attitude towards adultery) which was reflected in her writings) was not so much. In her personal life, after an affair with her editor, she gave birth to a child out of wedlock. Until she was able to afford to take care of him, he was raised in a foster home where she regularly visited on weekends. It would seem that after declining marriage from the child's father, he declined support for the child. She would later marry her boss. Still, she was a advocate for children's and animal rights and against corporal punishment and was bestowed an award "...For her commitment to justice, non-violence and understanding of minorities as well as her love and caring for nature." 

Then there is American author and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose most recognized work is possibly Uncle Tom's Cabin written in 1852, but she also wrote numerous other novels, travel memoirs as well as articles and letters.

Legend has it that upon meeting President Lincoln he was to have said to her "so you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great [civil] war", such was the polarizing effect of her writing among readers in the North and the South. It all started when she wrote to a newspaper saying she wanted to write a story about the problem of slavery, "I feel now that the time is come when even a woman or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak... I hope every woman who can write will not be silent."

Then there is someone perhaps a little less famous but by no means less influential in the lives of average Americans. Mary Lasker was a philanthropist and health advocate whose Lasker Award is considered the most prestigious medical research award one can receive. She supported National Health Insurance under President Truman - it failed. She then decided to fund medical research as a way to promote public health. She was also the president of the precursor to Planned Parenthood and she and her husband were instrumental in making the American Cancer Society the powerhouse that it is today. Ironically, her husband was one of the advertising executives who came up with the "Lucky Strikes Means Fine Tobacco" slogan for the cigarette company before the dangerous effects of tobacco became known.

Finally, we have the unnamed Women in  Military Service

See more Women in Stamps for March's Women's History Month in the US and the UK
(Canada celebrates in October)
by visiting Viridian's Postcard Blog