Scroll to the bottom to see who she is (after reading this awesome bio).
This Kentucky-born woman was the seventh child of Syrian born working class parents. Her father was a grocer, and her mother a homemaker. Like many immigrants, her parents started out with very little. Before he was able to open his own store, her father sold food and other items by going door-to-door. When she was four years old, the family moved north to Detroit, Michigan.
She attended public school, working hard like her parents taught her. Early on she learned that although hard work was important, there were some who didn’t like other kids who didn’t have blonde hair and blue eyes. She came home one day from school very upset after other kids called her a “garlic eater.”
She dusted herself off and never looked back. She trusted her parents’ lessons and expectations, even though girls weren’t expected to have careers outside of being a mother and a housewife. By the time she reached high school, this hard working curious girl realized what she wanted to be following positive praise for her classwork.
After high school she made sure her career included a college education. After four years at Wayne State University, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree, majoring in English. From there she went where all the action was – Washington D.C. She worked her way to the top, and where ever she worked, she broke that proverbial glass ceiling every time. If her humble immigrant parents would have been able to see her, they would have been very proud.
Helen Thomas, television personality and journalist (1920-2013)
You can find out more about this woman here and here.
Image credit: Veterans Today and Biography.com
