Such an amazing woman and inspiring story! — Molly
Happy retirement to Betty Reid Soskin, who retired today at the age of 100 after serving as America's oldest active National Park Service ranger for the past fifteen years! Soskin began her career as a ranger at age 85 at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park — a park that she had helped plan in its early stages years earlier. As a ranger, Soskin led a popular tour called “Untold Stories and Lost Conversations" during which she gave a tour of the park, shared her personal WWII story, and encouraged others to contribute their own stories to the park's collection of oral histories.
When Soskin joined the planning committee for the Rosie the Riveter Park years ago, she brought a unique perspective: she was the only person of color at the table and she was one of the wartime workers the park aimed to remember. Soskin’s wartime work began when she was 20, when she became a clerk for the boilermakers union. Like many unions, it was segregated; she was hired by the African-American auxiliary. In an interview with the Department of the Interior, she said, “When I graduated from high school as a young woman of color, my chances for employment were limited to two — working in agriculture or as a domestic servant... my job as a clerk in a Jim Crow union hall was a step up; the equivalent of today’s young woman of color being the first in her family to enter college.”
Soskin reflected that, for many of the 'Rosie the Riveters' who went to work during the war, “those years were a high point in their lives.” She further observed that when elderly “Rosies” visit the park, “they express much pride and often great frustration at having been turned loose at the war’s end for the sake of returning veterans to the workplace.” And she expressed her hope that the park captures some of that experience for younger visitors. In reflecting about her own time as a ranger, Soskin said that working at the park gave new meaning to her senior years: “To be a part of helping to mark the place where that dramatic trajectory of my own life, combined with others of my generation, will influence the future by the footprints we’ve left behind has been incredible.”
Betty Reid Soskin is the author of an inspiring memoir, "Sign My Name to Freedom," at https://www.amightygirl.com/sign-my-name-to-freedom
For a fun doll for aspiring young rangers, we recommend the 12-inch Park Ranger Doll for ages 3 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/park-ranger-doll
To introduce young readers to the true story of how millions of real-life "Rosie the Riveters" during WWII forever changed women's role in society, we recommend "Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II," for ages 10 and up, at https://www.amightygirl.com/rosie-the-riveter
For an excellent book for teens and adults about the contributions of African-American women during World War II, we also recommend “Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II” at https://www.amightygirl.com/double-victory
There is also an inspiring picture book honoring the women who supported the war effort during WWII: "Rosie: Stronger than Steel" for ages 4 to 8 at https://www.amightygirl.com/rosie-stronger-than-steel
For more books, toys, and clothing celebrating Rosie the Riveter, the famous WWII icon, visit our "Rosie the Riveter Collection" at http://amgrl.co/2n27EeE -- and for teens and adults, there's a 'Rosie the Riveter T-Shirt" at https://www.amightygirl.com/rosie-the-riveter-shirt
For books for adult readers about more heroic women of WWII, we've featured the best in historical fiction and biography in our blog post, "Telling Her Story: 40 Books for Adult Readers About Women Heroes of WWII," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=24501
And, for more inspiring stories of pioneering girls and women throughout history, you can sign-up for A Mighty Girl's free weekly email newsletter at https://www.amightygirl.com/forms/newsletter
Photo credit: NPS/Luther Bailey
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