Where is the obit for Carolee Schneeman who died March 6 this week?
Thank you for this! I just read the obit for Ida B. Wells and cannot stop thinking about the amazing courage she possessed. Thank you for honoring the names of those who deserved such respect and telling their stories!
May I simply say "Thank you for your Overlooked?" It does you proud and was a brilliant idea. Not only is it informative; it offers reassurance and the message: Yes, you can! in these alarming times.
you should include Dorothea Dix since Raleigh is naming a 300 acre park for her.
Kudos to this series - and that it will run indefinitely. Yes, it is overdue. Yes, the inherent bias has been at play for 150+ years right up to 2017....but, the way in which the series was embraced internally is heartening. I've shared with my teacher friends and family - encouraging them to read and look for those overlooked individuals whom they might incorporate into their lessons.
Onward!
1
I am LOVING this series and hope it goes on indefinitely. All these women are fascinating!
How about Tabitha Babbitt, the inventor of the circular saw? She was a
Shaker; they made their own furniture. She felt traditional saws were inefficient. She also worked with Eli Whitney, but did not patent any of her inventions.
2
Perhaps another woman overlooked was Dr. Charlotte Lemay. She was brilliant in chemistry, mathematics and physics. Among many of her contributions, which few of us knew as she taught us, was that she held a patent on the process for etching silicon to make semiconductors and opened the door to almost every electronic device we use.
3
Outstanding effort and can't wait to read more. What a wonderful addition to nyt. I just wish there were happy endings . I loved the international touch too. It makes me grateful for opportunities i have as a woman.
I'm sorry...these are not 'overlooked' women. These are women who contributed a great deal to their society, but the NYT consciously decided (either via negligence or editorial decisions) not to write an obit for these women. If we are going to start making the future better, we must first be brutally honest about our past.
I applaud their effort, but, personally, I think the right place to start would be for the NYT to admit bias, but that will never happen....it would make them liable for a discrimination suit.
And until they give fair and even coverage, both now and in the future, to all people who are not wealthy or influential white men, please don't applaud too loudly.
That is exactly what this article is doing...
1
"I applaud their effort, but, personally, I think the right place to start would be for the NYT to admit bias, but that will never happen....it would make them liable for a discrimination suit."
You don't know how discrimination suits work, do you?
Congratulations on this insightful step in the journey to show the outstanding contribution of those who have been historically out of power. It is one way to help 'hurry history'
2
This feature is long on writers and actresses and very, very short on the Catholic nuns who played a major role in building America's health care system. The Mayo brothers, for example, get all the credit for their clinic, but how would they have fared if Mother Alfred Moes didn't build them a hospital.
5
That's a very good point. The Catholic sisters were intrepid and often went where few would go. Sr. Teresa Maxis, an educator, was critical to the founding of the IHMs in Monroe, Michigan, and was a member of the first congregation of sisters of color in the world. Go look her up, people. Get her an obit. She won't mind if it's late.
2
Women have been dying for a long time. The NY Times just realized this. Finally.
4
This is outstanding. Keep up the good work.
3
I, too, love this project. I'm less than convinced, however, by the excuse that current obituaries are still primarily about white men because it is white men who were doing all the notable work 30 years ago and they are now dying. That lie is precisely the lie that Hidden Figures, Broad Band, and even A League of Their Own have laid bare for women, and that any number of equivalent sources have laid bare for people who are Black or gay or anything else more interesting than white and male. People other than white men were, in fact, doing notable work 30 years ago and deserve to be recognized by the New York Times upon, not decades after, their death.
7
Yes, me too—less than convinced by that argument and saw that entire piece of explanation as one long defensive excuse for maintaining the status quo. In particular, yes—you will end up with mostly white men when your criteria is people of power. But what if the criteria for the obit were more expansive?
Good start. Next, the New York Times needs to monitor who's accomplishments (or misdeeds, I suppose) gets front page coverage. I seem to recall a study that many more articles with front page headlines are about white males.
Do women or people of color have to die for the world to know that they are newsworthy?
4
Thank you, thank you for this. I was gladdened to see that the entire newsroom saw the importance of this project. I'm a retired reporter who dreamed of working for the Times and, of course, never got there. This is another step forward in bringing equality and equity to recognition of women and people of color. No obit for Charlotte Bronte or Sylvia Plath? C'mon! Anyone who thinks this work is done and things are now peachy needs to wake up. We're getting there, but we haven't gotten there yet.
5
For many years, I habitually watched the Times obituaries to glean stories about accomplished, remarkable, famous and infamous women to share with the women and girls who stayed in the domestic violence shelter where I worked.
After a while I started keeping the obits in sheet protectors in a binder; reading the women’s stories was a great way for clients and staff alike to get a “fix” of inspiration and empowerment. I even started to take them home to show my kids and their friends.
In the course of doing this labor of love, it gradually dawned on me that there were far fewer Times obituaries for women than there were for men. I actually wrote a letter to the editor sometime in the early 2000s, feeling a bit foolish for doing so (“can this really be true?”), yet still convinced of my sad observation.
I am so happy to see the emergence of Overlooked and can’t wait to see the rich treasure trove of forgotten stories about the women whose shoulders we stand upon. Thank you!
9
Kudos to you and the NYTimes! We are surrounded by incredible and inspirational stories that get overlooked or buried (no pun intended). All of us have stories to tell and legacies to leave. Some are larger than life. Others much smaller but inspirational in their own right.
2
This is so fantastic!! There are so many things women's could have taken charge of looog if given the opportunity. Is that all we ever asked for? To see the things these women have done, and to think of how many more women could have accomplished great things if no5 snuffed out and intimidated by men. Another great job, NYT!!
1
This is a great series. Thank you for finding these "Lost Women" ...
4
Who knew that the NYT could cultivate interest in obituaries? Innovative idea--I look forward to your new picks for this project and am thinking about a few submissions of my own.
5
To set the record straight, for many decades the Times has honored obituaries, devoting an entire department in the newsroom to writing them. Additionally, obits of the famous are prewritten, often including personal interview information that a person wouldn't want published while he or she is still alive. I'm surprised that no one at the Times has pointed this out in this discussion.
1
“Oh good, no women died today” has been the longtime sardonic remark of a friend who peruses the NYT obituaries. It looks like Women’s lifespans are about to decline precipitously.
8
About five years ago, it started becoming painfully obvious to me that obituaries seemed reserved for white men. Knowing that a lot of aspects of our life were actually introduced or created by women and people from all backgrounds and ethnicities, I seriously considered no longer reading the New York Times.
I am astounded that over the past six months or so the variety of persons spotlighted in that section of the paper. I applaud your decision to move forward with such a project – it can only help us to become more human.
5
How we tell the story of who and what makes history is very important. Treating women as exceptions or newcomers to the ranks of the notables, the celebrities, and leadership reinforces the current patriarchal narratives about leadership and excellence. There are many women to nominate; I hope this is a long running feature.
I also wish that you would communicate with the editorial leadership of the rest of the paper. Time for the NYTimes to stop burying the stories of living women as well.
7
Applaud this initiative and contributions it will make to knowing the lives of amazing people who were...“Ignored.” Not “Overlooked.”
8
Great great great great idea.
4
I am so grateful for this a series. As a digital reader of the NYT I have been scanning the obituaries for years and noticed the preponderance of white men. I even took a screen shot the first time the featured obituaries were all women. A small step towards correcting a grievous imbalance recognizing the contributions of all members of society!
8
Great start to rewriting history to be more inclusive-
3
Love this. It is so inspiring. Perhaps a book with all of these wonderful women's stories could be combined in a book for our young girls to be aware of how important their lives can be. Well done.
6
Perplexed about the Ida Wells obit. Was Mr Moss shot and killed and then hanged? That's the impression I'm left with.
The NYT's thinks it is "fixing" the problem of now recognizing prominent women who were denied an obituary when they died.
I applaud the NYT's for including the grossly under appreciated Nella Larsen. Less than an hour after reading her obituary, I purchased two of her books.
But I was deeply disappointed that the NYT did not include Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, a former notable Howard University psychology professor who debated the racist Dr. William Shockley (co-inventor of the transistor that led to microcomputers) and Phil Donahue about her theories of white supremacy and race.
Dr. Welsing died January 2, 2016.
The NYT STILL has a problem with publishing the obituaries of prominent women.
The NYT has no problem covering Donald Trump, an unapologetic white supremacist, but fails miserably when given an opportunity to cover a black intellectual who presents a theory of why white supremacy exists.
Dr. Welsing wanted to eradicate white supremacy.
But maybe the real issue is that white supremacy is a topic that sells newspapers.
14
This is a welcome endeavor, thoughtfully carried out and thoroughly engaging. I hope it might prompt the NYT to look at other ingrained biases that color the paper's choices and angles of reporting. How can you claim to publish "All the news that's fit to print" when in fact the decisions are based on a judgement call to begin with?
2
This points up what the newspapers keep losing...their public. A national newspaper needs to address the nation, not necessarily just their subscribers.
I was particularly appalled when the Times dropped its follow-up on the news column years ago. That was the Times' way of making all the news free of fake news...lies exposed, those charged either convicted and behind bars, heartwarming stories that went south.
Please consider this another request to make your news stories whole as you are nowdoing with obituraries. Another form of follow-up.
3
OH my god, Amisha, firstly I had no idea these women did not have an obituary. and wow, what work!! it has been a long time since i fell in love with a project like this. I love this so so much! thank you ! it's honest and heartening and beautiful and so so powerful! thank you!
9
I love the Times' obits. This will only make them better.
1
GREAT idea!!!
5
Love this! Thank you.
4
Thank you. For years I have made a point of reading only women's obituaries in the paper in the hope that this day would come. Sadly, sometimes I have scrolled down the list of obituaries for days without a single obituary recognizing a woman's contribution to history in the paper. Just men, day after day. So once again, thank you for making my wish come true.
5
Thank you so much for your time and efforts into this. Very inspiring!!
3
Always fascinated by the genesis of great ideas and this is certainly one them. Would love to read another series on these stories as well—the behind-the-scenes moments on how some of the world’s most creative and positive ideas came into being.
2
A truly heartt-warming action!! I grew up with strong women in my family, so found it odd that women around the world were poorly appreciated, unless they were `capture' by the internationa media.
But there are millions of Florence Nightigales, or Joan of Arcs or Madam Curies in the worlds which both time and people forgot.
In my country, there are subtle movements to erase the histories (or rewriting histories!) or contributions of non-Malays/Non-Muslims (called the minorities), and to project only the contributions of the Malays/Muslims. THIS MUST NEVER BE Allowed here or anywhere in the world.
I have a few suggestions:
1. Within the Overlooked Project, have subdivions of Florence Nightigales etc.
2. Collaborate with journalists in different countries to start their local chapter of OverLooked, to provide a conduit to feed the Global Overlooked project. This way, ladies from the minority citizens are not forgotten.
Here is one from Malaysia.. Cybil Kartigesu.
Thank you for a long overdue initiative! Bravo
2
Excellent work. A model for other organizations to follow.
2
For years this was the most irritating thing to me about reading the Times. Day after day, obituaries of men only. Thanks for trying to make amends. I'd venture to guess that there are some extraordinary women that would still be overlooked based on your perception of extraordinary. For instance, when Time Magazine was debating who should be the "man" of the century to be featured on the cover at the close of the 20th century (maybe they called it the person of the century, but I doubt there were many women on the short list), there was lots talk about who had had the most influence on the greatest number of lives and I thought immediately of Margaret Sanger - although nobody else seemed to. They were too busy thinking about Hitler and Einstein. But thanks to Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood, women can choose whether and when to have children. (At least for now.) Access to safe and affordable birth control has been the most important breakthrough for women and families in the history of the human race. I hope you will continue to feature women who have changed our world and the way we perceive it.
14
And no matter your wonderful intent, you do them yet another disservice by running their pictures on the front page without a cutline to identify them. Still nameless. Please fix that.
2
Thank you so very much!
1
This is fantastic. THANK YOU. I can hardly wait read them all.
1
I have always been surprised at how so many more men die than women. At least according to the NYT obits.
4
Thank you, thank you. You made me proud as professional woman. Please carry on and continue giving us fascinating new ideas. We need more enlightened ideas to reach our next generation.
1
Brava!
2
When I read of your project, a snippet of song wafted through my head, courtesy of Lin-Manuel Miranda: "Who lives/Who dies/Who tells your story." Thank you for recognizing these unrecognized women.
1
I spent the day visiting six amazing friends, travelling four hours to do so. I was so tired when I returned home, I just hopped into bed and was about to call it a day. I almost didn’t read the paper. These incredible obituaries just woke me up. I was inspired, saddened, amused, proud and so happy that these very important women were celebrated today, Thank you.
1
I am not an American but I enjoy my NYT subscription because of the news coverage and in depth articles. I have noticed though you cover women’s issues your bylines and columnist photos skew heavily towards white males. In reading the paper one was also led to believe women either were the much hardier gender given the lack of visible deaths or their accomplishments were not as valued as any white male.
This new ongoing project to readdress the omission of any number of dead women’s contributions to society is an inspiring and newsworthy addition to the newspaper.
I look forward to reading other obituaries of women who have either been overlooked or whose obituaries focused on their cooking prowess (rocket scientist) or lack of attractiveness (author) rather than on the achievements that made them famous in their field.
2
Well very good, in that I can see no reason in a digital world that endless numbers, perhaps even everyone nominated by someone who knew them, have a recollection and story printed in the NYT. Why not? But don't think this is about "diversity." It's about kumbaya. It's about the participants of this project extending themselves to have sway over some small aspect of what constitutes public record. No big deal, enjoy.
This is not about intersectionality. Not about politics. It is about justice, recognition, fairness. Thank you for getting it right: you often do. But this time you hit the bullseye!
1
What an extraordinary idea - and forward thinking newspaper. Thank you.
1
Bravo for recognising and correcting this woeful underrepresention of women in common cultural practice.
However, let's talk about wedding announcements. It's true these stories include same sex marriages and most likely unions between people somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum. The common denominator among who is included appears to be perceived success and/or connections deemed worthy by your editors. To the reader the common denominator is privilege. It is clear that the stories we choose to tell in culturally significant spaces have an impact. It is past time to examine this NYT cultural practice as well.
2
Bravo! We all need models.
1
This is a great idea. Thanks. It, however, would save the New York Times obituary editors a lot of time if it was possible to get an alphabetical list of existing obituaries by just doing a search on the term "obituaries."
It's very profound that the Times is doing this. Brilliant idea. Am glad it's coming to light. Thank you.
1
So awesome, Amy! Only a person like you could have come up with this!
2
Good Idea. If you're going to tell the American story, you plus tell the whole story.
This is fantastic!
The obituaries mirror our society; and for far too long women along w other non-white-men were treated as though not there.
The distortion you see in the obit page was simply fantastic!
So thank you for adjusting the mirror! It's so important for kids; so critical for our future.
And while you're at it, please perhaps check out 'handedness' of your subjects; the assumption is still that all people are right-handed. This is not the case - and the 10% of us who are left handed would delight in being occasionally recognized for how we are which likely linked to our contributions.
3
Thank you. What an incredible group of amazing women. And how satisfying that "all the news fit to print" is affirming their achievements and that editors are owning up to decades of white, male bias in story selection.
13
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
7
So excited about you're doing! Makes me proud to be a NY Times subscriber. Carry on!!
29
Thank you, Amisha and Jessica. Thank you. Can't say it loud enough. To each and everyone of you who made Overlooked happen.
9
This is a wonderful idea!! Can’t wait to read about these extraordinary people who were not given their due. It IS better late than never, and I expect to learn much and be inspired by these stories. Kudos!
8
A very laudable and timely endeavor, indeed. Hopefully the time will arrive when the NY Times will also bring to light and publish obituaries for all the overlooked, accomplished children and youth of yesteryear whose lives were tragically truncated but still achieved something of considerable significance in their mortal moment. They continue to overlooked, such are adults' blinders towards them.
6
Brava!
3
This is so wonderful (to an older woman), it is hard to believe!
Let's hope other publications, all over the world, follow this lead.
11
This sounds like an exciting and creative project.
4
Bronte fan here. Thanks for the obit of an original soul with an outrageous intellect. Can you imagine what she could do if set free in the modern world? Lucky for us, she helped to make it.
4
Great idea! Looking forward to reading them all. Will it be issued on a regular basis (e.g. every Thursday)? Could we please have a list so we’re sure not to miss anyone?
2
"I’m hopeful it will inspire many more conversations inside the newsroom and beyond about diversity and what we can do to make sure no one is overlooked." This project, your article and William McDonald's piece are certainly going to reverberate far beyond the newsroom. My friends are already talking about them and I'll be talking about them at home tonight. It's important for society to know about the women who made a mark but were, until now, overlooked in the NY Times, and whose lives deserved more coverage in general.
7
I just finished the first collection of obituaries from Overlooked.
Incredible.
Incredible that so many were overlooked, incredible lives for us to honor.
Thank you!
6
I've been saying this for years. My Instagram is full of screenshots pointing out that, even where females *get* obituaries, their descriptions are frequently dominates by explanations of the importance of men to whom they were married, related, or otherwise involved.
12
YAY! This made my day. So very tired of rarely seeing women in the newspaper, in all sections.
7
What a wonderful project. Brava! I'm already a fan and will follow this as it grows. I wish I knew someone to nominate.
1
Thank you!!! Incredible project.
1
Thank you. Can you go back and fix the damage done by leaving half of humanity out of the story? I don’t know. But acknowledging it and addressing it seems a good place to start. My daughters seven and reads a woman’s biography nightly from “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” and many of the women you’ve featured are in her book — forgtton, ignored, or silenced.
This is a much-needed band-aid on the problem, and I’m grateful to you for finding a way to address this. Now I’m off to see if Harriet Tubman, Marie Curie, Nellie Bly or Mary Shelley had obits.
4
What a wonderful way to celebrate Women's Day, righting some wrongs and also remembering these remarkable women. Appreciate that.
1
Amisha, Thank you for taking on this much needed, and important work! So many women, so little recognition. Now you and your team will right these wrongs!
1
When I saw the obit profiles I stopped my morning, sat down, and read all of them. Like a Mozart opera, they made me feel a dizzying whirl of emotions, none sentimental. I came face to face with women from my mother’s and grandmother’s generation. These are the names that meant something to them. Until now I had never known their stories.
I have a deep appreciation for this work and this segment made me very proud to support you. Bravo!
13
It's about time! Thanks for reporting on this long overdue story on how women of achievement--especially those of color--have been left out of obits. It's not just The Times. It was a SOP in newspaperland. I grew up in Southern California during the 1950s. I don't recall any of the mainstream dailies, including the Los Angeles Times, covering murders of black people and certainly didn't have much to say about famous ones except on the sports pages.
1
Congratulations on a wonderful undertaking. Surprised by some of the omissions, I also read about lives I had not heard of. I look forward to reading future installments.
3
This is an absolutely astounding, praiseworthy idea that should be continued indefinitely! The original selections for inclusion are superb and highly readable, and (as you have observed) there are undoubtedly many, many more. Congratulations for having originated a new and worthy means of conveying history and celebrating humanity.
2
What and inspired idea ! Thank you Amisha.
1
Ms. Padnani, Such a wonderful idea - and really brave in the way you brought this to fruition. I was immediately drawn to this article and seeing Madhubala's name brought joy to my already overjoyed heart.
You are right that it takes one to know one - and then small drops lead to a deluge.
Thank you very much
2
Bravo--this is brilliant and much needed to shed more light on contributions of women and people of color.
2
Thank you!
1
This is wonderful. Thank you.
1
This wonderful series promises to enrich our understanding of the ways in which the world really works. So many achievements heretofore ascribed solely to white men required the impetus, imagination, and instigation of others. You have begun well, and I thank you.
1
Better late than never?
It is deeply dismaying to face up to the utter absence of recognition of women's contribution to our society. This current project is long overdue and could fill volumes.
Thank you for making a start.
4
This is a wonderful way to celebrate International Women's Day--in an ironic and sad way. Better late than never, but we have to ask: why were these women overlooked? Who else (female or male) has been overlooked due to the unconscious bias of the obit editors? I look forward to more "missing persons" obits honouring these invisibles.
2
Nicely done, it's about time this imbalance was addressed in the pages of the Times itself. But whether you're aware of it or not, and were inspired by it or not, the film and television exec Lauren Zalaznick was way ahead of you. She was my boss in the 90s and at the time, as a "hobby," was actively charting the NYT obituary pages for gender imbalance. From a recent profile in Fast Company:
"There was the year she [Zalaznick] spent tracking the New York Times‘s obituary pages, entering the names of the deceased, their profession, age, cause of death, and gender, into an Excel spreadsheet. “I had a theory that apparently even though science said it was always approximately 50% male, 50% female, that for some reason only men were dying, according to The New York Times,” she jokes. “And the only women who died were flappers from the twenties and wives of famous people and Princess Diana. That’s the only people who died that year, according to the Times.”
16
Great to see this. Also important is the difference in how we write about men and women in the obit form. A few years ago, while working on a digital humanities project I did some text analysis comparing obits of noted people in similar fields, and looked at the occurrence of certain words that were chosen in the text. (Ex: obit of Louise Bourgeois uses "work" 5 times, Cy Twombly's uses it 22 times; hers mentions family, his does not).
10
Thank you.
1
Brava! Beautiful & bold concept & execution! I look forward to continued Overlooked obituaries.
2
This is a wonderful and lovely idea!
2
This is why I love the New York Times....Reading the obits of these wonderful women brings tears to my eyes. Thank you.
2
Thank you for this excellent series. The stories of the women who are represented here are compelling for many reasons, but the most compelling one is how easily they were confined to forgetfulness in a culture that only celebrates particular race, gender or cultural values. Telling their stories in the manner that you have holds up a mirror to our own implicit biases about what is important, valuable or relevant. Thank you for your careful curating and attention to detail.
2
What a wonderful resource! Reading the first two nearly overwhelmed me with the blindness that often becomes history. I have often wondered why it is that as I have aged, the obituary section has become so vital to my reading of the paper. With this series, I now understand how the obituary gives not just a record but a broader perspective on the life that has surrounded, even shaped my own. Thank you.
1
Good on you, NYTimes!
1
This project, as superficially laudable as it may be, is nothing without an editorial commitment to include the same percentage of women as men in the obituaries going forward. Maybe even try to include a representative sampling of people of color, LBGT, etc.
5
I've been tracking obits for the last 3 years having noticed the lack of women. Congrats on the new project to pull from the past. But the Times obits section needs to change now to reflect the intentions of its diversity initiative. Not hide behind the idea that the obits reflect who was famous "then" and not who is truly newsworthy. Otherwise we perpetuate fake news! For example, in the last few years there were a number of obits for obscure sports figures, players and coaches. Those glowing flames who may have been celebrities at the time may not be lasting contributors to our culture. The obits need a new criteria that reflects the glorious whole of true heroes who did remarkable things of value. Human interest mixing with objective journalistic standards.
8
Or, as yesterday, a really long obituary about a man who claimed to be George Gershwin's son! Yes, there's comic novelty value in his story, but essentially it's a story about somebody who's spent his whole life lying. Would the same sort of woman get such a lengthy obit, even today? Maybe, maybe not.
I commend you -- and the Times -- for bringing 'Overlooked' to the fore.
As for the Why of it, Why women and people of color have not been represented in the Times' Obits through the years and decades, One ought to begin with Who was working in the Obituary section of the Times. Were there women, anyone of color working there in, say 1932? Who in 1855 was making the decisions about which obits to include? That's where you start to look for (some of) the reason(s) behind the omissions, or at least the decisions about which lives' stories made it to the paper.
I suspect that Charlotte Brontë was not included in 1855 because she lived & died across the pond -- was she published in the U.S. then? Aurore Dupin who died in 1872 in France -- lived all her life in France, wrote books there. Was she known in the States in her lifetime?
I very-much enjoyed reading those you included in today's piece. Thank you!
1
Dear New York Times - like the recent stories told in Hidden Figures, your obituary project is incredibly important. I congratulate you for addressing a serious problem.
Best corporate practices these days require that 2 women be involved in committees and on boards. Two are needed to back each other up and because even women have unconscious bias. Being occasionally only one woman on a committee - I can’t tell you how dense my male colleagues sometimes are on issues (bring a woman to a pitch - make sure that woman speaks) that end up hurting our business.
Unconscious bias is woven throughout our lives. Books are written for men, movies are made for men, history is even written for men, with female perspective and achievement constantly devalued.
May I suggest that you expand/alter your obituary board to include 2 women. You are writing history that remains forever. The fact that your current female percentage of obits is so low says to me that you need more perspective in how you are valuing a newsworthy life. Sometimes lives need to be measured by their fullness, obstacles overcome, instead of just the number of achievements. I think more women - and a mandate to think broadly - could help you broaden your perspective, and help change history - as history is what we perceive it to be.
12
The little string of discomfort pulling at your heart & mind has led to a wonderful opportunity. Each individual has 1 life to live. It's up to each individual to find & follow their path.
It isterrific to find a map other people have followed on their life's journey. Especially those so often hidden in our society, still now. Say hello to "the others", their hopes & dreams are so much like everyone else. Hopefully they will be a beacon to an improved future.
1
These profiles were compelling and a reminder of how crucial it is to learn about accomplished women. We women need role models. There's a peculiar sort of loneliness when you are the first and when your accomplishments go unacknowledged.
Thank you for your curiosity and follow through concerning these belated contributions.
3
FINALLY! The absence of women in the NYTimes Obit drives me crazy. Do NOT tell me there aren't women of accomplishments (who aren't singers or actors). Thank you Padnani.
9
Today is International Women's Day.
This must be the obligatory "woman" article.
It says, "Gosh, we've ignored females for all these decades!"
And, then, it publishes the obituaries of three men.
Ah, NYTimes - not your finest hour.
10
Thank you SO MUCH. This is an amazing idea, and better late than never! We can make up for past mistakes (limited vision, assumed omniscience, self-importance only)...yes, go do it.
2
Thank you for this!!! I hope you'll have the coffee table book ready for Christmas so these women can be a part of my daughter's every day life! I was going to cancel my subscription to the Times after the 2016 election, but I've kept it because of the influx of women and the voices of people of color who've breathed new life into the paper and made it worth reading.
3
I've just read these amazing stories of our foremothers. That these stories were omitted is tragic -- because stories inspire. How might our lives today be different if our grandmothers' and our grandmothers' grandmother's stories had been told. We've lost generations of knowledge because we didn't give voice to those who overcame trials or made such important contributions that would indeed inspire future generations.
Thank you for taking these small steps to amend history.
3
Just started reading some of these obituaries. Thanks so much for honoring such a diverse group of women. The stories of their lives are fascinating.
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A very commendable and fascinating project to launch on International Women's Day. An all around valuable lesson; the process of discovery for the less-known figures, who were omitted, as well as the jaw dropping exclusion of such artists as Diane Arbus and Sylvia Plath, icons to an entire generation. To read the rejection letter for "The Bell Jar" was painful.
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Brava! I am sure I will learn from these new obits. The story of their creation is inspiring!
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Dear Ms. Padnani & Ms. Bennett. Thank you. What an outstanding idea. I expect that beyond NYT readers, this project will have lasting impact. For example, you probably know that Wikipedia has grappled with the fact that comparatively few of their articles are by or about women (and probably people of color too). I predict and hope that your series inspires some Wikipedia contributors to create, expand, and promote their coverage of these women.
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The "nearly infinite" number of ideas spawned by humans over thousands of years would likely be incalculabel. Yet among those that survive and become part of the human experience few would be thought of as both poetic and poignant. The idea of "Overlooked Obituaries" is one of them.
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You could also call this Undervalued.
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Dominique-de-Menil of Houston is one you got right: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/01/arts/dominique-de-menil-89-dies-collec...
Menil's impact on the art & architecture is immeasurable, not only in Houston but in NYC and worldwide.
She built an entire chapel to house the paintings of Mark Rothko. She invited Mies Van der Rohe to design the north facade of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. She then asked Philip Johnson to design her house and to write his elegant signature across the Houston skyline, which he did. Then she hired Renzo Piano to design her namesake museum in Houston, years before anyone in Manhattan had heard his name. And that's just for starters.
What an inspiring idea! You’ve made my Women’s Day. We all know great women who were overlooked in their life, their work, their achievements. I read these obituaries with a profound respect for these women. And a sense of gratitude for your own work. Thanks.
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Great work. Thank you.
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This is wonderful. Thanks for trying to make amends for past omissions. As Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote in _Hamilton_, “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.” Now some overlooked folks have you and your colleagues to tell their stories.
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Great idea! Thank you for filling in the missing parts from the past.
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This is a wonderful project, thank you for publishing these stories.
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I started noticing the relative absence of women in the daily three dead folks who get into the online version of nyt. Very lopsided. I even started a file to record these, but stopped for the fact that the two to one or three to one ratio of males was unerring. I am pleased to see this project.
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Thank you! Not at all surprised by these glaring omissions. It is indeed time to give "Anonymous" her due, denied in earlier times because she was a woman or a minority.
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