I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark
When you hear the name Ruth Bader Ginsburg, words such as “trailblazer,” “pioneer” and “advocate” are usually included in the reference. The second woman to serve as a justice for the United States Supreme Court and eventually the longest-serving Jewish justice, Ginsburg passed away at her home on September 18th due to complications of pancreatic cancer. Much of her legal career was spent advocating for women’s rights and gender equality and in 1972 she co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU. By 1974, she had participated in over 300 gender discrimination cases. She accepted President Carter’s nomination for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980 and continued her passionate advocacy in that role before accepting President Clinton’s nomination to the Supreme Court in 1993. During her decades in public service, she was a role model for young girls who are often told that a career or an opportunity is out of their grasp based solely on their gender. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (sometimes playfully referred to as “The Notorious R.B.G” due to her passionate dissents and her place in popular culture) affected immeasurable change during her lifetime and her legacy will live on in every young girl who grows up learning that they too can stand up and dissent.
“To make life a little better for people less fortunate than you, that’s what I think a meaningful life is. One lives not just for oneself but for one’s community.” -Ruth Bader Ginsburg (March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020)
The first biographical picture book about the life and career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I Dissent tells the story of the justice through the lens of her famous dissents and disagreements. In facing a society full of inequalities, Ginsburg did not follow the status quo. Instead she lived her life pointing out these inequalities, championing for change and improving the world around her for all of us. From a very young age, she knew that change could not come about in silence.
This was originally published in the October 2020 issue of NW Kids.