Ginsburg was born March 15th, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. After receiving her BA at Cornell University, she attended Harvard Law School receiving her LL.B. from Columbia Law School.  She began her career serving as a law clerk to Edmund L. Palmieri, Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, from 1959–1961.

Continuing her career, throughout many roles, advocating for civil rights, women’s issues, worker’s rights and equality, she became a key player in contributing to the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, and served as the ACLU’s general Counsel from 1973–1980, and on the National Board of Directors from 1974–1980.

After being appointed Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980, President Clinton nominated her as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court—taking her seat on August 10, 1993 next to Sandra Day O’Connor the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

She married Martin D. Ginsburg in 1954, and has a daughter, Jane, and a son, James. After 56 years of marriage, her husband passed away in June 2010. Not long after his passing, Ginsburg continued serving her position on the Supreme Court.

Ginsburg turning 79 today continues to serve the women of this country with her advocacy for equality and civil rights.  Ginsburg is an icon to young women of America, especially those pursuing a career in law.  Time and time again, she has proudly served her position to show that the Supreme Court is not entirely male —even when she was faced with some of life’s most difficult circumstances.

Ginsburg sets the standard for accountability; openly she has recognized the inaccuracies in history pertaining to equality, women, slavery, and Native Americans when no one else in her position seemed to be talking about such issues.  She continues to represent herself as a woman and more importantly as an individual that has ideas and perspectives that ultimately shape the outcomes of many issues currently facing our society and the world today.

Written by:
Kimberly Roush
Blog Manager

Sources:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2009-05-05-ruthginsburg_N.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-egypt_n_1248527.html

I’m posting about an exciting literary contest, made possible by author Stephanie Dray. Stephanie’s debut novel Lily of the Nile releases on January 4, 2011, through Berkley Books and unveils the little-known story of Princess Selene, daughter of the famous lovers Queen Cleopatra and Roman general Mark Antony.

As a student of history herself, Stephanie wrote Lily of the Nile to encourage young women to learn from the past and to transcend the expectations of society to create a better tomorrow. To that end, she founded The Cleopatra Literary Contest for Young Women. It is an international writing contest aimed at discovering and mentoring aspiring young female writers.

The contest is divided into two categories for ages 13 through 18 and ages 19 through 22 and asks writers to expand upon the universal themes found within Lily of the Nile by creatively relating them to their own lives.  Categories include poetry, prose, creative non-fiction, and short stories. Contestants have the opportunity to compete for a grand prize in both age groups (choice between a Kindle Reader or a $100 prize) along with a month-long mentorship with Stephanie Dray as well as a personalized critique from NY literary agent, Jennifer Schober of Spencerhill Associates.  In addition, every finalist in the contest will receive an Ankh charm—the Egyptian symbol of life.

Additional information about Stephanie Dray and the Cleopatra Literary Contest can be found on Stephanie Dray’s website at http://www.stephaniedray.com/fun/literary-award/.  To help spread the word and make details of the contest available to as many young women as possible, a flier with rules and submission guidelines can be found here: http://www.stephaniedray.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Cleopatra-Contest-Flyer.pdf

The facebook contest page can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cleopatra-Literary-Contest/107644759300921

Next month, the image squares will be sewn together into a virtual quilt and exhibited at Girl Museum (http://www.girlmuseum.org) in our GirlSpeak series. We hope that it will continue to grow through continuing input of our expanding online community.