Holding Her Head High: Inspiration from 12 Single Mothers Who Championed Their Children and Changed History

by Janine Turner

Overview

Life lessons from single mothers throughout history form the inspiration for single mothers today.

Single moms are not just a product of our modern culture. There have been single mothers throughout history, women who have raised not only their children but also nations with a higher vision for life. Holding Her Head High recounts stories of twelve such women from the third to the twenty-first centuries, women who found ways to twist their fates to represent God's destiny for their lives.

These uniquely powerful, brave women, within the scope of their own world and times, are like the ninety-nine percent of single mothers today who never intended to carry that distinction. They are abandoned, widowed, or divorced, all carrying wounds, yet they also all found ways to exhibit courage, kindness, dignity, and faith to heal themselves by healing others.

Actress Janine Turner, herself a single mother, describes the social implications for women and children from the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages to Pioneer days, including a single mother of slavery. Stories from women like Rachel Lavein Fawcett, abandoned single mother of Alexander Hamilton; Abagail Adams, a wartime widow; Harriet Jacobs, an unwed mother of slavery whose autobiography was published the year the Civil War began; and widowed Belva Lockwood, the first woman to officially run for President, all carrying wounds but all offering insight, wisdom, and encouragement. Lessons include:

• Listen for God's higher calling
• Hold your head high
• Dare to dream
• Champion your children
• Heal with humor
• Don't Give Up Before the Miracle

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781418537623
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	03/04/2008
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishing
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Janine Turner, single mother and actress, played the indefatigable Maggie O'Connell on CBS's hit show Northern Exposure for which she received three Golden Globe Best Actress nominations and one Emmy nomination. She was also chosen as one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People and 10 Best Dressed, and as one of Esquire's Women We Love. She starred in Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone and as June Cleaver in the feature film Leave It to Beaver. More recently she starred on Lifetime's hit series Strong Medicine. Besides acting and directing she serves on President Bush's Council for Service and Civic Participation, but her most cherished role is that of mother to Juliette, now nine years old. She counts her greatest blessings to be her faith, her daughter, and spending time together on their ranch in Texas.

Read an Excerpt

holding her head high
12 single mothers who championed their children and changed history

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By Janine Turner
Thomas Nelson
Copyright © 2008 Janine Turner
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7852-2324-5

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Chapter One
The Roman Empire-Setting the Stage 27 BC-AD 476

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the conversion of Constantine may have been the most implication-laden event in western history. -James Carroll, Constantine's Sword

Rome. The Roman Empire. Vast. Vacillating. Murder and intrigue. Senators and emperors. War and warriors. Proudly civilized and grandly grotesque. Christians in chains and children's cries. A culture poised on the brink of change. Who will be their leader?

The Roman Empire was vast, from western Asia to Britain and Spain, from the Danube River in Central Europe to the edge of the Sahara Desert in North Africa. The eastern part of the empire survived until AD 476 and the Western Empire survived as the Byzantine Empire until AD 1453.

The early Roman population was pagan, tolerating the bane of human behavior, and could be easily justified as a religion steeped in evil, as exhibited in the games and circuses in places such as the Coliseum, which exhibited public displays of torture, violence, and death. Romans entertained themselves with triumphs, games, and great spectacles that concluded with slaughters of animals and humans. It was barbaric and cruel. Paganism also tolerated all sexual mores in their temples, ranging from sodomy to orgies, prostitution to bestiality and sadomasochism.

After the death and resurrection of Christ, Christians were subjected to horrific executions. The early church sustained an intense period of savage persecution, and Christians were brutally martyred by the Roman government up to twenty-five years before Constantine. And there was no collective, social consciousness that exhibited restraint or remorse. Infants' spirits were snuffed out as they were given as human sacrifices to the false gods. "Paganism prevailed in the land of the prophets." Darkness reigned.

The Father

By Roman law, the family was strictly patriarchal. The paterfamilias, the father, was the head of the Roman family. He owned the property acquired by his sons and had the right to sell his children into slavery or expose them. Women did have a few advantages compared to other centuries-they could divorce their husbands and control their own property. A woman was held under the legal control of the father until his death, even if she were married. After the death of her father, she was under the legal hand of her husband. If a woman was raped, she could not seek recourse, only her father or husband could press charges. A man could, by law, kill his wife if she was caught in an adulterous affair, but if a man committed adultery, he was not punished. Women had no status or political rights.

Marriage and childbearing were considered a woman's purpose in the Roman Empire. Marriages were arranged by the parents, and a young girl was usually married by the age of sixteen. The bride brought a dowry to the marriage, but unlike later centuries and societies, the dowry was not to be touched in case of unforeseen circumstances, such as divorce. Capturing a woman was a way of getting around a fixed marriage and was, perhaps, a way of getting the parents to accept a true love. However, this practice was later forbidden because it forbad the father the right to decide what was best for his daughter. Interestingly, divorce was very easily obtained during Roman times. A marriage was not considered holy, only a loose contract. Marriages were dissolved by mutual consent, the couple simply declaring their desire to divorce before seven witnesses.

The father also had control of a child's fate. Infanticide was an accepted act in the Roman culture. After birth a child was set at the feet of the father, who would lift the child into the air, deciding if the child should live or die. A wife could be disowned if she denied the father that decision. Infanticide was widely accepted, considered legal, and justified by philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. Baby girls were more susceptible to the act of infanticide due to the considerable expense of wedding dowries. Roman law also forbad a man from taking in an abandoned child and saving it. Alarmingly, children were sometimes sealed in the foundations of bridges to strengthen the structures dating back to the walls of Jericho. Lloyd de Mause states, "To this day, when children play 'London Bridge is falling down' they are acting out a sacrifice to the river goddess when they catch a child at the end of the game." Disregard for children permeated all lands.

Light into Darkness

Then Christ. Light breathed into darkness. Christianity's mission was to spread "the light" through all ethnic cultures. Matthew 19:13-14 says,

Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (NIV)

Children have value? Children belonged to the kingdom of heaven? This concept was revolutionary! Everyone, even the little children, was created in God's image. The Epistle of Barnabas prohibited infanticide, and following this law was considered essential to the "way of light." Infanticide was considered murder. Various Christian pamphlets taught, "You shall not commit infanticide." However, as long as Christianity was an underground religion hiding from persecution, efforts remained almost ineffectual.

Constantine

Entering the world stage next was Constantine, whose conversion to Christianity and breadth of change he brought to Christians, Christianity, and to the Christian church is, according to James Carroll, author of Constantine's Sword, "the second greatest story ever told." Carroll expresses that "after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the conversion of Constantine may have been the most implication-laden event in western history."

Constantine unified a suppressed church and a scattered band of disciples. As the leader of the world's biggest empire, his acceptance of Christ paved the way for the end of persecutions of Christians and propelled the illumination of Christ's light upon a dark, barbaric land. Disciples could now spread the word about how, with Christ's intervention, the human spirit can transcend the limitations of evil and partake in the supernatural. The Christian way of life was to offer alternative behaviors to murder and perverse sexuality. Christians had been in hiding. Jerusalem had lain as a wasteland but the scene was set to change. God had chosen Constantine through a divine vision to be a facilitator of unity for Christians and the Christian church.

Constantine, the son of Helena Augusta.

Then Christ. Light breathed into darkness ... Jesus, by reaching out to little children, validated and honored the life of a child. -Janine Turner

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from holding her head high by Janine Turner Copyright © 2008 by Janine Turner. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments, xiii,
Introduction How Did a Baptist Girl from Texas End Up as a Single Mom?, xv,
Chapter One The Roman Empire—Setting the Stage, 1,
Chapter Two Listen for God's Higher Calling—Helena Augusta, 7,
Chapter Three The Middle Ages—Setting the Stage, 27,
Chapter Four Choose God's Greatness—Blanche of Castile, 35,
Chapter Five Turn Tribulations into Triumphs—Christine De Pizan, 59,
Chapter Six Colonial and Revolutionary America—Setting the Stage, 85,
Chapter Seven Define Your Own Destiny—Rachel Lavein Fawcett, 95,
Chapter Eight Dare to Dream—Eliza Pinckney, 113,
Chapter Nine Put God First—Isabella Graham, 133,
Chapter Ten Go the Extra Mile—Elizabeth Timothy, 155,
Chapter Eleven Champion Your Children—Abigail Adams, 165,
Chapter Twelve Single Mothers of Slavery—Setting the Stage, 181,
Chapter Thirteen Don't Give Up Before the Miracle—Harriet Jacobs, 187,
Chapter Fourteen Pioneer Single Mothers—Setting the Stage, 221,
Chapter Fifteen Heal with Humor—Elinore Pruitt Stewart, 229,
Chapter Sixteen Persevere with Praise—Aunt Clara Brown, 251,
Chapter Seventeen Soar on Eagle's Wings—Belva Lockwood, 277,
Conclusion Virtual Conversations, 313,
Notes, 325,

Editorial Reviews

Many articles treat single motherhood as if the situation never existed until recently. Janine Turner's Holding Her Head High serves as a hearty, soulful corrective to that narrow view. The 12 single mothers she spotlights are not all modern; indeed, her choices include a third-century widow, former slave Harriet Jacobs, and the abandoned mother of Alexander Hamilton. Turner, a single mom herself, uses these spiritually empowering stories to show that raising children alone has often required acts of great courage.