Norah O'Donnell on "We the Women," about the unsung heroines of America
CBSN
Norah O'Donnell has interviewed a lot of people in her long career, including some of the most important women of our time, such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Kamala Harris, activist Malala Yousafzai, singer Dolly Parton, and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. But when it came to women in history, she was shocked by how much she didn't know.
Norah O'Donnell has interviewed a lot of people in her long career, including some of the most important women of our time, such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Kamala Harris, activist Malala Yousafzai, singer Dolly Parton, and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. But when it came to women in history, she was shocked by how much she didn't know.
"I went to a good, big, public high school in Texas; I went to Georgetown University," she said. "And yet, my own understanding of women's contribution to American history has been limited."
Asked her reaction to things she had not known, O'Donnell replied, "You know that emoji that has the, like, head exploding? 🤯 It was sort of like that at every turn."
In her new book, "We the Women" (to be published Tuesday by Ballantine Books), O'Donnell tells the stories of many of these "hidden heroes," from Civil War surgeon Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor), to Congresswoman Patsy Mink, author of Title IX, which allowed legions of young women athletes to battle it out on the playing field.
O'Donnell kicks things off with America's founding document – the one declaring independence and bearing the names of 56 founding fathers … and one very brave woman.
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