London, UK - Statue of Boudicca; Boston, MA - Statue of Anne Hutchinson

London, UK - Statue of Boudicca; Boston, MA - Statue of Anne Hutchinson

The statue of Boudicca in London, England is in memoriam of the great Celtic queen of the Iceni tribe, who led a revolt against Rome after they removed her tribe’s status as allies and took her husband’s land after his death. Her objections to these actions were met with a flogging and the raping of her two daughters. Her revolt had her tearing Roman cities apart, leaving 80,000 Roman citizens dead before she was defeated. 

A little closer to home, the Anne Hutchinson statue in Boston, Massachusetts was built to honor the bravery of Anne Hutchinson, a woman who was willing to express her own religious beliefs and challenge the sexism that held her to a submissive role. This led to her being banished from the community of Puritan Massachusetts; she then moved to the colony that is now known as Portsmouth, Rhode Island only to be killed by the Native Americans known as the Siwanoy alongside most of her children. 

Judith was the young Hebrew woman who stood up on behalf of her people at Bethulia when an army arrived to conquer the land. Using her wits and beauty, Judith maneuvered her way to Holofernes, the leader of the army, and beheaded him in his sleep. This lead to her people rising up and taking back their land and Judith heralded as a hero.

Ades, David. "Boudicca." Social Alternatives, vol. 29, no. 1, 2010, pp. 48, ProQuest Central, https://web.fitchburgstate.edu:2443/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/213966314?accountid=10896.

McGunigal, Lisa. "The criminal trial of Anne Hutchinson: ritual, religion, and law." Mosaic: An interdisciplinary critical journal, vol. 49, no. 2, 2016, p. 149. General OneFile, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A462327512/ITOF?u=mlin_c_fitchcol&sid=ITOF&xid=75f74d22. 

Potter, T W. You Are Looking For. Oxford University Press, 23 Sept. 2004, ds5tw8cn5h.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.title=Oxford%2BDictionary%2Bof%2BNational%2BBiography&rft.au=T.%2BW.%2BPotter&rft.atitle=Boudicca&rft.date=2004-09-23&rft.pub=Oxford%2BUniversity%2BPress&rft.isbn=019861411X&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F2732&rft.externalDocID=10_1093_ref_odnb_2732¶mdict=en-US.
 

Charles Gomez, Student, Fitchburg State University

Megan Burnap, Student, Fitchburg State University

Kisha G. Tracy