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Five Cents on
the Subway
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"When I was young, it wasn't easy to challenge
the traditions of Harvard Law School. When I was
ten, I had decided that I wanted to be a lawyer,
and at the all-women Walton High School and at
Hunter College I had been elected student body
president, good training for the law. Everyone told
me that if I wanted to be accepted as a
lawyer, I should go to the best law school,
but when I applied to Harvard, I received a letter
stating that it did not admit women.
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"In 1942 only 3 percent of the nation's lawyers
were women. I was outraged (I've always had a
decent sense of outrage), so I turned to my mother.
In those days there was no women's movement, so you
turned to your mother for help. 'Why do you want to
go to Harvard, anyway?' she asked. 'It's far away
and you can't afford the carfare. Go to Columbia
University. They'll probably give you a
scholarship, and it's only five cents to get there
on the subway.'
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Columbia did give me a scholarship, the subway
did cost only five cents in those days, and that's
how I became an advocate of low-cost public
transportation".
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How to Cite This Page
For a bibliography:
Jewish Women's Archive. "JWA - Bella Abzug - Five Cents on the Subway." <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/abzug/subway.html>.
For a footnote:
Jewish Women's Archive, "JWA - Bella Abzug - Five Cents on the Subway," <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/abzug/subway.html>.
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