Honorary YPs: Spotlight on Jane Austen & Wilma Rudolph

PrintEmail

In celebration of Women’s History Month, YPNation is profiling notable women from history who achieved success or a notable accomplishment in their respective fields when they were in their twenties or thirties. And because of their impressive work, we’re recognizing these women as “honorary YPs.”
 
For part two of this four-part series, we honor novelist Jane Austen and Olympic athlete Wilma Rudolph.
 
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
Jane Austen is now recognized as the masterful author behind a number of celebrated novels and a keen observer of English middle-class life in her time. But she published her novels anonymously. Austen’s first novel, Sense and Sensibility, was published in 1811 when she was 36. “By a Lady” was written on the title page.
 
Austen was an active writer for most of her life. Her earliest known writings date from around 1787, when she was 12. Between 1795 and 1797, Austen wrote early versions of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, both under different titles. In 1797, her father wrote to a London publisher seeking publication of the first version of Pride and Prejudice, but it was declined.
 
In 1803, Austen’s Northanger Abbey--then titled Susan--was sold to a publisher, but was never published. A few years later, after a number of moves for the Austen family and the death of Jane’s father, the family settled in the village of Chawton. Settling down in Chawton gave Austen a renewed sense of purpose with her writing, as did encouragement from her brother Henry, who acted as her go-between for publishers, states Austen’s biography in the Encyclopedia Britannica. And after several revisions, Sense and Sensibility was finally published to favorable reviews in 1811; Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813. Second editions of both novels were released in 1813.
 
Although Austen's novels continued to be published anonymously, her work grew in popularity. (Her later novels were attributed to “the author of…” with an earlier title listed.) Mansfield Park’s first edition sold out in six months in 1814 and Emma was published the following year. Austen died in 1817 of what is now believed to be Addison’s disease, a rare disorder that affects the adrenal glands. After her death, two of her novels were published posthumously, including Northanger Abbey. Her brother Henry identified her as the author.
 
Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994)
Wilma Rudolph’s amazing performances at the 1960 Olympics in Rome earned her the honor of becoming the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field events. These victories are impressive for any athlete. But Rudolph, who was only 20-years-old at the time, had overcome serious health issues as a child.
 
When Rudolph was four, she contracted polio. The illness crippled her left leg and she had to undergo intensive physical therapy for several years and wear a leg brace until she was 11. Her determination to heal and be like other children aided in her remarkable recovery. At her segregated high school in Clarksville, Tenn., Rudolph became a basketball and track star. At the age of 16, she qualified for and competed in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. She was the youngest member of the U.S. team, and won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100-meter relay.
 
Rudolph trained for the next Olympics while she was enrolled at Tennessee State University. At the 1960 Olympics, she won gold medals in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and as a member of the 4 x 100-meter relay team. She tied the world record in the 100-meter dash, set a new world record in the 200-meter and became a popular athlete with spectators and journalists around the world.
 
A post-Olympics homecoming parade was held in Rudolph’s hometown of Clarksville and was attended by more than 40,000 people, according to her biography in Notable Sports Figures. It was the first racially-integrated event in the town’s history.
 
Rudolph retired from competition in 1962. She worked as a teacher and a coach, was involved in a number of community causes and founded the Wilma Rudolph Foundation, a non-profit organization for amateur athletes.
 
(Image of Jane Austen, circa 1873, based on a sketch by her sister; from University of Texas's portrait gallery)
 
Read about more honorary YPs, and check out this story about the female engagement teams in Afghanistan.