To celebrate her daughter Emma’s fifth birthday, the American photographer Jaime C. Moore thought about something different.

She didn’t dress Emma in princesses’ clothes, and didn’t throw a theme party about this or that cartoon character, which is pretty common at this age.

The mother decided, with her daughter, to pay tribute to five women who changed history, whose sacrifices and dedication made the life style of women nowadays possible.

The pictures became viral and over a million people saw them. They showed, in a particular way, Emma dressed as each one of the five honorees.

I was looking for a creative inspiration for Emma’s fifth birthday pictures. – Said the photographer.

I noticed a pattern of so many girls dressing as beauty princesses, characters of this or that worldwide known cartoon.

Don’t get me wrong – I love princesses, however they are just characters, an unrealistic fantasy for most of the girls.

That made me think about all the real women who changed the world, real heroines. Women that, not even knowing Emma, changed her life for the better.

In each of the pictures, Emma was dressed with clothes and hair like each one of the five celebrities.

Moore believes that this photo shoot made the first connection between Emma and these five prominent women, and it’s going to help her appreciate the freedom she has and likes so much.

Emma dressed up as Susan B. Anthony, who defended women’s right to vote in the United States, in the 19th century. 

She also dressed as the stylist Coco Chanel who, in the beginning of the 20th century, freed women from the corsets and made casual chic fashion popular.

She learned about the aviation pioneer, Amélia Earhart, the first woman to fly a plane by herself over the Atlantic Ocean, in 1932.

She familiarized herself with the story of the writer, philosopher and political activist Helen Keller, the first deaf and blind person to graduate from an American university, in 1904. 

Finally, she interpreted the anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall, who has been developing actions to protect the chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream National Park, in Tanzania, for forty five years.  

In addition to the five pictures, the photographer published two more photos of Emma wearing a pin that reads: Emma for president – 2044.

The mom said:

My daughter wasn’t born into royalty, but she was born in a country where now she can vote, become a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut or even president.

I wanted her to know the value of these incredible women who went against “everything” so now she can have “everything”.

*   *   *

It is really important that our children have good references, good idols, since they are little.

Idols from cartoons or childrens’ stories have their relative value, when they are good references of conduct, but nothing compares to showing and teaching about the true heroes who changed our history for the better.  

It is up to the parents to introduce these references to their children, making sure that they don’t live in a world of plastic heroes or empty idols.

Let’s think about that. Let’s make our children always think over: Who are our heroes?

Spiritist Moment Team,  based on an article
by Abby Stevens, published on the Desert
News website, on 5.19.2013.
October 9.2013.