Last night, the Senate invoked Rule 19, effectively barring Sen. Elizabeth Warren from speaking on the floor.
Warren was silenced after reading parts of a letter Coretta Scott King wrote to Sen. Strom Thurmond in 1986 in which she opposed the nomination of Jeff Sessions for a federal judgeship.
"They can shut me up, but they can't change the truth," Warren told CNN's Don Lemon of her colleagues' decision to revoke her speaking privileges.
In response to invoking the rule and removing Warren from the Senate floor, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell explained: "She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted." With that declaration, Warren was instantly added to the long long of women and girls throughout history who've persisted, even as those who opposed them try to shut them down. As Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote in 1976: "Well behaved women seldom make history."
McConnell didn't realize it at the time, but he had just coined a feminist rallying cry. What he presented as a rebuke of Warren's behavior quickly picked up steam on social media, where people used it to highlight powerful women from history who refused to be silenced.
Here are some of the strong, badass women who nevertheless persisted, against all odds:
1. Dolores Huerta, founder of the nation's largest farmworkers union.
"She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted ." #letlizspeak http://pic.twitter.com/m1qVhPa9t2
— Nereyda Esparza (@nereyesparza) February 8, 2017
2. Ruby Bridges, one of the first black children integrated into an all-white school.
“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted.” http://pic.twitter.com/ubZIi5rKyo
— Liz Burr (@calinative) February 8, 2017
3. Edie Windsor, whose lawsuit against the federal government paved the way for marriage equality.
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless #shepersisted. http://pic.twitter.com/6tOTppeRyU
— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) February 8, 2017
4. Harriet Tubman, a former slave and spy who led hundreds of slaves to freedom.
"She was warned.
— Rajan Narang (@rdnarang) February 8, 2017
She was given an explanation.
Nevertheless, #ShePersisted." http://pic.twitter.com/NHkrQ9ispJ
5. Bree Newsome, who climbed a pole at the South Carolina capitol and removed the Confederate flag.
"She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted." #Resist http://pic.twitter.com/pJxe3YKgoP
— Amie the Great (@a_standal) February 8, 2017
6. Ida B. Wells, iconic writer, activist, and suffragette.
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted. #IdaBWells #BlackHistoryMonth http://pic.twitter.com/roBMrBoteD
— Passages Journal (@mypassages) February 8, 2017
7. Hillary Clinton, former senator and secretary of state, and winner of the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election.
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted http://pic.twitter.com/2dEqqttIYW
— Savannah L. Barker (@savannah_lb) February 8, 2017
8. Rosa Parks, a seamstress trained in civil resistance who helped launch the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted. http://pic.twitter.com/5L62IsmUit
— Jim Thompson (@jimthompson621) February 8, 2017
9. Vera Rubin, the astrophysicist who confirmed the existence of dark matter.
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless #shepersisted. http://pic.twitter.com/OZ9Kavv4ZR
— E. H. Kern (@EH_Kern) February 8, 2017
10, 11, and 12. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, who hold it down for women in the judicial branch.
"She was warned.She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted." I am so proud of brave women who #PERSIST http://pic.twitter.com/YqsOdoGVQp
— Donnica Moore (@DrDonnica) February 8, 2017
13. Angela Davis, an activist, educator, writer, and fierce advocate for prison reform and gender equality.
"She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted." http://pic.twitter.com/xSwlt1AkWr
— vicki 🗽 (@VlCKl) February 8, 2017
14. Nellie Bly, the pen name of Elizabeth Cochrane, a pioneering journalist.
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted. #NellieBly http://pic.twitter.com/B0iYKCpgfC
— Gwenda Bond rogue007 (@Gwenda) February 8, 2017
15. Ieshia Evans, who stood strong at a demonstration in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted http://pic.twitter.com/WKf18KetFX
— This Is Happening (@TananariveDue) February 8, 2017
16. Anita Hill, who stepped forward with accusations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless #shepersisted. http://pic.twitter.com/MMgYpBfOe3
— Steven Falk (@Steven_B_Falk) February 8, 2017
17. Grace Lee Boggs, a Chinese-American social activist and revolutionary from Detroit.
-She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #shepersisted.-#GraceLeeBoggs: "We are the leaders we've been waiting for." http://pic.twitter.com/LVvdx1Ksf1
— eileen chengyin chow (@chowleen) February 8, 2017
18. Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to enter the Boston Marathon.
They told her not to run the Boston Marathon. #KathrineSwitzer #NeverthlessShePersisted http://pic.twitter.com/nV4AbuS3eT
— Lenore Universe (@UniverseLenore) February 8, 2017
19. Dorothy Height, esteemed educator and advocate for civil rights and women's rights.
She persisted. http://pic.twitter.com/xCQnDqW3Ln
— Chirlane McCray (@NYCFirstLady) February 8, 2017
20. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States.
They told her women couldn't be doctors. #ElizabethBlackwell #NeverthelessShePersisted http://pic.twitter.com/s6ETOBU2vj
— Lenore Universe (@UniverseLenore) February 8, 2017
21. Alice Allison Dunnigan, the first black female journalist to earn White House credentials.
Alice Allison Dunnigan was the first Black woman to receive White House credentials. Nevertheless, she persisted. #ShePersists http://pic.twitter.com/XAWh033WSk
— Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 8, 2017
22. Shirley Chisholm, unbought and unbossed, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first black woman of a major party to run for president of United States.
Shirley Chisolm, first African American woman elected to the United States Congress. First 2 run for #POTUS, because #ShePersisted. http://pic.twitter.com/hFJntb3gj4
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) February 8, 2017
23. Gloria Richardson, civil rights activist and leader of the Cambridge Movement in Cambridge, Maryland.
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, #ShePersisted.
— Rebecca Eisenberg (@ryeisenberg) February 8, 2017
(Gloria Richardson in 1963) http://pic.twitter.com/bZwbhi0hMa
24. Rachel Carson, ecologist and nature writer who stood up to chemical companies and private science.
Chemical companies fought Rachel Carson tooth and nail over Silent Spring, nevertheless #ShePersisted http://pic.twitter.com/mToATe07Vh
— Nick Vucic (@npv708) February 8, 2017
25. Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights activist who helped organize the 1964 Freedom Summer voter-registration drive.
Fannie Lou Hamer #BlackHistoryMonth "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired" #ShePersisted http://pic.twitter.com/XxMMD9iEgO
— Natasha Fatale (@instinctnaturel) February 8, 2017
Sen. Warren joins a long line of women throughout history who've stood up and remain unbowed in the face of adversity.
She's not the first, and she won't be the last. Who among us will stand up and be next?
"Nevertheless, #ShePersisted" http://pic.twitter.com/f7Mb0KcLDD
— Matthew Dominguez (@Matt_Dominguez) February 8, 2017
Who knows? It might even be you.
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