Candace Smith

life is too short.. live it to the fullest!

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

She surrendered one of the greatest achievements of her life to help save a baby she had never met.

In 2021, Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk, a cancer survivor and Tokyo Olympic silver medalist, auctioned her medal to raise funds for life-saving heart surgery for eight-month-old Miłoszek Małysa.

The medal sold for approximately $125,000, covering the remaining cost of the child’s treatment in the United States.

Then came an extraordinary turn of events.

The winning bidder, the Polish supermarket chain Żabka, paid the full amount and immediately returned the medal to Maria, stating that she deserved to keep the symbol of everything she had achieved.

Maria later explained her willingness to part with it: “A medal is only an object, but it can save lives instead of collecting dust in a closet.”

In that moment she transformed a personal symbol of victory into something far more meaningful, a second chance at life for a young child.

[Archaeo - Histories @archeohistories]

Susie King Taylor is a name history tried to whisper, even though her life spoke loudly. Born enslaved in Georgia in 1848, she learned to read and write in secret—an act that was illegal, dangerous, and revolutionary. Literacy became her weapon. By the time the Civil War erupted, she was already teaching others, understanding that education itself was a form of resistance.

When Union forces reached the South Carolina coast, Taylor attached herself to the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, the first federally authorized Black regiment in the Union Army. She cooked, cleaned, taught, and—most critically—nursed sick and wounded soldiers, long before the army formally recognized Black women as nurses. She worked under brutal conditions, without pay, without rank, and without protection, yet performed the same life-saving labor as officially sanctioned medical staff.

During the war, she worked alongside Clara Barton, caring for wounded soldiers at a time when medical care was improvised, understaffed, and often deadly. Their work—tending to bodies the nation was willing to use but slow to value—helped shape the moral and practical foundations of what would later become the American Red Cross. Taylor did this while facing racism not only from Confederate enemies, but within Union structures themselves.

Education never left her mission. Even while attached to the army, she taught formerly enslaved children and adults to read and write, often in makeshift classrooms with no supplies. After the war, she returned to Georgia and opened schools for Black communities during Reconstruction, pushing against violent resistance, chronic underfunding, and a nation already retreating from its promises.

In 1902, she published Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, becoming the first Black woman to write and publish a memoir of Civil War service. It was not sentimental. It was precise, observant, and unflinching—documenting Black soldiers’ courage, suffering, and neglect in their own words. For decades, historians ignored it.

© Women In World History

#archaeohistories

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

@Riley_Gaines_ This is horrible.

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

@smithma29510 @premierleague @MUNLIV May the Best team win!

[Michael Smith @smithma29510]

Nothing like a house divided for rivalry game @premierleague @MUNLIV

[Ed Piotrowski @EdPiotrowski]

The Gray May was spotted on Pawleys Island this morning. Legend has it that seeing this ghost on the coast of Pawleys Island is a warning to residents of a coming hurricane. Photo via Latreshia Graham.
#scwx #ncwx

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

Ft.Worth Zoo Industry Tour #SREBSummer

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

#SREBSummer #GaylordTexanDFW

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

Having a great time learning how to best reach the creative side of my students ❤️#SREBSummer #LeslieEavesRocks

[Jessica M @jessm_teach]

Teachers are speaking out... #ArmMeWith

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

@SamFuller04 @SouthAiken @CollegeBoard B. Spread. #AllMeansAll

[Stephanie Behrendt @BehrendtEDU]

The @RedCross is facing a severe blood shortage and is in need of donors. Please consider giving just an hour of your time to help save lives through blood donation! The blood drive will be held at South Aiken High School next Friday, July 16th!

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

#Truth

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

@AikenPublicSch @SouthAiken @RedCross Made my appointment! #AllMeansAll

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

@AngryOrchard My sweet duo 😊

[NASA JPL @NASAJPL]

Turn off the lights and it'll glow…

The ice, ice, baby of Jupiter's moon Europa glows in the dark due to high-energy radiation. https://t.co/UdRs1Tzbth

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

@asmith29510 It’s backwards

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

@GMA Love this! #ZTAThinkPink

[Candace Smith @CSmith29510]

@ZTAFraternity 💗💗