It’s hard to keep our tongue firmly in cheek when reading about a woman like this. Lubrano risked religious censure and her family’s safety to help run the Rhode Island Birth Control League on North Main, a predecessor to Planned Parenthood established in 1931 at which married women could see doctors and be prescribed birth control. This was DECADES before Griswold vs. Connecticut officially struck down the ban against married couples using contraceptives, formally pulling down the shade on the window the federal government used to peek into the bedrooms of America and decide how it should plan its families.

Brown grads change the world. Ruth Lubrano, our fedoras are off to you.