Grit and grace

Deborah Sampson was a member of George Washington’s Continental Army.

Disguised as a man, she was the first woman to take a bullet for her country. She removed the musket ball and stitched up the wound herself because she feared that a doctor would discover that she was a woman.

Meryl Streep told Sampson’s story at the 2016 Democratic Convention.

“What does it take to be the first female anything?” the actress asked the convention delegates, who had given their votes to the first woman to officially receive a major party nomination for president in United States history.

“It takes grit, and it takes grace,” Streep said.