Queen Noor of Jordan

{{Infobox royalty

| consort = yes

| name = Noor

| succession = Queen consort of Jordan

| image = Queen Noor Jordan 2011.jpg

| caption = Noor in 2011

| alt = A photo of Queen Noor at age 60

| reign = June 15, 1978 – February 7, 1999

| spouse = {{marriage|Hussein of Jordan
|1978|1999|end=died}}

| issue = {{unbulleted list |Prince Hamzah |Prince Hashim |Princess Iman |Princess Raiyah}}

| regnal name = Noor Al Hussein

| house =

| father = Najeeb Halaby

| mother = Doris Carlquist

| birth_name = Lisa Najeeb Halaby

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|08|23|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| burial_date =

| burial_place =

}}

Noor Al Hussein ({{langx|ar|نور الحسين}}; born Lisa Najeeb Halaby; August 23, 1951) is an American-born Jordanian philanthropist and activist who is the fourth wife and widow of King Hussein of Jordan. She was Queen of Jordan from their marriage on June 15, 1978, until Hussein's death on February 7, 1999.

Noor is the longest-standing member of the Board of Commissioners of the International Commission on Missing Persons. As of 2023, she is president of the United World Colleges movement and an advocate of the anti-nuclear weapons proliferation campaign Global Zero. In 2015, Queen Noor received Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson Award for her public service.[http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2015/02/queen_noor_of_jordan_recieved_woodrow_wilson_award.html "Queen Noor of Jordan receives Woodrow Wilson award at Princeton's 100th Alumni Day"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225225128/http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2015/02/queen_noor_of_jordan_recieved_woodrow_wilson_award.html |date=February 25, 2015 }}, NJ.com, 2015.

Family and early life

Queen Noor was born Lisa Najeeb Halaby{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/profiles/queen-noor/6/ |title=Queen Noor of Jordan – Queen |date=January 4, 2010 |publisher=PBS |access-date=January 29, 2024}} in Washington, D.C., U.S., the eldest child of Najeeb Halaby (1915–2003) and Doris Carlquist (1918–2015). Her paternal family is Syrian; her maternal family is Swedish American.{{Cite book|last=Mahajan|first=Vijay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KbdqOxtdnHMC&q=Queen+Noor+Syrian&pg=PA328|title=The Arab World Unbound: Tapping into the Power of 350 Million Consumers|date=July 13, 2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-23642-0|language=en|access-date=December 25, 2020|archive-date=June 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629172723/https://books.google.com/books?id=KbdqOxtdnHMC&q=Queen+Noor+Syrian&pg=PA328|url-status=live}} Her father was raised a Christian Scientist{{Citation |title=Queen Noor: The Light of Hussein {{!}} Full Documentary {{!}} Biography |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeE9wuthMs0 |language=en |access-date=2022-07-23}} and was a Navy experimental test pilot, an airline executive, and government official. He served as an aide to the United States Secretary of Defense in the Truman administration, before being appointed by President John F. Kennedy to head the Federal Aviation Administration. Najeeb Halaby also had a private-sector career, serving as CEO of Pan American World Airways from 1969 to 1972. The Halabys had two children following Lisa; a son, Christian, and a younger daughter, Alexa. The children were raised nominally Episcopalian. Najeeb and Doris divorced in 1977. Doris, who was of Swedish descent, died on December 25, 2015, aged 97.{{Cite news|title = Doris C. Halaby, mother of Queen Noor of Jordan, dies at 97|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/doris-c-halaby-mother-of-queen-noor-of-jordan-dies-at-97/2015/12/30/8a243e3a-ae6b-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html|newspaper = The Washington Post|date = December 30, 2015|access-date = January 5, 2016|issn = 0190-8286|language = en-US|first = Matt|last = Schudel|archive-date = January 4, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160104165828/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/doris-c-halaby-mother-of-queen-noor-of-jordan-dies-at-97/2015/12/30/8a243e3a-ae6b-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html|url-status = live}}

Noor's paternal grandfather was Najeeb Elias Halaby, a Syrian-Lebanese businessman born in Zahle, and whose parents hailed from Aleppo.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bQQAQAAMAAJ&q=Crosswinds+airman%27s+memoir+Halaby+Lebanon|title=Crosswinds: an airman's memoir|last=Halaby|first=Najeeb E.|year=1978|publisher=Doubleday|page=3|isbn=9780385049634|access-date=May 31, 2020|archive-date=August 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829183003/https://books.google.com/books?id=5bQQAQAAMAAJ&q=Crosswinds+airman%27s+memoir+Halaby+Lebanon|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|last=Noor|first=Queen|year=2003|title=Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5YpYOXpfLxgC&q=Zahle|page=9|publisher=Wheeler Pub. |isbn=9781587244667|access-date=October 3, 2020|archive-date=August 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831224001/https://books.google.com/books?id=5YpYOXpfLxgC&q=Zahle|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/03/us/najeeb-e-halaby-former-airline-executive-dies-at-87.html|title=Najeeb E. Halaby, Former Airline Executive, Dies at 87|website=The New York Times|date=July 3, 2003 |access-date=September 4, 2017|archive-date=December 26, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226142446/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/03/us/najeeb-e-halaby-former-airline-executive-dies-at-87.html|url-status=live|last1=Stout |first1=David }} He was a petroleum broker, according to 1920 Census records.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/03/us/najeeb-e-halaby-former-airline-executive-dies-at-87.html?pagewanted=1|work=The New York Times|title=Najeeb E. Halaby, Former Airline Executive, Dies at 87|first=David|last=Stout|date=July 3, 2003|access-date=May 22, 2010|archive-date=October 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016091652/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/03/us/najeeb-e-halaby-former-airline-executive-dies-at-87.html?pagewanted=1|url-status=live}} Merchant Stanley Marcus recalled that in the mid-1920s, Halaby opened Halaby Galleries, a rug boutique and interior-decorating shop, at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas, and ran it with his Texas-born wife, Laura Wilkins (1889–1987, later Mrs. Urban B. Koen). Najeeb Halaby died shortly afterward, and his estate was unable to continue the new enterprise.Stanley Marcus. Minding the Store: A Memoir, 1974, pg. 39.

According to research done in 2010 for the PBS series Faces of America by Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., of Harvard University, her great-grandfather, Elias Halaby, came to New York circa 1891, one of the earliest Syrian-Lebanese immigrants to the United States. He was a Christian as well as having been a provincial treasurer (magistrate){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=meYbj1E6Ki8C&q=Almas+Mallouk+Halaby&pg=PA65|title=Faces of America: How 12 Extraordinary People Discovered their Pasts|last=Gates Jr.|first=Henry Louis|date=September 2010|page=65|publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9780814732656|access-date=October 3, 2020|archive-date=September 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901084846/https://books.google.com/books?id=meYbj1E6Ki8C&q=Almas+Mallouk+Halaby&pg=PA65|url-status=live}} as stated before by Najeeb Halaby in his autobiography Crosswinds: an Airman's Memoir. He left Ottoman Syria with his two eldest sons. His wife, Almas Mallouk, and their remaining children joined him in the United States in 1894. He died three years later, leaving his teenage sons, Habib, and Najeeb (her paternal grandfather), to run his import business. Najeeb moved to Dallas around 1910 and fully assimilated into U.S. society.[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/profiles/queen-noor/6/ "Faces of America: Queen Noor"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424060340/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/profiles/queen-noor/6/ |date=April 24, 2019 }}, PBS, Faces of America series, with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 2010.

Education

Halaby attended schools in New York and California before entering National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C. from fourth to eighth grade. She attended the Chapin School in New York City for two years,{{cite web |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20070994,00.html |title=Portrait of a Princess to Be: Lisa Halaby's Friends Tell of Her Life Before Hussein |website=People.com |date=June 5, 1978 |access-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-date=September 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914195913/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20070994,00.html |url-status=live }} and then went on to graduate from Concord Academy.

She entered Princeton University with its first coeducational freshman class and received an A.B. in architecture and urban planning in 1974 after completing a 32-page long senior thesis titled "96th Street and Second Avenue."Lucia Raatma, Queen Noor: American-Born Queen of Jordan, 2006.{{Cite web|last=Halaby|first=Lisa|editor-last=Princeton University. School of Architecture|title=96th Street and Second Avenue|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/dsp01zc77sq51m|language=en|journal=|access-date=May 31, 2020|archive-date=January 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128074023/https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/dsp01zc77sq51m|url-status=live}} She was also a member of Princeton's first women's ice hockey team.{{cite web |author=Princeton University |url=https://twitter.com/princeton/status/569212659188551680 |title=Princeton University on Twitter: "Alumni Day trivia: @QueenNoor '73 was a member of Princeton's first women's team in which sport? Ice hockey." |publisher=Twitter |date=February 21, 2015 |access-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305130032/https://twitter.com/princeton/status/569212659188551680 |url-status=live }}

Career

After she graduated from Princeton, Halaby moved to Australia, where she worked for a firm that specialized in planning new towns, with a burgeoning interest in the Middle East. Because of Halaby's Syrian roots, this had special appeal for her. After a year, in 1975, she accepted a job offer from Llewelyn Davies, a British architectural and planning firm, which had been employed to design a model capital city center in Tehran, Iran. When increasing political instability forced the company to relocate to the UK, she traveled to the Arab world and decided to apply to Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism while taking a temporary aviation facility research job in Amman. Eventually, she left Arab Air and accepted a job with Alia Airlines to become Director of Facilities Planning and Design. Halaby and the king became friends while he was still mourning the death of his third wife. Their friendship evolved and the couple became engaged in 1978.{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/articles/Queen-Noor-of-Jordan-9542217?part=0|title=Queen Noor of Jordan Biography|publisher=biography.com|access-date=January 20, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610020305/http://www.biography.com/articles/Queen-Noor-of-Jordan-9542217?part=0|archive-date=June 10, 2011}}

Marriage and children

File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F054853-0023, Hamburg, Staatsbesuch König von Jordanien.jpg, on a state visit with King Hussein, in 1978]]

File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F069597-0031, Jordanien, Staatsbesuch des Bundespräsidenten.jpg, President of West Germany, and First Lady Marianne von Weizsäcker in Jordan in 1985]]

Halaby wed King Hussein on June 15, 1978, in Amman, becoming Queen of Jordan.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/16/archives/hussein-marries-american-and-proclaims-her-queen-no-national.html|title=Hussein Marries American And Proclaims Her Queen|last=S.wren|first=Christopher|newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 16, 1978 |access-date=June 14, 2018|language=en|archive-date=June 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614123223/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/16/archives/hussein-marries-american-and-proclaims-her-queen-no-national.html|url-status=live}}

Before her marriage, she accepted her husband's Sunni Islamic religion and upon the marriage, changed her name from Lisa Halaby to the royal name Noor Al Hussein ("Light of Hussein"). The wedding was a traditional Muslim ceremony. Noor assumed management of the royal household and three stepchildren, Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, Prince Ali bin Al Hussein and Abir Muhaisen (her husband's children by Queen Alia). Noor and Hussein had four children:

Hamzah (born March 29, 1980, in King Hussein Medical Center, Amman), Crown Prince from 1999 to 2004, who has five daughters and two sons.
Prince Hashim (born June 10, 1981, at King Hussein Medical Center in Amman), who has three daughters and two sons.
Princess Iman (born April 24, 1983, at King Hussein Medical Center, Amman), who has one son.
Princess Raiyah (born February 9, 1986, at King Hussein Medical Center in Amman).

Areas of work

= Domestic agenda =

Queen Noor founded the King Hussein Foundation (KHF) in 1979. It includes the Noor Al Hussein Foundation and eight specialized development institutions: the Jubilee Institute, the Information and Research Center, the National Music Conservatory, the National Center for Culture and Arts and the Institute for Family Health, the Community Development Program, Tamweelcom the Jordan Micro Credit Company and the Islamic microfinance company, Ethmar. She is the Honorary Chairperson of JOrchestra. In addition, Queen Noor launched a youth initiative, the International Arab Youth Congress, in 1980.{{cite news |url=http://petranews.gov.jo/nepras/2015/Aug/22/13000.htm |work=Petra News |title=Queen Noor Al Hussein celebrates her birthday |date=August 22, 2015 |access-date=August 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305125951/http://petranews.gov.jo/nepras/2015/Aug/22/13000.htm |archive-date=March 5, 2016 }}

=International agenda=

Queen Noor's international work focuses on environmental issues and the connection to human security with emphasis on water and ocean health. At the 2017 Our Ocean Conference, she delivered a keynote address on the link between climate change and ocean health with human security.{{cite web |title=2017 Our Ocean Keynote Address |url=http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?sitelang=en&ref=I144422 |website=European Commission |access-date=August 2, 2018 |archive-date=August 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802193302/http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?sitelang=en&ref=I144422 |url-status=live }} Queen Noor is Patron of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Founding and Emeritus President of BirdLife International, Trustee Emeritus of Conservation International, and an Ocean Elder.{{cite web|title=Her Majesty Queen Noor|url=http://www.kinghusseinfoundation.org/index.php?pager=end&task=view&type=content&pageid=61|website=King Hussein Foundation|publisher=www.kinghusseinfoundation.org|access-date=February 25, 2018|archive-date=April 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411003252/http://www.kinghusseinfoundation.org/index.php?pager=end&task=view&type=content&pageid=61|url-status=live}} She was also chair of King Hussein Foundation International, a US non-profit 501(c)(3) which, since 2001, has awarded the King Hussein Leadership Prize. She is the president of the international board, the governing board of international movement for the UWC movement.

She speaks Arabic, English and French.

Widowhood

File:Queen Noor 1999.jpg

King Hussein died on February 7, 1999, from lymphatic cancer. After his death, his first-born son, Abdullah II, became king and Hamzah became crown prince. In 2004, Prince Hamzah was unexpectedly stripped of his status as heir designate.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4050231.stm |work=BBC News |title=Jordan crown prince loses title |date=November 29, 2004 |access-date=May 22, 2010 |archive-date=July 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705081707/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4050231.stm |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/analyzing-king-abdullahs-change-in-the-line-of-succession |title=Analyzing King Abdullah's Change in the Line of Succession – The Washington Institute for Near East Policy |website=Washingtoninstitute.org |date=November 29, 2004 |access-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-date=November 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104234713/http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/analyzing-king-abdullahs-change-in-the-line-of-succession |url-status=live }} On July 2, 2009, Abdullah named his eldest son as heir-apparent to the throne, thereby ending the previous five years' speculation over his successor.[http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-40771520090702 reuters.com: "Jordan's king names son, 15, as crown prince"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426144917/http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-40771520090702 |date=April 26, 2016 }}, July 3, 2009

Noor divides her time among Jordan, the United States (Washington, D.C.) and the United Kingdom (in London and at her country residence, Buckhurst Park, near Winkfield in Berkshire). She continues to work on behalf of numerous international organizations.{{cite web |url=http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=40698&d=6&m=3&y=2004&pix=community.jpg&category=Features |title=Arab News |publisher=Arab News |access-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032242/http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=40698&d=6&m=3&y=2004&pix=community.jpg&category=Features |url-status=live }} She also enjoys skiing, water skiing, tennis, sailing, horseback riding, reading, gardening and photography.{{cite web |url=http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/queen_noor.html |title=Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan |website=Kinghussein.gov.jo |access-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309173353/http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/queen_noor.html |url-status=live }} She held amateur radio callsign JY1NH, but the license has lapsed.{{cite web | url=http://www.arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive/ARLX001/1999 | title=ARRL Special Bulletin ARLX001 (1999)}}

Honours

=National honours=

{{flag|Jordan}}:
70px Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of al-Hussein bin Ali{{cn|date=June 2022}}
70px Knight of the Order of Military Glory{{cn|date=June 2022}}
70px Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Supreme Order of the Renaissance{{cn|date=June 2022}}
70px Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the Star of Jordan{{cn|date=June 2022}}

=Foreign honours=

File:Coat of Arms of Noor, Queen of Jordan (Order of Charles III).svg]]

{{flag|Austria}}:
70px Grand Star of the Order of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria{{cite web |url=http://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/VHG/XXIV/AB/AB_10542/imfname_251156.pdf |title=Reply to a parliamentary question about the Decoration of Honour |language=de |page=520 |access-date=November 1, 2012 |archive-date=May 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522081548/https://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/VHG/XXIV/AB/AB_10542/imfname_251156.pdf |url-status=live }}
{{flag|Brunei}}:
70px Member First Class of the Family Order of Laila Utama{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
{{flag|Denmark}}:
70px Knight of the Order of the Elephant (1998){{Cite web |title=Modtagere af danske dekorationer |url=https://www.kongehuset.dk/monarkiet-i-danmark/ordener-og-medaljer/modtagere-af-danske-dekorationer/ |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=Kongehuset |language=da}}
{{flag|Egypt}}:
70px Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of the Virtues{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
{{flag|France}}:
70px Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour
{{flag|Italy}}:
70px Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian RepublicItalian Presidency Website, [http://www.quirinale.it/elementi/DettaglioOnorificenze.aspx?decorato=15790 S.M. Noor Regina di Giordania] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928084040/http://www.quirinale.it/elementi/DettaglioOnorificenze.aspx?decorato=15790 |date=September 28, 2013 }}
{{flag|Luxembourg}}:
70px Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau
{{flag|Spain}}:
70px Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III{{cite web |url=http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1994/11/11/pdfs/A34888-34888.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=May 17, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003084708/http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1994/11/11/pdfs/A34888-34888.pdf |archive-date=October 3, 2013 }}
70px Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic{{cite web |url=http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1985/03/25/pdfs/A07788-07788.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=June 9, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113101130/http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1985/03/25/pdfs/A07788-07788.pdf |archive-date=November 13, 2013 }}
{{flag|Sweden}}:
70px Member of the Royal Order of the Seraphim{{Cite book|last=Nordenvall|first=Per|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44409530|title=Kungliga Serafimerorden, 1748–1998|publisher=Kungl. Maj:ts orden|year=1998|isbn=91-630-6744-7|location=Stockholm|oclc=44409530|access-date=April 11, 2021|archive-date=June 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615204113/https://www.worldcat.org/title/kungliga-serafimerorden-1748-1998/oclc/44409530|url-status=live}}
{{flag|United Kingdom}}:
70px Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint John{{London Gazette |issue=51767|date=June 16, 1989|page=7104}}

=Awards=

2001: Blessed are the Peacemakers Award from Catholic Theological Union{{cite web |title=Blessed are the Peacemakers | date = December 6, 2022 |publisher=Catholic Theological Union |url=https://ctu.edu/peacemakers2023/ |access-date=December 7, 2022 }}

Books written by Queen Noor

{{cite book | last1 = Noor | first1 = Queen | author-link1 = Queen Noor of Jordan | author-mask = 1 | date = January 1, 2000 | title = Hussein of Jordan, 1935–1999: A Photographic History | script-title = | trans-title = | url = | url-status = | url-access = | format = | type = | series = | language = ar-jo | publisher = King Hussein Foundation | isbn = 978-9957851903 | ismn = | issn = | jfm = | jstor = | lccn = | mr = | oclc = 803766796 | ol = | df = dmy-all}}
{{cite book | last1 = Noor | first1 = Queen | author-link1 = Queen Noor of Jordan | author-mask = 1 | date = March 18, 2003 | title = Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life | url = https://archive.org/details/leapoffaithmemoi0000noor | url-access = registration | language = en | edition = First | location = | publisher = Miramax | isbn = 978-0786867172 | lccn = | mr = | oclc = 700303086 | ol = OL8143073M | access-date = April 4, 2021 | via = Internet Archive | df = dmy-all}} A New York Times #1 best seller published in 17 languages

References

External links

[http://www.kinghusseinfoundation.org King Hussein Foundation website]
[http://www.nooralhusseinfoundation.org Noor Al Hussein Foundation website]
[http://www.globalzero.org Global Zero Campaign]
[http://gos.sbc.edu/n/noor3.html Transcript of a speech given at The Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts in 1996]
[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/oped/QueenNoor.shtml 2002 commencement speech – Mount Holyoke College]
{{C-SPAN|32987}}