When he died, Emerson was thought of as the representative American writer par excellence, and his point of view was still so potent that William James was honored to be asked to speak at a centenary celebration.
“If you feel inside you are a woman, be a woman - no one can take that away from you, man. No one can make that feeling go away. If that's what you need to do to be complete, then no one has the right to tell you you can't do that.”