National Women’s History Month

Hello All,

March is here! We have reasons to be optimistic. Another new vaccine has entered the scene – the timeline for vaccines has been moved up – and Spring (thank goodness) is right around the corner! And have you noticed? The flu has been almost non-existent this year. All of the actions that have been put into place to protect us from Covid have helped protect us from the flu! I think I am getting used to wearing masks, and have gathered quite a colorful collection.

March is also National Women’s History Month. I typed this in purple because purple is the international color that symbolizes women!   A beautiful color to symbolize an incredibly important group of people in the world!

International Women’s Day is March 8th – and has been observed in some form since 1911. It was officially commemorated by the United Nations in 1975. On March 8, 1980, President Jimmy Carter designated the first official National History Week. Congress declared March 1987 as the first official Women’s History Month.

There is a theme every year. Because of the pandemic, 2020’s theme has been carried into 2021 – “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silent”.  You certainly heard a lot from me last year about voting (what an understatement), so instead I have decided in honor of this month, that I would tell you about some of the unsung heroes, women you may or may not have ever hear of – women who made a difference!

Some of you who may be closer to my age (still young, I mean) have heard of Shirley Chisholm. Ms. Chisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress in 1968, representing New York’s 12th district from 1968 to 1983. In the 1972 presidential election, she became the first African American candidate for a major party’s nomination for President, and the first woman to run for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination. She founded the Congressional Black Caucus and assisted with the creation of the National Commission on Consumer Protection and Product Safety. She set the stage for those who have followed! I love many of her quotes, but perhaps my favorite is “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” And her quote that is just as true today: “Unless we start to fight and defeat the enemies in our own country, poverty and racism, and make our talk of equality and opportunity ring true, we are exposed in the eyes of the world as hypocrites when we talk about making people free.”

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to graduate from a United States medical school. She had been shunned by every major medical school. She was finally accepted by the Geneva Medical School in New York – because “the administrators thought it was a joke.” As you can imagine she dealt with incredible harassment. She fought hard and earned her degree in 1849 – graduating at the top of her class! She went to England to gather additional knowledge. When she came back to New York, she was forbidden to practice at any city hospital. That did not stop Dr. Blackwell! She opened her own clinic, the New York Dispensary for Poor Women and Children. Then she went step further…..she founded a medical college, the Women’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary. She famously stated “None of us know what we are capable of until we are tested.”

Martha Gellhorn made history as the first female war correspondent, and to this day is considered “one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century”. She truly shook up what had been an all male occupation. She reported the entire world over, including Asia and Europe – and on virtually every major world conflict in her 60-year career. She reported on the rise of Hitler. At Normandy, she hid in a hospital ship bathroom, and when they landed on D-Day June 6, 1944,  she impersonated a stretcher bearer so she could go to shore! She was among the first journalists to report from the Dachu concentration camp after it was liberated. Not only did she make history, she made major contributions in reporting world history! One of my favorite Martha Gelhorn quotes – “It would be a bitter cosmic joke if we destroy ourselves due to atrophy of the imagination.”

Frances Perkins was the first woman to serve on the United States Cabinet – the Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945 with Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. She worked to end child labor, started the federal minimum wage and overtime laws (and remember, at that time children were commonly used as labor and the lowest paid wages were most commonly paid to women) and implemented Social Security Act, establishing unemployment benefits and welfare. I love her quote – “The door might not be opened to a woman again for a long, long time, and I had a kind of duty to walk  in and sit down on the chair that was offered, and so establish the right of others long hence and far distant in geography to sit in the high seats.”

Ever heard of bloomers? Amelia Bloomer started her own paper called The Lily, because she was unhappy with her husband’s paper, which she did not believe focused on women’s issues enough. (I can imagine what their dinner conversations were like!) In fact, she was the first woman to own, operate and edit a newspaper for women (published biweekly from 1849 to 1853). She wrote articles supporting the women’s suffrage movement. She also promoted new ideas about women’s clothing and undergarments! She was evidently not a big fan of petticoats and corsets (neither am I!), and wrote that women should be allowed to wear loose tops and skirts with pants underneath. She famously said “Let men be compelled to wear our dress for awhile and we should soon hear them advocating a change.” Those pants? Became bloomers, named after Amelia Bloomer!

Perhaps my favorite story is my last one for this blog. Everyone knows the midnight tale of Paul Revere, who famously rode his horse twenty miles through the night to warn the townspeople after watching the lanterns to see whether it was “one if by land or two if by sea.” I bet you don’t know who doubled that mileage. Sylvia Ludington was a 16-year old who rode 40 miles from 9:00 p.m. to dawn to warn the militia, who were in Putnam County, New York, that the British were coming to Danbury, Connecticut. The militia arrived too late to save Danbury, but they did arrive in time to drive the British troops back to the Long Island Sound. She was reportedly recognized by General George Washington for her heroic actions. Ms.  Ludington was publicly celebrated beginning in 1900. She was honored with a US Bicentennial postage stamp that was released on March 25, 1975 which depicts her on her horse named Star!  

National Women’s History Month – there are so many, many women that are unsung heroes – including the women of today. This pandemic has been so hard on women – and has been called the “she-cession” vs. recession. We can help recognize women this month. Buy from and support women-owned businesses. Support film and songs written, directed and performed by women. Buy and read books written by female authors. Tip big if you can do so.

Praise your mothers, your daughters, your sister, your nieces, your girlfriends, your coworkers.

Remember how much YOU contribute everyday! Celebrate women! And thank YOU for all you do.

Phyl