Mar
07
March: Women History Month
Posted in General by admin
Couple centuries ago women could not own property, work, vote or even sign a contract. The woman in those times would be an obedient wife who would stay home taking care of children, cooking food, and maintaing the household interior. Education to women was also limited and she could never question her husband’s decision or have her own independent opinion.
Today, much has changed and we might even have a lady president for the coming presidential term. She has equal rights as men and ability to make decisions of her own. Credit goes to the constant upheaval and constant fight for equal rights by the activists.
Here’s a list of the firsts in women achievers [source: History Channel]
| Ann Teresa Mathews | First woman whose invention received a patent (for cleaning and curing corn) - it was granted to her husband | 1715 |
| Mary Katherine Goddard | First woman postmaster | 1775 |
| Betsy Ross | First person to be a U.S. flagmaker | 1776/77 |
| Hannah Adams | First woman to become professional writer | 1784 |
| Lucy Brewer | First woman marine | 1812 |
| Elizabeth Blackwell | First woman to receive a medical degree | 1849 |
| Amelia Jenks Bloomer | Publisher/editor of first prominent women’s rights newspaper | 1849 |
| Harriet Tubman | First woman to run underground railroad to help slaves escape | 1850 |
| Lucy Hobbs | First woman to graduate from dental school | 1866 |
| Susan B. Anthony | Co-Founder of first US woman’s suffrage organization | 1869 |
| Arabella Mansfield Babb | First woman admitted to the bar | 1869 |
| Frances Elizabeth Willard | First woman to become a college president (Evanston College) | 1871 |
| Victoria Chaflin Woodhull | First woman to be presidential candidate | 1872 |
| Helen Magill | First woman to receive a Ph.D. degree (Boston University) | 1877 |
| Belva Ann Lockwood | First woman to practice law before U.S. Supreme Court | 1879 |
| Clara Barton | Founder of the American Red Cross | 1881 |
| Maud Booth | Co-Founder of Salvation Army and Volunteers of America | 1887/96 |
| Suzanna Madora Salter | First woman mayor (Argonia, Kansas) | 1887 |
| Mary McLeod Bethune | First woman to establish secondary school that became 4-year accredited college | 1904 |
| Founder of National Council of Negro Women | 1935 | |
| Blanche Scott | First woman to fly an airplane | 1910 |
| Jeannette Rankin | First woman U.S. House Representative (Montana) | 1916 |
| Kate Gleason | First woman president of a national bank | 1917 |
| Jeannette Rankin | First woman in Congress | 1917 |
| Florence E. Allen | First woman judge | 1920 |
| Hallie Ferguson | First woman governor of U. S. state (Texas) | 1924 |
| Katherine Bement Davis | First person to conduct national survey of sexual attitudes | 1929 |
| Jane Addams | First woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize | 1931 |
| Hattie Wyatt Caraway | First woman elected to U.S. Senate | 1932 |
| Amelia Earhart | First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean | 1932 |
| Ruth Bran Owen | First woman foreign diplomat | 1933 |
| Pearl S. Buck | First woman to win a Nobel Prize for Literature | 1935 |
| Hattie McDaniel | First African-American of any gender to win an Academy Award (she won for Best Supporting Actress in the film, Gone with the Wind). | 1939 |
| Linda Darnell | First woman to sell securities on the New York Stock Curb Exchange | 1941 |
| Conchita V. Cintron | First U.S. woman bullfighter in Spain | 1949 |
| Georgia Nesse Clark | First woman treasurer of the United States | 1949 |
| Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova | First woman to fly in space, aboard Vostok 6. | 1963 |
| Muriel Siebert | First woman to own seat on the New York Stock Exchange | 1967 |
| Janice Lee York Romary | First woman to carry U.S. flag at the Olympic Games | 1968 |
| Mary Clarke | First woman to be named major general in U.S. Army | 1978 |
| Ella Grasso | First woman govenor to be re-elected (Connecticut) | 1978 |
| Sandra Day O’Connor | First woman a justice of the U. S. Supreme Court | 1981 |
| Sally Kristen Ride | First American woman to reach outer space. | 1983 |
| Joan Benoit (Samuelson) | First woman to win an Olympic marathon | 1984 |
| Penny Harrington | First woman police chief of major U. S. city (Portland, OR) | 1985 |
| Ann Bancroft | First woman to walk to North Pole | 1986 |
| Christa McAuliffe | First woman citizen passenger on a space mission | 1986 |
| Lt. Col. Eileen Collins | First American woman to pilot a Space Shuttle | 1995 |
| Madeleine K. Albright | First woman Secretary of State and highest ranking woman in the U.S. government | 1997 |
| Hillary Rodham Clinton | Only First Lady ever elected to the United States Senate | 2000 |
| Halle Berry | First African-American woman to win a Best Actress Oscar | 2002 |
| Condoleezza Rice | First African-American woman to be appointed Secretary of State | 2005 |
| Nancy Pelosi | First woman to become Speaker of the House | 2007 |
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