Women’s History Month

Introduction

Women’s history month used to be women’s history week until 1987, when Congress passed a public law designating March as women’s history month. Since 1995, each President has issued an annual proclamation for women’s history month.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Mary Earhart, known simply as Amelia Earhart, was a record-breaking female aviator. She was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchinson, Kansas, and though she never reached her 40th birthday, her international fame improved views on women in aviation careers. The last flight she was a pilot of got lost, losing radio communication and signal with the control towers. She managed to reconnect briefly, but when she announced an emergency, she wasn’t believed. The flight was permanently lost and has yet to be recovered.

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony was born somewhere in 1820 Massachusetts, with her belief in equality guiding her through most of her life’s work. In 1856, she served as a spy for the Anti-Slavery Society, being an abolitionist herself. In 1851, she would meet Elizabeth Cady Stanton, they would then work together as suffragists, advocating for women’s rights. Susan B. Anthony traveled through the US for her lifetime, advocating for women’s rights. She would pass away in 1906, just 14 years before women were given the right to vote in 1920.

Maria Salomea Sklodowska-Curie

Maria Salomea Sklodowska-Curie, better known simply as Marie Curie, was a widely known physicist and chemist, whose full name I have included above, since it is said she wanted people to remember her maiden name. She was born on November 7, 1867. She won two Nobel prizes throughout her lifetime, being famous mainly for discovering polonium and radium, as well as improving our understanding of radioactivity and promoting the use of radiation in medicine.

Sally Ride

Sally Ride, an American astronaut and physicist, broke barriers on June 18, 1983 when she became the first American woman to travel into outer space. She was born on May 26, 1951, and died on July 23, 2012, at 61 years old. She contributed to America’s Space Program until her death, with her first flight in 1983 being on the Challenger STS-7 mission with other 4 male crewmates. In 2001, she founded her own company, Sally Ride Science, which fulfilled her life-long dream of encouraging young girls and women to pursue careers in STEM. She received 4 degrees in Stanford through her lifetime.

Sandra Day O’Connor

Sandra Day O’Connor, born on March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas, was the first female Justice to have ever served on the Supreme Court. She was appointed in 1981 by President Reagan, and served from then until her retirement in 2006. Even after then, she served as a relentless advocate for judicial independence around the World. Sandra Day O’Connor received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest possible civilian honor, on August 12, 2009. O’Connor died on December 1, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ada Lovelace

Augusta Ada Lovelace, commonly known as Ada Lovelace is considered the first computer programmer in history. The English mathematician was born on December 10, 1815, and passed on November 27, 1852, at 36 years old. She was the daughter of a famous poet, who split with her mother shortly after her birth, leaving Britain and never returning. She had private tutors to educate her, but she also studied on her own, being taught math by London University’s first math teacher ever. After marrying, she would become Countess of Lovelace.

Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin was a British chemist born on July 25, 1920, in Notting Hill, London. Franklin was the one to find the helix structure of DNA, which is what she’s most commonly known for. She also contributed to the discovery of the structure of viruses, helping lay a foundation for structural virology. The picture she took of DNA’s structure is known as photo 51, and though it was believed her work was stolen shortly after her death, new evidence suggests it was actually a shared discovery.

Boudica

Boudica was the Queen of the Iceni people in Roman Britain. She was born somewhere in 30 AD, dying somewhere in 61 AD. She and her daughters led a battle against the Roman Emperor from Britain, since after her husband’s death, he had her publicly flogged and her daughters assaulted. Queen Boudica, outraged, gave no quarter in her fights, sacking and burning towns down. Sadly, in her last battle against the Romans, Boudica’s troops were defeated, and she took poison so as to not be captured alive by the Romans.

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, now known as St. Joan of Arc, was a French Heroine who was burnt at the stake by the British during The Hundred Years War, since they claimed she was a heretic for dressing as a man and claiming to hear the voice of God. Born the daughter of a farmer somewhere in 1412, she started hearing what she claimed was the voice of God, and convincing the French King to give her troops to lead, she defeated the British at Orleans after they made an attempt to conquer France. During her burning at the stake on March 30, 1431, she asked the people to lift the cross higher so she would see it through the flames. She was killed at 19, and canonized as a Saint on May 16, 1920, centuries later.