Ideas for Women's History Month

[Gail Hennessey]

Perhaps the following might be helpful for use during Women's History Month. I found some helpful websites that I list at the end.
Best,
Gail
http://www.gailhennessey.com

March is Women’s History Month

"Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade." Constance Baker Motley

(First Black Woman in the U.S. to become a Federal Judge)

In 1978, a school district in California, organized a “Women’s History Week”. By 1981, Congress passed a resolution establishing a National Women’s History Week and in 1987, Congress created a month, March, to honor the contributions of women and to pr o mote the teaching of women’s history. In 1996, the first-ever national women’s history m u seum opened in Dallas, Texas. In 2005, the United States Senate unanimously

passed a bill calling for the establishing of a National Women’s History Museum to be built in our nation’s capital.


The following information may be helpful for Women’s History Month. Although I have reviewed the sites below, please check them again before allowing students assess to the sites.

Firsts for Women

*From: http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=919&display_order=4&mini_id=1286



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

Arabella Mansfield Babb

First woman admitted to the bar to practice law

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

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

Blanche Scott

First woman to fly an airplane

1910

Jeannette Rankin

First woman U.S. House Representative (Montana)

1916

Jeannette Rankin

First woman in Congress

1917

Hallie Ferguson

First woman governor of U. S. state (Texas)

1924

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

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova

First woman to fly in space, aboard Vostok 6.

1963

Mary Clarke

First woman to be named major general in U.S. Army

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

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

Condoleezza Rice

First African-American woman to be appointed Secretary of State

2005

Nancy Pelosi

First woman to become Speaker of the House

2007







Sites of interest:

1. http://www.thewhitehouseproject.org/know_facts/women_firsts.html Firsts for women



2. http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/simplybest.htm Cyberhunt: S i m ply the Best- Women’s History



3. http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0768462.html Statues built to honor woman



4. http://www.infoplease.com/quizzes/whmadventurers/1.html Quiz your women’s history knowledge(women adventurers)

http://www.infoplease.com/quizzes/womenleaders/1.html Quiz your women’s history knowledge (women leaders)

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenshistory1.html Scroll down to “Fun Stuff” for other quizzes

5. http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=918&display_order=2&mini_id=1286 Check out the National Women’s Hall of Fame, opened in 1979, in Seneca Falls, NY. http://www.greatwomen.org/news.php?action=view&id=56 Check out the newest inductees to the National Women’s Hall of Fame (1/07)



6. http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies Learn about the First Ladies of the White House

7.http:// www.history.com/minisites/womenhist/

8. http://www.nwhm.org/Education/suffrage_timeline.html A timeline on the history of women’s suffrage in the United States(1840-1920)

9. http://www.lkwdpl.org/WIHOHIO/figures.htm Great source for short bios on famous women in history. http://www.historyswomen.com/1stwomen.html Another great source of women past and present



10. http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/womens_history/ Woman in history

"Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

—Eleanor Roosevelt

[Chocolate_New_Orleans]

if a woman was important enough to make 'real history' then I will cover them, I'm not going to make it a point to cover Oprah Winfrey because I need a woman to fill time with.

[JRSFD]

People who advocate Women's History are just being silly. This is life. Different things have different purposes. The same applies to people. Men are built big and strong and can lift, and hunt. Women are ideally adapted to raising children. Is "giving birth to real men" (as Gorgo would have put it) not enough for women? Men don't claim Men's History Month, but we aren't exactly clamoring to be women, are we?

Also, you seem to have missed all the important women from before the 1800s.

[Mr. H]

I actually took a Women's History class in college. It was interesting looking at history from a different point of view.. I'd advocate for a bit more of that in the high school setting. I only remember hearing about stuffy old white men in history, my eyes were opened when we began to explore things through the eyes of some of our founding mothers as well some of the ladies like Harriet Tubman. Our textbooks for history emphasize only the white men's accounts. Why shouldn't our kids have a more rounded view of history when the opinions and points of view are concerned? The "facts" are mostly interpretation anyway. I imagine one could stick to the standards and still give a wider view that could be open to interpretation. :o

[Chocolate_New_Orleans]

if women want to be taught in a history class, do something important enough to get in the history books.

[Mr. H]

As the poster's list shows, many have.

[Chocolate_New_Orleans]

and that is fine. I teach about Harriet Tubman, Amelia Earhart, Elanor Roosevelt, ect, all the time. However, just like in Black history month, I find it a little pretentious to force a curriculum for people who aren't as important, simply because they are a monority in some way.

Oprah Winfrey has done nothing comparable to Rosa Parks, and therefore, should not be mentioned in any of my history lessons. Rosa Parks does not need a specific month to speak about her because as soon as I cover the civil rights movement, she will be covered.

I ignore all XXX-history month and just teach history. History is written by the winners of wars, and so your analogy that history is written about old white guys, is accurate, and perfectly acceptable

[Mr. H]

NO WAY! History is skewed in favor of the victors. It's that simple. I'm not saying that we need to reform our history classes. I'm only in favor of teaching students about cultural lenses so that they may be able to view history with discretion in an attempt to get them to think a little more about the world around them...

and Oprah, yeah, whatever. I agree that she has done little more than ride the wave and claw her way up.

[JRSFD]

I agree with you, Mr. H. However, Orleans is right too. This is history! The minority status of an individual or group has no bearing on important happenings, other than as a provocatory factor, such as Spartacus' revolt. Offering a different point of view is great, but let's not skew it the wrong way, even if we have to skew it a little bit in favour of the "victors".

[Mr. H]

Ok, I'm not advocating changing history in favor of minority views. I'm simply stating that all sides of a story paint the clearest picture. History will always be skewed in favor of the victors, but as educators we should be teaching our children to examine history not just for dates and the final outcomes but how they relate to cultures and ideas, not just "We won, so we get to say how it happened, neiner, neiner, neiner."

[JRSFD]

----right!----