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Center for Multicultural and Gender Studies

MCGS Home MCGS Newsletter, March 2004 Spring Course Offerings

March is Women's History Month Women and Work: role models for every About Us occupation

History ● Ambassador: Eugenie Anderson (1910-1997), the first woman ambassador and the first woman to sign Minors a treaty on behalf of the , served as ambassador to Denmark from 1949 to 1953. ● Architect: (b. 1960) won a national Staff competition to design and build the now-famous Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC at Contact Us 21 years of age. ● Astronaut: (b. 1956) became the first African-American woman to enter space when she Calendar of Events served on the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavor in Sept. 1992. ● Astronomer: (1863-1941) was one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century, discovering hundreds of , and classifying half a Exhibits & Events million more. ● Aviator: (1893-1926) was the first

MCGS Newsletter black woman to receive a pilot's license and the first woman to get an international pilot's license. ● Ballerina: (b. 1925), was a Native Great Book Series* American and prima ballerina at the City Ballet for many years, as well as an founder of the Chicago City Ballet. 2003 Black History ● Bishop: Barbara Harris (b. 1930), was consecrated

Exhibit* a bishop of the US Episcopal church in 1989, the first woman and on of the first African-Americans to National Women's History Month 2004 hold that position. ● Botanist: Ynes Mexia (1870-1938) collected plant Through vision, hard work, and determination, countless Black History Month American women have broadened opportunities for specimens, many of them never before identified in themselves and for others at home, in the community, and in remote areas from Alaska to the Amazon and Events* the workplace. Driven by the legacy of extraordinary figures, Andes Mountains. American women from all backgrounds continue to break ● Chef: (b. 1921) popularized French Women's History barriers and fulfill their personal and professional potential. At cooking in the United States with her television

Month Events* the dawn of the 21st century, women have more choices show, the French Chef, in the 1960s. than ever before. Over the last ten years the number of ● Chief: (b. 1945), a longtime activist female college graduates in the United States has increased for Native American rights, served as chief of the 48%. Women-owned small businesses are growing twice as Cherokee Nation from 1985 to 1995, the first Resource Lists fast as other U.S. firms, employing 7 million Americans and woman in modern history to lead a major Native contributing to the vitality of the economy. The time has come American tribe. to recognize American Women, and their efforts to continue ● Conductor: Eve Queler (b. 1936) had conducted Useful Links to enhance the economic, social, and cultural life of the numerous orchestras and more than 60 operas United States. worldwide, becoming on of the few women to be Liberal Arts addressed as "maestro." To read the 2003 Proclamation for National Women's History ● Cowgirl: Johanna July (1850-1930), born to a Month, by President George Bush, click on the above link, or family of Seminole Indians and former slaves, was known throughout Texas for her ability to tame wild the National Women's History Month Poster. Archive horses. ● Director: Alice Guy Blache (1875-1968) was the Did you Know? first woman film director and one of the first directors to work with color and sound. *Adobe Acrobat Files The United States is populated with "monumental women." ● Diva: Aretha Franklin (b. Because of their achievements, 1942) has been a legend these women on pedestals have for more than 40 years. had their likenesses carved in The Michigan legislature stone and cast in metal for all to once declared her voice see and remember. one of the state's greatest natural resources. ● Queen Liliuokalani, last queen of Hawaii, bronze statue of her holding the ● Diver: Pat McCormick (b. 1930) won women's constitution of Hawaii in platform and springboard gold medals in both the one hand and a page of 1952 and 1956 Olympics "Aloha-oe," which she ● Doctor: (1832-1919) was wrote in the other, located commissioned assistant surgeon for the Union Army in Honolulu, HI. during the Civil War and is the only woman ever to be awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award. ● ● Environmentalist: (1907-1964) Katharine Lee Bates, author of "America the helped launch the environmental protection Beautiful," bronze statue in Falmouth, MA. movement with her book Silent Spring, which changed how many Americans thought about ● Mary McLeod Bethune, educator, bronze statue in pesticides. Washington, DC inscribed: "I leave you love, I leave ● General: Brigadier General (b. you hope, I leave you racial dignity." 1930), one of the most decorated women in US Amelia Earheart, pioneer aviator ("Golden Girl of military history, was the first female general in the Aviation"), gold leaf covered statue with airplane Air Force. She was also a planner for the Women in propellers embedded in the base in North Hollywood, Military Service for America Memorial in CA. Washington, DC. ● ● Heptathelete: Jackie Joyner-Kersee (b. 1962) may Laura Haviland, Quaker abolitionist, founder of the be the all-time greatest heptathalon competitor, a Raisin Institute for fugitive slaves, statue in Adrian, sport comprising six different track-and-field events. MI. Her Olympic medals include three gold, one silver,

● and one bronze. Esther Morris, helped make Wyoming the first state ● Ichthyologist: Eugenie Clark (b. 1922), Marine to grant women the right to vote, brass statue biologist and skin diver dubbed the "Shark Lady," showing her carrying flowers and a portfolio in has shared her lifelong love of fish in three books Cheyenne, WY. and many television specials.

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Edith Graham Mayo, wife of the cofounder of the ● Illustrator Molly Bang Mayo clinic, and it's first nurse, bronze statue (b. 1943) draws from showing her in her nurse's uniform in Rochester, MN. the folktales she ● gathered in her .Annie Moore, 15-yr old Irish Immigrant (the first to worldwide travels to pass through the receiving room at Ellis Island when create the eerie it opened in 1892), bronze statue showing her with a goblins and satchel in her hand and hopeful expression on her mysterious figures face in Ellis Island, NY. depicted in her books.

● (Phoebe Ann Mozee), famous Wild West sharpshooter, bronze statue showing her ● Interior Designer : Elsie de Wolfe (1865-1950) standing with her rifle in Greenville OH. generally considered the first American interior ● designer, popularized a fresh, airy look that included Pocahontas, Native-American who helped the comfortable sofas, gilded mirrors, and light colors. Jamestown colonists and saved the life of Captain ● Jockey: Diane Crup became the first woman to ride John Smith, outdoor statue showing her with open the Kentucky Derby in 1970, leading the way for arms in Jamestown, VA. other female professional riders. ● Journalist: Anna Louise Strong (1885-1970) ● Sacajawea, guide and scout covered revolutions in China nd Russia and traveled for the Lewis and Clark all over Asia, including areas, such as Tibet and expedition, bronze statue Laos, that few westerners had seen at the time. showing her with her baby ● Judge: (b. 1933), who was strapped to her back in appointed to the US Supreme Court in 1993, had Bismarck, ND advanced women's rights during her impressive ● Maria Stanford, pioneer, career by successfully arguing a number of sex educator and civic leader, discrimination cases. bronze statue with an ● Labor Leader: (b. 1930) is a inscription on the base calling founder of the United Farm Workers, a labor union her "the best known and best that helped give farm workers the right to organize loved woman in Minnesota" and bargain for better wages and working conditions. in Washington, DC ● Lawyer: Arabella Mansfield (1846-1911), the ● Samantha Smith, nation's first woman lawyer, passed the Iowa bar ambassador for peace exams in 1869 despite the fact she never attended between the US and USSR There are a record- law school. when she was just 10 years breaking five statues of ● Meteorologist: Joanna Simpson (b., 1923) used old , bronze statue showing the brave Shoshoni guide her weather expertise during WWII to help plan her posed with a dove of Sacajawea throughout the battles. As chief scientist for NASA, her research U.S. peace and proclaiming her made modern air flight safer. "Maine's young ambassador ● Military Leader: (b. 1907) led the of goodwill" in Augusta, ME. first Women's Army Corps (WAC) battalion, a noncombatant force, in WWII and directed the organization after the war ended. ● Pacifist Writer: (1897-1980) protested ● wars and weaponry and helped found the Catholic Statue of Liberty, the most famous symbolic statue Worker, and influential pacifist newspaper. of a woman, modeled after Marie Bartholdi, the ● Paleontologist: Sue Hendrickson (b. 1949) made sculptor's mother, 151' copper figure of a woman headlines for finding the largest, best-preserved draped in a loose robe holding a torch in her uplifted Tyrannosaurus Rex yet discovered. The skeleton, right hand and a tablet with the date of the nicknamed "Sue," was mounted at Chicago's Field Declaration of Independence in Roman numerals in Museum in 2000. her left on Liberty Island, New York Harbor, NY. ● Philosopher: Simone de Beauvoir became famous ● in 1949 when she published her book The Second Women's Rights Leaders, a grouping of nineteen Sex, which traced the oppression of women life-size bronze statues of women and men who throughout history using her theories of psychology attended the world's first women's right convention. and myth. Among them are , Elizabeth Cady ● Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White, whose Stanton and Jane Hunt in National Historical Park, photographs for Life magazine in WWII became Seneca Falls, NY. world-famous, was the creator of the photo-essay, a series of photos that tell as tory. ● Poet: Rita Dove (b. 1952) has written books of poetry about her own family life and travels, and served as poet laureate of the United States. The History of Women's History ● Publisher: became the publisher of , one of the most powerful from Infoplease.com and influential newspapers in the United States in 1969. Before 1970, women's history ● Representative in Congress: Patsy Takemoto was rarely the subject of Mink (1927-2002), a Democrat from Hawaii, serious study. As historian became the first Asian-American congresswoman Mary Beth Norton recalls, when she was elected to the US House of "Only one or two scholars Representatives in 1965. She served for a total of would have identified 24 years. themselves as women's ● Scientist: (1867-1934) was the only historians, and no formal person to win two Nobel Pries, one for Physics doctoral training in the subject (1903) and one for Chemistry (1911). was available anywhere in the country." Since then, however, the field has undergone a metamorphosis. Today almost stamp depicting the every college offers women's 19th amendment history courses and most major graduate programs offer doctoral degrees in the field. ● Sculptor: Louise Nevelson (1900-1988) create huge, intriguing sculptures of found Two significant factors contributed to the emergence of objects, including women's history. The women's movement of the sixties rough wood, broken caused women to question their invisibility in traditional mirrors, electrics lights, American history texts. The movement also raised the and metal factory aspirations as well as the opportunities of women, and parts. produced a growing number of female historians. Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, one of the early women's historians, has remarked that "without question, our first inspiration was political. Aroused by feminist charges of economic and ● Senator: Nancy Kessebaum (b. 1932) was the only political discrimination..we turned to our history to trace the woman in the Senate when she was elected in origins of women's second-class status." 1978. She served as a Kansas senator for 18 years. ● Sled-Dog Racer: Susan Butcher (b. 1956) is a four- Women's history was also part of a larger movement that time winner of the Idtarod sled-dog race (in 1986, transformed the study of history in the United States. 1987, 1988, and 1990). "history" had traditionally meant political history-a chronicle of ● Teacher: Mary McCloud Bethune (1875-1955) the key political events and of the leaders, primary men, who devoted her life to teaching and founded the school influenced them. But by the 1970's " the new social history" that became Florida's historically black Bethune- began replacing the older style. Emphasis shifted to a Cookman College. She lectured widely on the broader spectrum of American life, including such topics as necessity of education and served as advisor to the history of urban life, public health, ethnicity, the media, three presidents and poverty. ● Undersea Explorer: (b.1936), an environmental activist and marine botanist, has explored depths of more than 1000 feet, and once Since women rarely held lived in an underwater research center for two leadership positions and until weeks. recently had only a marginal ● Veterinarian: Elinor McGrath and Florence Kimball influence on politics, the new were the first two women to graduate from history, with its emphasis on veterinary school in 1910. the sociological and the ● Zoologist: Libby Hyman (1888-1969) was a ordinary, was an ideal vehicle researcher who was fascinated by invertebrates so for presenting women's much that she wrote a landmark six-volume history. It had covered such Encyclopedia of Invertebrates. subjects as the history of women's education, birth control, housework, marriage, sexuality, and child The 2004 National Women's History Month rearing. As the field has Honorees: grown, women's historians realized that their definition of history needed to expand as well--it focused primarily on white middle-class experience and neglected the full racial and socioeconomic spectrum of women. Domestic Violence Activist and Attorney, Educator. Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a Escaping domestic violence in her own smile, when it is difficult to life, Sarah Buel became an impassioned smile. Smile at each other, advocate for the legal rights of battered make time for each other in women and abused children. Believing your family. that if she became an attorney she could best defend and advocate for battered women and their children, she Mother Teresa, in graduated from her Nobel lecture Sarah Buel, and now runs a legal clinic for battered (b.1953) women. She is also co-founder and co- director of the National Training Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Professional Athlete, Spokesperson for Guide to Worldwide Goddesses Breast Cancer Awareness.

● Sedna (Inuits) ruled over the A professional basketball player with the sea animals. It is said she was WNBA Sacramento Monarchs and a so ugly anyone who dared to breast cancer survivor, Edna Campbell North American look at her would be struck travels the country as a spokesperson Goddesses dead. for breast cancer awareness, ● Selu (Cherokee) the Corn encouraging women to do regular Mother cut open her breast so breast exams and inspiring those with that corn would spring forth cancer to have hope and courage in and give life to her people. challenging the disease. She uses these ● Blue Corn Woman & White opportunities to recognize other Edna Campbell Corn Woman (Tewa Pueblo) survivors and to raise money for breast (b.1968) were the first mothers of their cancer research. tribe. Blue was the summer, White was the winter. ● The Three Sisters (Iroquois) Educator, Writer, Historian. gave their tribe the life-giving forces of corn, beans, and As a leader and scholar, Jill Ker White Buffalo Calf squash. Conway's fearless study of her own Woman ● White-painted Mother life, public roles, and intellectual (Apache) is the mother of the development have given voice and Child of the Water, from whom form to the success of woman's all members of the tribe are education. The first female president descended. of Smith College, Conway's ● White Buffalo Calf Woman unrelenting belief in a set of high (Lakota) is the giver of the Pipe standards and basic values that have for her tribe. The pipe Jill Ker Conway, the potential to revitalize people and represents truth. (b.1934) institutions has inspired new possibilities for generations of women. ● Chalchiuhticue was the goddess of all waters on Children Rights Advocate and Civil earth, but especially Ancient Aztecs Rights Activist. associated with running water. From her earliest years Marian Wright ● Chicomecoatl was the Edelman was encouraged to give hope goddess of corn and fertility, and aid to others. As a lawyers, civil also known as "the goddess rights activist, and founder of of nourishment." Children's Defense Fund, she has ● Coatlicue was the goddess provided a strong authoritative voice of the earth and the mother for those who have been denied the of all the gods. She also power to speak for themselves. For gave birth to the moon and almost 40 years she has advocated for Marian Wright stars. quality health care, immunizations, Edelman, ● Xochiquetzal was the nutritious food, and educational (b.1943) Chalchiuhiticue goddess of flowers, dance, opportunities, providing hope and and love. Birds and possibility to countless numbers. butterflies loved her very much and were frequently in Writer, Educator, Peace Activist her company. Acclaimed author and poet Maxine Hong Kingston calls on the rich cultural ● Ma-Ku personifies the goodness in all people. images and traditions of her Chinese She took the land from the ancestry in her melodious and poetic sea and planted it with storytelling. Kingston often combines mulberry trees. She freed autobiography and fiction and uses dreams and memory, myth and desire Chinese the slaves from her cruel father. to investigate life's possibilities and discover the fullness of one's power. ● Kuan Yin represents Maxine Hong wisdom and purity for her Kingston (b.1940) She uses the process of storytelling to people. she has a both heal and expand the human spirit. thousand arms, Women's Health and Breast Cancer representing her infinite Research Expert compassion. ● Chang O is a moon A founder of the breast cancer goddess honored with a advocacy movement, Dr. Susan Love festival honored with a co-founded the National Breast Cancer festival every September Coalition which includes more than 200 who lives in a palace made organizations and thousands of of cinnamon wood. individuals devoted to gathering input ● Meng Po Niang is a from breast cancer advocates as well goddess who stood just as obtaining federal funding for Kuan Yin inside the gates of hell with research. As a surgeon and author, a magic potion to Susan Love, Love has inspired generations of administer to each soul, so (b.1948) physicians to listen more closely to they would forget their past their patients. lives. ● Isis invented agriculture, she Civil Rights Attorney, Community was the goddess of law, Activist healing, motherhood, and Ancient Egypt fertility. Knowing the importance of securing ● Hathor is the goddess of love and protecting the rights of all people, and mirth. She protected Vilma Martinez served nine years as children and pregnant women. President and general Counsel of the She embodies the sky and Mexican-American Legal Defense was often depicted with a Fund (MALDF). Her work in education, "Celestial Cow," or just with a community development, and cow head or cow horns. Vilma Martinez, employment litigation demonstrates ● Nephthys was the goddess of that hope can create unimagined the dead. She was a kind and (b.1945) possibilities. understanding companion to the newly dead as well as to Writer, Poet, Educator those left behind. ● Nut represented the heavens Acclaimed storyteller and award- and helped to put the world in winning author, Leslie Marmon Silko order, she had the ability to credits her Laguna Pueblo heritage swallow stars and the Hathor with everything that makes her a writer pharaohs and cause them to and a human being. Silko's love for be born again. Her body was storytelling began as a child when she covered with painted stars, would listen to the stories of her great- and she existed before all else grandmother. For Silko, storytelling is had been created. more than oral history. Storytelling is a ceremony that links the mythical Leslie Marmon Silko, (b.1948) ● Aphrodite brought deities and the people themselves and maintained love creating hope, purpose, and survival. in the world (aka Venus). ● Artemis ruled over For More Information: the hunt and over women in childbirth ● Infoplease: Women's History Month

(aka Diana). ● National Women's History Project ● Athena ruled over ● Gale Group Women's History Month Resources crafts, war and Ancient Greece (and ● History Channel Exhibits: Women's History wisdom (aka Rome) ● Time for Kids: Women's History Month Minerva). ● Department of Defense: Women's History Month ● Demeter made all things grow (aka ● Feminist Majority Foundation Ceres). ● Women Who Changed History ● Gaea was the ● American Women's History: A Research Guide

goddess of earth ● Census Bureau Fact for Features: Women's (aka Terra). History Month 2003 ● Hera was the protector of marriage and women, she was married to Zeus (aka Juno). The first person born in ● Hestia ruled over the America to English hearth and home parents is Virginia Dare (aka Vesta). on Roanoke Island, ● Eos was the Virginia on August 15, goddess of the 1587. She disappears dawn, she emerged with the rest of the every day from the colony on Roanoke ocean and rose into sometime between 1587 the sky on a chariot and 1590. The only drawn by horses. remaining sign of the The morning dew settlers was the word represented her "croatoan" carved on a tears of grief for her post. To date, no one slain son. knows what happened to the settlers.

(left) Virginia Dare, ● Pele is the powerful painting, J.L.G. Ferris Hawaiian goddess of fire. (1863 - 1930) She lived in the Kilauea Hawaiian Volcano and ruled over the family of fire gods. When she was angry she would erupt and pour fiery rock over the land. Women's History Month Calendar of Events ● Hiiaka is the youngest sister of Pele. She is a fierce Printable Calendar of MCGS & Related Texas warrior and yet a kind and State University-San Marcos Events calm friend of humanity. She gave people the healing arts, creative arts, and the gift of storytelling. Pele