sign in sign up
<<
Home , Katharine Graham

Dear Friend, Inspiration: March is Women’s History Month, a time to discover Women Women trailblazers and honor the of the 20th and 21st centuries contributions of trailblazers women. Many have th paved the way in of the 20 and every aspect of society, inspiring us in st GOVERNMENT: law, social justice, science and more. 21 centuries

New York State has played its part in “I have no intention of just sitting quietly and the movement for equal rights, hosting observing. I intend to focus attention on the the first women’s rights convention nation’s problems.” organized by and Susan B. Anthony in Seneca Falls – Shirley Chisholm in 1848. We’ve fought for a woman’s Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) was the first female and first right to participate equally in society, to African-American major-party presidential candidate in 1972. be protected from discrimination and Born in Brooklyn, Chisholm was the daughter of immigrants to make her own health care decisions. and worked in education before becoming involved in local This pamphlet highlights just a few of politics, serving as a NYS Assemblymember from 1965 the women who have been trailblazers to 1968. She became the nation’s first African-American in more recent history. I hope you Congresswoman in 1969, acting as a fierce advocate for 1 find their stories inspiring. If you have children and education. questions about this or any community issue, please don’t hesitate to LAW: Sandra Day O’Connor contact me. “The power I exert on the court depends on the Sincerely, power of my arguments, not my gender.” – Sandra Day O’Connor Sandra Day O’Connor (1930- ) became the first female Peter J. Abbate, Jr. U.S. Supreme Court Justice in 1981. She served for 24 Member of Assembly years, acting as a key swing vote in many decisions. O’Connor was born in Texas, grew up in Arizona and 6605 Fort Hamilton Parkway attended Stanford University, earning a bachelor’s in Brooklyn, NY 11219 economics in 1950 and a law degree in 1952. In 2009, 718-236-1764 President Obama awarded O’Connor the Presidential [email protected] Courtesy of Medal of Freedom.2 Assemblyman Peter J. Abbate, Jr.

Room 839, LOB Albany, NY 12248 518-455-3053 [email protected] SPORTS: LITERATURE: SPACE EXPLORATION:

“All you need is the courage to believe in “Poetry is life distilled.” “Young girls need to see role yourself and put one foot in front of the other.” – Gwendolyn Brooks models in whatever careers they – Kathrine Switzer may choose, just so they can Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) was the first African- picture themselves doing those jobs American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and was Kathrine Switzer (1947- ) paved the way for someday.” women to compete in marathons when she officially the first African-American woman to hold the position registered and ran the 1967 Boston Marathon, of poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. Born in – Sally Ride withstanding physical and verbal attacks. Switzer earned degrees in Kansas and raised in Chicago by her father, a janitor, and her mother, a journalism and public relations at Syracuse University, where she was teacher and classically trained pianist, Brooks published her first poem Sally Ride (1951-2012) became the first a student when she ran the Boston Marathon. She went on to win the at the age of 13. Brooks’ work often explored identity and justice for American woman in space in 1983 when th City Marathon in 1974 and is credited for making the sport urban African-Americans in the mid-20 century. She published many she participated in the flight of the space of running open to women and girls, leading the successful drive for volumes of poetry, a novel and an autobiography, winning the Pulitzer shuttle Challenger as a mission specialist. 5 the Olympics to offer a women’s marathon race. She has received for her poetry collection, Annie Allen, published in 1949. She earned a doctorate in physics from Stanford University and joined numerous awards and recognitions, including the New York State the NASA astronaut program in 1978, working as a ground-based Regents Medal of Excellence and was named as one of Runner’s World capsule communicator and helped develop a robotic arm for the space magazine’s “Visionaries of the Century.”3 BUSINESS: Katharine Graham shuttle.7 SOCIAL JUSTICE: Sylvia Mendez “Once, power was considered MEDIA: Connie Chung a masculine attribute. In fact, “My sole intent is to show that any time we power has no sex.” “Every step of the way, there were make up our minds, anything we want to do, issues being a woman. The only – Katharine Graham we can achieve.” way we could move forward was – Sylvia Mendez Katharine Graham (1917-2001) to do our job and do it better than was the first woman to run a anyone else.” Sylvia Mendez (1936- ) was born in Santa Ana, Fortune 500 company. Graham California, to Gonzalo Mendez, an immigrant from earned a bachelor’s degree from the – Connie Chung Mexico, and Felicitas Mendez, a native of Puerto Rico. After Sylvia and became a and her brothers were denied enrollment in a school because of reporter in the 1930s. She and her husband acquired The Washington In 1993, Connie Chung (1946- ) became their Mexican heritage, their parents took action, organizing other Post from her father in 1948 and ran it together until her husband’s the first Asian-American and the second death in 1963, when Katharine took it over. Under her direction, it woman to co-anchor a major network news parents in the community and hiring a lawyer to file a class-action Photo by: Phil Konstantin lawsuit. The case, Mendez v. Westminster School District, held became the fifth-largest publishing empire in the world, with profits program when she joined Dan Rather at CBS that placing Mexican-American students into separate schools was increasing by 20 percent a year over a 10-year period. Graham’s Evening News. She was born and raised in 6 unconstitutional and unlawful, leading California Gov. Earl Warren to autobiography won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998. Washington, D.C., the daughter of a Chinese diplomat. After earning a degree at the University of Maryland in 1969, she started a career in sign a law desegregating schools. It also served as the basis for the 8 landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case declaring journalism. She is an Emmy and Peabody-award winning journalist. segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Mendez continues to advocate for equality in schools and was awarded the Presidential 1history.house.gov/People/Listing/C/CHISHOLM,-Shirley-Anita-(C000371)/ 5poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/gwendolyn-brooks Medal of Freedom in 2011.4 2biography.com/people/sandra-day-oconnor-9426834#synopsis 6biography.com/people/katharine-graham-9317709#synopsis 3kathrineswitzer.com/about-kathrine/kathrines-full-bio 7nasa.gov/topics/history/features/ride_anniversary.html 4latimes.com/socal/weekend/news/tn-wknd-et-0417-sylvia-mendez-70-anniversary-20160417-story.html 8makers.com/connie-chung