Women’s History Month Women’s History Month 2021: This year’s theme continues the centennial celebration of the ratification of Valiant Women of the Vote: the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920, Refusing to be Silent giving women the right to vote. Last year’s original centennial celebration was put on hold because of Covid. The original Women’s History celebration began as the first week of March in 1982, and was eventually expanded in 1987 to be the entire month of March. Although women have made many gains in the last century and we look forward to spotlighting them here, we have to remember that ERA Amendment remains unratified. Mrs. Anderson’s Sociology Class Sandra Day O'Connor was born on March 16, 1930, in El Paso, Texas. O'Connor and her family grew up on a ranch in Sandra Day Arizona. She was very skilled at riding and worked on the farm. After graduating from Stanford University in 1950 with a bachelor's in economics, she attended law school and got her degree two years later. O'Connor struggled to find a job due to the lack of female O'Connor positions in the law industry, so she became a deputy county attorney. She continued to be a lawyer while traveling overseas and was given the opportunity to fill in a job by Governor Jack Williams. She won the election and reelection as a conservative republican. It didn't end there; O'connor took on an extreme challenge and ran for judge in the Maricopa County Supreme Court; fair enough, she won the race!. Her views on abortion changed over time and have signaled against any decision that would deny a women's right to have a safe and legal abortion. She as well played a role in refashioning the right of abortion in the Court located in Missouri. O'Connor was also the deciding vote in George Bush's election. After her retirement, she wrote many books and inspired many, winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom award. Though O'Connor has been diagnosed with dementia and withdrew from public life, she developed a solid reputation and broke new ground for women as she is the first female to serve the US Supreme Court. References (Mia Tonnu) Smentkowski, Brian. Jan. 16, 2008. “Sandra Day United States jurist.” Retrieved March 1, 2021 (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sandra-Day-OConnor). Biograph.com Editors. April 2, 2014. “Sandra Day O’Connor Biography.” Retrieved March 1, 2021 (https://www.biography.com/law-figure/sandra-day-oconnor). History.com. Nov. 9, 2009. “Sandra Day O’Connor.” Retrieved March 1, 2021 (https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/sandra-day-oconnor). Mary Jackson was born on April 9th, 1921 in Hampton Virginia, where she attended Hampton’s all-Black schools and graduated with high honors from George P. Phenix Training School in 1937. During World War Two, she gained a dual degree in Physical Science and Mathematics, but was prevented by the laws of segregation at the time from becoming an engineer, her dream job. She, at the urging of her parents, obtained two jobs as a math teacher and an Army secretary before landing a job at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, predecessor to NASA). After considering resigning due to the racial discrimination in her job, an encounter with one of her supervisors brought her to stay. The supervisor, realizing Mary’s potential, suggested that she take engineering classes at an all-white school. After gaining a court order that allowed her to do so, Mary Jackson became the first Mary Jackson African-American Female Engineer. Her work on aircraft designs led to faster and lighter aircraft, for both military First African-American Woman and commercial use. After retiring from her engineering to work at NASA job, she served on boards of organizations that would help women and minorities advance their careers. References: Project by Anirudh Chari Anon. 2021. “Mary Jackson.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 1, 2021 (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Jackson-mathematician-and-engineer). Loff, Sarah. 2016. “Mary W. Jackson Biography.” NASA. Retrieved March 1, 2021 (https://www.nasa.gov/content/mary-w-jackson-biography). Timmons, Greg. 2021. “Mary Jackson.” Biography.com. Retrieved March 1, 2021 (https://www.biography.com/scientist/mary-winston-jackson). Elizabeth Blackwell was born in Bristol, England on February 3, 1821. When she was eleven, her family moved to New York City. Elizabeth Blackwell The Blackwell family were abolitionists and supporters of women’s suffrage. In 1843, she witnessed one of her mother’s friends die. The friend told Blackwell that they believed that if they had been treated by a female physician, rather than a male one, their treatment would have been better. This inspired Blackwell to pursue medicine. Blackwell would begin talking to several physicians about attending medical school, many told her that it was a good idea, but that it would be almost impossible. She began studying with the help of two physicians and eventually applied to some medical programs. Although she was rejected by many schools, she was accepted to Geneva Medical College; this meant that she was the first woman to achieve a medical degree in the United States. She worked in Europe for a couple of years before moving back to the United States and setting up in a small building where she would work with patients in 1853. All throughout these years, she would face discrimination and minimalization of her work. In 1857, she would set up a larger hospital which was made up of only female doctors, who would only see female patients and their children. For the next few years of her life, she would advocate for more women in medical fields, give lectures on reasons more women should be admitted into medical schools and what they had done for medicine, and increase knowledge of hygiene among women. She would also help the Union during the Civil War. She lead the path for many women in the medical field who worked to improve the medical rights and treatment of women. References Jourdon Moua Darby, Alexis. 2017. “Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910).“ Retrieved Mar. 1, 2021 (https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/elizabeth-blackwell-1821-1910). Michals, Debra. 2015. “Elizabeth Blackwell.” Retrieved Mar. 1, 2021 (https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-blackwell). U.S. National Library of Medicine. 2003. “Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell.” Retrieved Mar. 1, 2021 (https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_35.html). Madeleine Albright was born with the name Marie Jean Madlenka Korbel, on May 15, 1937. She lived in the city of Prague, Czechoslovakia, for many of her younger years, but was forced to flee with her family due to Nazi occupation at the start of World War II, to England. She used to believe that it was due to political reasons; however, later, she learned that three of her grandparents were victims of the Holocaust, and passed away. She and her family returned to Prague, but not for long, because, due to the Soviet Communist coup, they had to immigrate again; this time, to America, in 1948. Albright was surrounded by foreign relations all of her life. Before the political unrest, her father was a Czechoslovakian diplomat to Yugoslavia. When they moved to Denver, Colorado, he became a university professor, and taught Albright his trade. This greatly influenced Albright. When Albright became older, she became a United States citizen in 1957, as well as graduated with honors from Wellesley College in 1959 (with a degree in Political Science). There, she wrote for their newspaper. She later met her husband, Joseph Albright (whom she divorced in 1982). Later, she earned a P.h.D. in 1976 at Columbia University in Public Law and Government. She did this while also raising a family. Completing her education at these prestigious institutions sparked her career. Her first notable profession commenced when she was a fundraiser for Senator Edmund Muskie’s presidential campaign, and later became his “chief legislative assistant” (Britannica). She continued to gain experience in the field, when in 1976, she “was working for Zbigniew Brzezinski, U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser” (Britannica). When the Republican Party gained the majority of politics for many years, Albright worked with nonprofit organizations and was a professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University. Her major accomplishments truly began in 1993, when she was named ambassador to the United Nations by President Clinton. There, she was notorious for her argumentative skills and tenacity. She advocated for military intervention in many countries who needed the aid to defeat civil wars, or to aid in establishing a stable government, especially with interest to the Haitian Coup in 1994 and many of the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s. In 1997, Albright was confirmed by the Senate as the very first female secretary of state for the United States. Her major accomplishments as secretary of state were numerous. However, perhaps her most notable occurred in 1999, when she advised NATO to intervene militarily in Kosovo, to cease the ethnic cleansing occuring there, as well as advised NATO to expand the organization. She also promoted military aid in Yugoslavia and Iraq, in order to aid in establishing stable democracies there, and avoid authoritarian rule. Another notable feat of Albright’s is that she was, at the time, the highest-ranking United States official to travel to North Korea and negotiate on the topic of nuclear warfare. Although the negotiations were not successful, it laid the groundwork for future discussions and diplomatic relations with North Korea. It was the first of many steps to be taken.