Women’s History Month is every month (just like Black History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Hispanic/Latin Heritage Month, Indigenous Peoples Month, Pride Month, etc.), but we hope you learned some new Women’s History facts, learned about some influential women, and celebrated the women in your life this past month! We must commit to gender equity and equality everyday, and continue to be inspired by the women who have come before us and helped pave the way for a better future. Please consider watching any/some of the powerful TedTalks below.
February 28, 1909 marked the first Woman’s History Day in New York City. It commemorated the one-year anniversary of the garment workers’ strikes when 15,000 women marched through lower Manhattan. From 1909 to 1910, immigrant women who worked in garment factories held a strike to protest their working conditions. Most of them were teen girls who worked 12-hour days. In one factory, Triangle Shirtwaist Company, employees were paid only $15 a week. History.com describes it as a “true sweatshop.” Young women worked in tight conditions at sewing machines, and the factories’ owners didn’t keep the factory up to safety standards. In 1911, the factory burned down and 145 workers were killed. It pushed lawmakers to finally pass legislation meant to protect factory workers.
The 19th amendment didn’t give all women the right to vote. The 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was signed into law on August 26, 1920. But at the time, a number of other laws prohibited Native American women, Black women, Asian American women, and Latinx women from voting, among others. It wasn’t until 1924 that Native women born in the United States were granted citizenship, allowing them to vote, according to PBS. But even after that, Native women and other women of color were prevented from voting by state laws such as poll taxes and literacy tests. It wasn’t until 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, that discriminatory tactics such as literacy tests were outlawed, and all women could vote.
But she wasn’t allowed to travel to space due to her gender. She testified on Capitol Hill in 1962, saying, “We women pilots who want to be part of the research and participation in space exploration are not trying to join a battle of the sexes,” according to the New York Times. “We see, only, a place in our nation’s space future without discrimination.”
However, John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, opposed her. He said “it is just a fact” that women don’t do certain things that men do, such as go to war and fly airplanes. “The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order,” he said.
Sally Ride became the first woman in space on June 18, 1983, when she flew on the space shuttle Challenger. It wasn’t until her death that her obituary revealed she was gay; it referred to Tam O’Shaughnessy as her “partner of 27 years.”
Marie Curie was the first woman to receive two Nobel prizes. Curie was a scientist whose research on radioactivity led her to discover two new elements. She also researched the atom, and her findings have been integral in scientific advancements related to atomic bombs and medicine, according to Scientific American. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, as well as the first person and only woman to win two Nobel Prizes. She won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 and the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1911.
Kamala Harris is the first woman and woman of color vice president. After winning the 2020 presidential election with Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris is making history as the first woman, first Black woman, and first Asian American vice president in U.S. history.
Malala Yousafzai, born on July 17th 1997, is an author, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and global activist for women’s rights and educational access for girls. Malala developed a passion for school at a very young age. Her father, an education advocate as well, ran an educational institution for girls even when it was dangerous to do so (as girls were banned from attending school). At the age of ten, the Taliban gained control in her community in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. At eleven years old, Malala wrote her first BBC diary entry, writing about her life under Taliban rule, speaking out and spreading awareness. On her way home from school at fifteen years old, Malala was shot by the Taliban. She recovered in a hospital in the United Kingdom, and a year later, wrote her autobiagraphy I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. She received the Nobel Peace Prize at age seventeen. She graduated from Oxford University in 2020 and continues her activism today.
Katherine Johnson, born August 26th, 1918, in West Virginia, loved math early on and was extremely advanced with numbers. Her curiosity and intelligence led her to move several grades ahead and take advanced classes all through school and college where she received highest honors. In 1953, she took a job at NASA. She helped to calculate trajectory analysis and other important equations for launch and landing. When asked to name her greatest contribution to space exploration, Johnson referenced her calculations that helped sync Project Apollo’s Lunar Module with the lunar-orbiting Command and Service Module. She retired in 1986. At the age of 97 in 2015, Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. She passed away on February 24th, 2020, but her pioneering legacy will be remembered forever.
Xiye Bastida a is an 18 year old climate justice activist. She was born in Atlacomulco, Mexico, and is a member of the indigenous Mexican Otomi-Toltec nation. In 2015, when extreme flooding hit her hometown after many years of drought, her family moved to New York City. Her parents are environmentalists, and they supported and inspired her activism. She is a major organizer for Fridays for Future NYC, she’s on the administration committee of the People’s Climate Movement, a member of the Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion, and she has been a leading voice for indigenous and immigrant visibility in climate activism. She is a co-founder of Re-Earth Initiative, an international non-profit that emphasizes the importance of intersectionality and inclusivity in the climate movement. Bastida contributed to the collection of women writers about climate change in the book All We Can Save. She is currently a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, studying, and continuing her activism!
Audre Lorde was a self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”. She was born on February 18th, 1934, in New York City. She attended Hunter College, working to support herself through school. After graduating in 1959, she went on to get a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University in 1961. She became a leading poet and essayist who dedicated her voice and her creative talent to confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Lordes experiences with teaching and pedagogy—as well as her place as a Black, queer woman in white academia—went on to inform her life and work. Lorde’s contributions to feminist theory, critical race studies, and queer theory intertwine her personal experiences with broader political aims. Audre Lorde battled cancer for more than a decade and spent her last few years living in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Lorde died on November 17, 1992, on the island of St. Croix. Over her long career, Lorde received numerous accolades, including an American Book Award for A Burst of Light in 1989. She is remembered as an extremely influential writer, who continues to spread her knowledge to readers.
Ingrid Silva was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and at the age of eight she began training in ballet at Dançando Para Não Dançar. A few years later, Silva joined the Escola de Dança Maria Olenewa and Centro de Movimento Debora Colker on a full scholarship. As a young dancer, Silva was inspired by Brazilian ballerinas such as Ana Botafogo and Mercedes Baptista. At age 17, she was also an apprentice with Grupo Corpo, one of the most prestigious Brazilian dance companies. After High School, Silva began studying at Centro Universitário da Cidade (Univercidade) but soon moved to New York to attend the Dance Theatre of Harlem Summer, in 2007, on a full school scholarship. Soon after, she was invited to join the Dance Theatre Of Harlem Professional Training Program. She is now also a mother. One of her greatest passions is working to increase Afro-Brazilian visibility in ballet.
At the age of 18 Wai Wai Nu was brought to prison for being the daughter of a political activist. During her incarceration, Nu met hundreds of women who had been abused and victims of circumstance, and so she dedicated herself to working for democracy particularly on behalf of marginalized women and people of her ethnic group- the Rhoyinga.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-88) grew up in Concord, MA where she developed a love for writing early on. Her rich imagination became the source of her and her sisters’ many plays which they would act out for friends and family. Louisa was involved in abolition, just like her parents. Her and her sisters were educated by their father. Her first book was published when she was 22. Later she wrote Little Women, when asked to write a “a girls” story by her publisher. She wrote a much longer version of the current book in three months at the desk her father built her at Orchard House in Concord. Little Women embodies themes of feminism and identity and continues to be an incredibly influential book around the world today.
Simone Arianne Biles (born March 14th, 1997) is considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time with 32 Olympic and World Championship medals to date and multiple gymnastic skills named after her. At the 2020 (2021) Summer Olympics, Biles partially withdrew from the competition, after struggling with the “twisties”, a dangerous temporary loss of air balance awareness. She received some critism, but ultimately returned to the competition. She has also spoken out against sexual harassment and abuse within the industry. Simone is a strong leader and role model.
Elizabeth Vargas was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1962. Her father was a U.S. colonel and she spent her childhood traveling from post to post in Germany, Belgium, and within the United States. In high school, Vargas discovered her aspiration for journalism, the springboard for her accomplished career. Known for her aggressive and energetic work ethic, her reporting on the Elian Gonzalez immigration case, the wrongful conviction of Betty Tyson, and Hurricane Sandy has been awarded and nominated for recognition. Vargas is also public about her battle with alcoholism and released her memoir Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction. She’s been sober since 2014.
Sylvia Rivera was an advocate for those silenced by larger movements. She fought for the rights of transgender people, especially transgender people of color. She was good friends with and worked closely with Marsha P. Johnson. She played a large role in the Stonewall Uprising and other protests. The Sylvia Law Project continues her legacy, working to ensure that “all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence.”
Elouise Pepion Cobell is an entrepreneur, advocate, and member of the Blackfoot Nation. She has fought for government accountability and for Native Americans to have control over their own financial futures. After seeing and experiencing the conditions on Native American Reservations, Cobell wanted to take action to protect the Earth and the native people of the land.
On March 24th, 2018, at age 11, Naomi Wadler spoke at the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL. She was the youngest speaker there, among many students speaking out against gun violence and advocating for safer schools. She also led a walkout at her elementary school where they stood in silence for 18 minutes: 17 minutes in memory of the 17 victims of the Stoneman Douglas shooting and 1 minute in memory of Courtlin Arrington, who had been a victim of gun violence at Huffman High School in Alabama. Naomi has spoken at the Women in the World Annual Summit and the Teen Vogue Summit, along with the Tribeca Film Festival where she received the “Disruptive Innovation Award”. Wadler is now 15, and continues her activism today, working towards a better world. You can watch her March For Our Lives speech here:
Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes is a Brazilian biopharmacist and women human rights defender. She advocates for women’s rights, particularly against domestic violence. Born in 1945 in Fortaleza, in the Brazilian state of Ceará, Maria da Penha was a victim of domestic violence by her husband. She brought a case against her attacker to be condemned, first in the Federal Court of Brazil and later in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Born and raised on Martha’s Vineyard, Emma Lovewell is an MVRHS graduate and a UMass Amherst Graduate where she earned degrees in Chinese and Mass Communication. She is a former professional dancer, personal trainer, pilates instructor, and is now Brooklyn, NY based and a lead instructor at Peloton. Emma founded a wellness brand called “Live, Laugh, Lovewell” and a blog where she writes about her Chinese and English heritage, growing up on the island, favorite recipes, gardening with her mother, and more. She advocates for working out “because you love your body, not because you hate it”.
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. She was the first female secretary of state in U.S. history. Albright also served on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations. In May 2012, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Naomi Osaka is tennis pro, entrepreneur, CEO and Founder of KINLÒ (a skincare and sunscreen brand for melanated skin), and a social change advocate. Naomi Osaka was born on October 16th, 1997 in Osaka, Japan to mother, Namaki Osaka, from Japan and father, Leonard François, from Haiti. She also has an older sister, Mari, who is a former professional tennis player. Her family moved to New York when Naomi was three years-old. Her father was inspired to teach Naomi and Mari to play tennis by watching Serena and Venus Williams compete at the 1999 French Open. Her parents decided early on that she would represent Japan in tennis, even though they lived in New York. Not only is she a “four-time Grand Slam Champion and first Asian player to hold the No. 1 ranking”, she also speaks out against racial injustice and is vocal about mental health awareness. Learn more about Naomi and her influence:
Linsey Lee, oral history curator at the MV Museum, has conducted interviews with people on the island for over 30 years. She has highlighted women who have deep connections to the island, including June Manning, Polly Murphy, Caroline Hunter, Anne Lesnikowski, and Sissy and Pat Tankard. In honor of Women’s History Month, Linsey Lee will present “Voices of Vineyard Women” this month at the MV Museum.
Michelle Vivian-Jemison is the Instructor and Access Coordinator at MVTV, where she has worked with people ages 8-80, teaching about the media process, highlighting different stories, and creating important content. Michelle has worked with many MVRHS students leading them in conducting oral history projects with MVTV to document the lives and stories of influential people who have been connected to the island. Her mentorship and wisdom is deeply appreciated, and we are so lucky to have her on this island and as such an integral community member. We love you Michelle!
Women’s History Month is every month (just like Black History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Hispanic/Latin Heritage Month, Indigenous Peoples Month, Pride Month, etc.), but we hope you learned some new Women’s History facts, learned about some influential women, and celebrated the women in your life this past month! We must commit to gender equity and equality everyday, and continue to be inspired by the women who have come before us and helped pave the way for a better future.Please consider watching any/some of the following TedTalks for the last bit of the month!
Kimberlé Crenshaw: The Urgency of Intersectionality
Rana Abdelhamid: Starting a Movement from a Self-defense Trailblazer
Alexis Jones: Redefining Manhood One Locker Room at a Time
Tracee Ellis Ross: A Women’s Fury Holds Lifetimes of Wisdom
Tarana Burke: Me Too is a Movement, Not a Moment
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story