Women journalists today have one young woman to thank for making women investigative reporters as important as men. Born at the very end of the Civil War, Nellie Bly brought the country's attention to her two-week stay in an "insane asylum," where she sacrificed her freedom and comfort for ten days to inform the country from first-hand experience about the inhumane treatment of hospitalized mentally ill.
Nellie managed to go undercover into an asylum, where she wrote about her experiences and got her articles to another reporter for her newspaper. When the story was printed, her readers became so angry about the way patients were treated, special interest groups forced changes into the laws about how the mentally ill were to be treated.
Amelia Earhart, America's best-known aviatrix, disappeared July 2, 1937, when she attempted to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, accompanied only by her navigator Fred Noonan. Their planned destination was Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. She had made both transcontinental and transoceanic flights before her final flight, but she had never flown alone before with only one or two other people. Just before their aircraft reached Howland Island, Earhart radioed her position and that her fuel was low. Then everyone on the ground lost contact with her. Neither she nor Noonan was ever seen alive again. Amelia Earhart made her life a campaign to bring to people's attention to the part of women in aviation.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, married to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and niece of Theodore Roosevelt, was First Lady of the United States four times because this country's participation in World War II. She has long been considered the most influential First Lady in this country's history. Eleanor was born into wealth and influence, and she used her family's background to bring about improvements in the lives of working people in this country.
In her late teens and early twenties, Eleanor became involved in social reform and volunteered in several groups to help improve living conditions and factory working conditions. She spent her lifetime deeply involved with her family and with her work on social issues.
One of her most important accomplishments was her input into the creation and development of the United Nations. She had spent countless hours during world wars and the Great Depression working to provide education, safety, and better lives for workers. After the death of her husband and directly after the end of World War II, she applied her determination to provide freedom from oppression to the entire world. She drafted a document entitled the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and then set about chairing a commission that would influence the U.S. to support it. Until her death in1962, she was a major worldwide influence in the U.N. causes of peace and diplomacy.
In the mid-1950s, Rosa Parks began a revolution in Montgomery Alabama when, after an exhausting day of cleaning her employer's home, she refused to move from her seat on a bus to the back to stand so that a Caucasian man could sit down. Until that point in history, all African Americans had been required to ride in the back of public transportation. Her refusal started the bus boycott in Montgomery, and suddenly, the rest of the world learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. Willing to risk her safety, Ms. Parks took a giant step toward ending racial discrimination in the United States.
Rachel Carson's mother taught her to love nature. Ms. Carson developed an early love for animals, which led to her constant search for knowledge of not only animals and insects, but also their environments. She earned her college degree at the Pennsylvania College for Women, went on to study at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, and finally earned her Masters in zoology from Johns Hopkins University. She was hired as a writer by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, where she wrote many articles about caring for the environment of all living things and also was the Editor-in-Chief of all their publications. Her goal was to protect our planet and preserve all the species living on it.
It was Rachel Carson's love of natural science that triggered the interest in environmental issues that are prevalent today. She has made us aware of how precious all life is and has fostered the modern movement to protect and preserve Earth and all life on it.
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, a nursery school teacher in the 1940s and 1950s, became the first African American to serve in Congress. While she held the jobs of managing daycare centers in Texas and New York, she also worked diligently in the Civil Rights Movement that was flourishing in the U.S. It became her goal to be elected to public office, and in 1968, she won a seat in the federal House of Representatives. In 1972, she ran to be a candidate for the office of president of the United States, but lost to a fellow Democrat. She spent her entire political career working as a social activist. After many years in Washington, Ms. Chisholm retired. After retirement she continued to work in government to make life in the U.S. equal for all people. She died in January, 2005.
Sally Ride was the first American female astronaut to go on a mission into space. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Stanford University and then went on to earn a Master of Science and a doctorate, both in physics and also both from Stanford. She hungered for exploration, and physics gave her the opportunity to explore the world and beyond.
While a student, she saw a NASA ad asking for qualified students to become astronauts. She, at first, worked in crews preparing for missions, and finally in 1983, she was chosen to be part of NASA's seventh shuttle mission. She was the first woman to operate the shuttle's robotic arm to attempt to launch a communication satellite. It was on this mission that the satellite was successfully launched.
After her first mission, Ride was again selected to go into space. She became the first female astronaut to go into space a second time.
She was chosen by President Ronald Reagan to be part of the board that investigated why the Columbus shuttle broke apart upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere. All seven crew members were killed. She was named to be on the committee that established NASA's goals.
After leaving NASA, Ride got a position at the University of California as a physics professor. She was named to the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2003, and she died in 2012. It is because of Sally Ride's example of excellence that more young women have sought to become astronauts and have made space exploration their life's work.
Born in Houston, Texas, Barbara Jordan was the first African American to be elected to the Texas Senate. Her life was composed of a series of "firsts." She was the first African American woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She was also the first African American woman to deliver the keynote speech at a democratic National Convention. She was a major leader in the Civil Rights movement, and she dedicated her entire life as an attorney and a politician, to striving to gain rights for all African Americans. She graduated with honors from Texas Southern University and went on to earn her Juris Doctorate degree from the Boston University School of Law. She taught political science at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and in about a year, she passed the Texas bar exam and opened her own law practice. In 1972, she was the acting governor of Texas before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She also became a member of the House Judiciary Committee just before she called for the impeachment of Richard Nixon.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a Justice on the United States Supreme Court. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Justice O'Connor kept the public guessing about her political views during her early years on the Bench. The first year showed her to be a true conservative. However, as time passed, her opinions became much less conservative. It seemed that she voted similarly to two other Justices, but eventually her opinions showed that she was an independent thinker who voted in the same manner. She voted her best judgment and her conscience. She was then viewed as moderate by the public. Her appointment to the Bench has opened the doors for other women Justices, such as Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor.
Barack and Michelle Obama broke over 200 years of tradition when they became the first African American president and first lady in United States history. For Michelle, what must have been a frightening look into her future looked as if she handled it easily. She began a campaign to inform children and their parents about the unhealthy effects of childhood obesity and then planted an organic vegetable garden at the White House. Those vegetables were served at White House meals for eight years. She pushed a campaign to encourage children to exercise for their health. She provided an example for all women to pursue the goals they wanted to achieve without constantly fearing they would be ridiculed or ignored. As a speaker, she urged her listeners to "take the high road" and not lose sight of their values of right and wrong. She worked with Mrs. Biden, wife of the vice-president to begin programs to help military veterans and their families to overcome injuries and other problems. She changed history by showing all of us how to maintain a sense of honor and dignity and to work toward improving the world around us.
There are a multitude of important historic American women active after the Civil War. Here are 10 of the major ones.
Hillary Clinton, politician. She was the first woman to head a major party presidential ticket. Prior to that she served as a senator for the state of New York and as the Secretary of State. Before running for office herself, she supported her husband’s political career as first lady during his years as president.
Oprah Winfrey, media mogul. While she first came to prominence as a daytime tv talkshow host, she expanded on that success, creating a media empire and becoming one of the most admired most admired and influential women the United States.
Sandra Day O’Connor, Supreme Court Judge. She was the first woman appointed the the Supreme Court of the United States and served on it for over 20 years. During her time on the court she became an important swing vote and wrote the majority opinion on several landmark cases.
Katharine Graham, publisher. She took over as publisher for the Washington Post ofter the death of her husband. During her tenure as publisher her paper’s reporting broke the Watergate scandal that led to president Richard Nixon’s resignation.
Rosa Parks, civil rights activist. Her refusal to give up her bus seat to a white passenger sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, one of the major protests early in the civil rights movement.
Eleanor Roosevelt, activist and diplomat. The wife of president Franklin Roosevelt, she was the longest serving first lady in history. She worked to redefine the position, using its prominence to advocate for the issues she cared about. After serving as first lady, she served as delegate for the United States to the United Nations.
Hellen Keller, political activist and author. Early in her life she lost both her hearing and vision. She overcame her disabilities and learned to communicate through sign language. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelors degree. She became an outspoken political activist for many causes and published several books.
Margaret Sanger, women’s rights activist active in the first half of the 20th century. She fought for the right to birth control and popularized the term. She was the founder of the American Birth Control League, the organization that became planned parent hood.
Margaret Knight, 19th century inventor and one of the first women to receive a patent. Her designs for the flat bottomed paper bag are still used in paper bags to this day.
Susan B. Anthony, women’s rights advocate and suffragette. While her social activism began before 1865, after the war she became a national leader in the fight for women’s suffrage. Though the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote was ratified after she died, her work was instrumental in bringing about that amendment. She was also the first American woman to appear on US Currency.
I can offer a quick rundown of ten important and influential women who have made impacts since the Civil War in various fields. There are many more.
Jane Addams used her wealth to start a settlement house, Hull House, in a poor section of Chicago. The house was dedicated to serving the poor, especially women and children. She wrote a book about it and influenced others to reach out in similar ways. She also publicized the plight of the poor, becoming a suffragist and part of the Progressive movement working for political change.
Dorothy Day some years later engaged in similar activity. A former communist who became a devoted Catholic, she began the influential Catholic Worker movement in the 1930s, uniting religion, charity, and progressive politics.
Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to address a Congressional committee and the first female candidate for US President
Frances Perkins became the first woman ever to hold a Cabinet post when Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed her as secretary of labor in 1933. She served longer in that post than anybody: twelve years.
Gertrude Stein was an avant-garde writer and modern art collector who helped put modern artists like Picasso and Matisse on the map.
Martha Graham was likewise an innovator. She was an enormous influence on modern dance in this country.
Rosa Parks made history when she refused to go to the back of a segregated bus, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott, which also helped lend Martin Luther King a national profile.
Phyllis Schlafly almost singlehandedly spearheaded the successful movement to stop the Equal Rights Amendment.
Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female Supreme Court justice.
Hillary Clinton became the first woman major party candidate for President of the United States.
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