March Highlights in US Women's History Month

March 1, 1978 - Women's History Week is first observed in Sonoma County, California

March 1, 1987 - A Congressional resolution designating March as Women's History Month is passed

March 4, 1917 - Jeannette Rankin (R-MT) took her seat as the first female member of Congress

March 11, 1993 - Janet Reno is confirmed as the first woman U.S. Attorney General

March 12, 1912 - Juliette Gordon Low assembled 18 girls together in Savannah , Georgia for the first-ever Girl Scout meeting

March 13, 1986 - Susan Butcher won the first of 3 straight and 4 total Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Races in Alaska

March 17, 1910 - Camp Fire Girls is established as the first American interracial, non-sectarian organization for girls

March 20, 1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," is published and becomes the best-selling book of the 19 th century

March 21, 1986 - Debi Thomas becomes first African American woman to win the World Figure Skating Championship

March 23, 1917 - Virginia Woolf establishes the Hogarth Press with her husband, Leonard Woolf

March 31, 1888 - The National Council of Women of the U.S. is organized by Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Julia Ward Howe, and Sojourner Truth, among others; it is the oldest non-sectarian women's organization in U.S.

March 31, 1776 - Abigail Adams writes to her husband John who is helping to frame the Declaration of Independence: "Remember the ladies..."

March Birthdays
March 3, 1962 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee, considered the world's greatest female athlete; holds the record in the long jump (1988) and the heptathlon (1986); winner of 3 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals in 4 Olympic games

March 5, 1931 - Geraldyn (Jerrie) Cobb, record-setting aviator; first woman to pass qualifying exams for astronaut training, in 1959, but not allowed to train because of her gender

March 7, 1938 - Janet Guthrie, pioneering woman auto racer; first woman to compete in Indianapolis 500 (1977) and Daytona 500 (1977)

March 9, 1928 (1987) - Graciela Olivarez, Chicana activist; first woman and Latina law graduate from Notre Dame Law School; one of first two women on the board of Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)

March 15, 1933 - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, second female U.S. Supreme Court justice (1993)

March 18, 1964 - Bonnie Blair, speed skater; one of the most successful Winter Olympian in U.S. history and 5 time gold medalist

March 23, 1857 (1915) - Fannie Farmer, authored famous cookbook, "The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook", and included specific ingredient measurements for the first time which would become standardized cooking measurements

March 23, 1924 (1980) - Bette Nesmith Graham, invented Liquid Paper correction fluid which became an office staple; created 2 foundations to support women's business and art

March 24, 1826 (1898) - Matilda Joslyn Gage, suffragist, women's rights and Native American rights activist, historian, founding member of the National Woman Suffrage Association

March 24, 1912 (2010) - Dorothy Height, served over 40 years as President of the National Council of Negro Women

March 25, 1934 - Gloria Steinem, women's rights activist and journalist; founding editor of Ms. Magazine; helped found National Women's Political Caucus, the Women's Action Alliance, and the Coalition of Labor Union Women

March 26, 1930 - Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1981)

March 27, 1924 (1990) - Sarah Vaughan, world renown jazz singer and pianist known as the "Divine One"

March 31, 1889 (1975) - Muriel Wright, Choctaw Indian, teacher, historian, author, and editor


Contributors: Patrick R. Cowley and JoAnn Goodrich