Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month

Women’s history month is a time to honor and celebrate women. This recognition stemmed from a commission out of California (Sonoma County Status of Women) who realized that there was a need to highlight women’s achievements. So, in 1978 they commenced a “Women’s History Week” in locale Sonoma County.  They decided to have it in tandem with International Women’s day (March 8th). The honor quickly spread across the nation throughout communities. By 1980 President Carter issued a Presidential Proclamation of the Week. President Carter gave  a message to the nation about this weekly designation.

“From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.

As Dr. Gerda Lerner has noted, “Women’s History is Women’s Right.” – It is an essential and indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, and long-range vision.” I ask my fellow Americans to recognize this heritage with appropriate activities during National Women’s History Week, March 2-8, 1980. I urge libraries, schools, and community organizations to focus their observances on the leaders who struggled for equality – – Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, and Alice Paul. Understanding the true history of our country will help us to comprehend the need for full equality under the law for all our people. This goal can be achieved by ratifying the 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states that “Equality of Rights under the Law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

Each of Carter’s successive presidents followed suit until 1995, when President Clinton permanently declared March as national “Women’s History Month.” 

Every year a theme is chosen that highlights the various ways women have contributed to humanity and society. This years theme is “Visionary Women: Champions of Peace and Nonviolence.” 

Here is a list from wikipedia of American women that are known and recognized Peace activist, both past and present. 

• Bella Abzug (1920–1998) – American lawyer, politician, social activist and pacifist
• Jane Addams (1860–1935) – American, national chairman of Woman’s Peace Party, president of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
• Fannie Fern Andrews (1867–1950) – American educator, writer, social worker and pacifist
• Joan Baez (born 1941) – prominent American anti-war protester, inspirational singer
• Ella Baker (1903–1986) – African-American civil rights activist, feminist, pacifist
• Emily Greene Balch (1867–1961) – American pacifist, leader of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and 1946 Nobel peace laureate
• Medea Benjamin (born 1952) – American author, organizer, co-founder of the anti-militarist Code Pink
• Norma Elizabeth Boyd (1888–1985) – African American politically active educator, children’s rights proponent, pacifist
• Heloise Brainerd (1881–1869) – American women activist, pacifist
• Sophonisba Breckinridge (1866–1948) – American educator, social reformer, pacifist
• Olympia Brown (1835–1926) – American theologist, suffragist, pacifist
• Gertrude C. Bussey (1888–1961) – American philosopher, peace activist
• Joan Chittister (born 1936) – American Benedictine nun, prioress, writer, pacifist, co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women
• Judy Collins (born 1939) – inspirational American anti-war singer/songwriter, protester
• Rachel Corrie (1979–2003) – American activist for Palestinian human rights
• Frances Crowe (born 1919) – American pacifist, anti-nuclear power activist, draft counselor supporting conscientious objectors
• Rennie Davis (born 1941) – American anti-Vietnam war leader, organizer
• Dorothy Day (1897–1980) – American journalist, social activist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement
• Dorothy Detzer (1893–1981) – American feminist, peace activist, U.S. secretary of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
• Amanda Deyo (1838–?) – American Universalist minister, peace activist, correspondent
• Mary Dingman (1875–1961) – American social and peace activist
• Roberta Dunbar (died 1956) – American clubwoman and peace activist
• Crystal Eastman (1881–1928) – American lawyer, suffragist, pacifist, journalist
• Hedy Epstein (1924–2016) – Jewish-American antiwar activist, escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport; active in opposition to Israeli military policies
• Jodie Evans (born 1954) – American political activist, co-founder of Code Pink, filmmaker
• Genevieve Fiore (1912–2002) – American women’s rights and peace activist
• Jane Fonda (born 1937) – American anti-war protester, actress
• Elisabeth Freeman (1876–1942) – American suffragist, civil rights activist and pacifist
• Emma Goldman (1869–1940) – Russian/American activist imprisoned in the U.S. for opposition to World War I
• Amy Goodman (born 1957) – American journalist, host of Democracy Now!
• Alice Hamilton (1869–1970) – American physician, toxicologist, humanitarian and peace activist
• Judith Hand (born 1940) – American biologist, pioneer of peace ethology
• Florence Jaffray Harriman (1870–1967) – American suffragist, social reformer, pacifist and diplomat
• Alice Herz (1882–1965) – German-born American peace activist
• Abbie Hoffman (1936–1989) – American anti-Vietnam war leader, co-founder of Yippies* Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910) – Amercian writer, social activist, peace advocate
• Hannah Clothier Hull (1872–1958) – American Quaker activist, in the leadership of WILPF in the US
• Helen Keller (1880–1968) – American activist, deafblind writer, speech “Strike Against The War” Carnegie Hall, New York 1916
• Kathy Kelly (born 1952) – American peace and anti-war activist, arrested over 60 times during protests; member and organizer of international peace teams
• Coretta Scott King (1927–2006) – American writer, civil rights leader and pacifist
• Lola Maverick Lloyd (1875–1944) – American pacifist, suffragist, feminist
• Elizabeth McAlister (born 1939) – American former nun, co-founder of Jonah House, peace activist
• Ava Helen Pauling (1903–1981) – American human rights activist, feminist, pacifist
• Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973) – first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, lifelong pacifist
• Brandy G. Robinson (born 1978) – writer, human rights advocate, pacifist
• Coleen Rowley (born 1954) – ex-FBI agent, whistleblower, peace activist, and the first recipient of the Sam Adams Award
• Cindy Sheehan (born 1957) – American anti-Iraq and anti-Afghanistan war leader
• Jeanmarie Simpson (born 1959) – American feminist, peace activist
• Samantha Smith (1972–1985) – American schoolgirl, young advocate of peace between Soviets and Americans
• Eve Tetaz (born 1931) – retired American teacher, peace and justice activist
• Lillian Wald (1867–1940) – American nurse, writer, human rights activist, suffragist and pacifist
• Mary Wilhelmine Williams (1878–1944) – American historian, feminist and pacifist
• Anita Parkhurst Willcox (1892–1984) – American artist, feminist, pacifist
• Fanny Garrison Villard (1844–1928) – American suffragist and pacifist,
• Alice Walker (born 1944) – American novelist, feminist and pacifist
• Jody Williams (born 1950) – American anti-landmine advocate and organizer, Nobel peace laureate
• Dagmar Wilson (1916–2011) – American illustrator, pacifist, founder of Women Strike for Peace

Click on this link to see the vast amount of women internationally that are highlighted for their contributions to society and mankind. Each with a link detailing there accomplishments. 

Disclaimer: This article is intended as a friendly reminder with recommendations. It is not medical advice, direction or prescription of any sort. Please refer to professional services for any health-related questions, concerns and relief.