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Elizabeth Blackwell Receives Medical Degree
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first American women to graduate from medical school. She received her degree from Geneva Medical College in New York and finished first in her class. Even with her degree, Dr. Blackwell had a difficult time building her medical practice because she was a woman. She founded the New York Infirmary for Women in Children in 1857, which included a medical school where she trained other women to become doctors. -
Victoria Woodhull Runs for President of the United States
Hillary Rodham Clinton is currently running for President of the United States, but Victoria Claflin Woodhull was the first American woman to run for election way back in 1872. She represented the Equal Rights Party as a leader in the women's suffrage movement. There are no official records to show how many votes she received. Obviously she didn't win, but she did stand up for what she believed in and made a name for herself. -
Margaret Abbott Wins Olympic Gold Medal
Margaret Abbott won a gold medal at the 1900 Olympics in Paris, France, but didn't even realize that she was competing in the Olympics. This was the first time in history that women were allowed to compete in the Olympics at all and it was not clearly advertised that the "ladylike" events were included in the Olympic Games. The prize she was given was a bowl, not a medal, so Abbott never realized during her lifetime that she was an Olympic champion. -
National Women's Party Founded
The Congressional Union, founded by suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, was renamed the National Women's Party on this date. Members of the organization worked hard to pass the federal amendment that gave women the right to vote. Members were famous for picketing the White House and were arrested for civil disobedience. They held hunger strikes while in prison to bring attention to their cause. -
Amelia Earhart Takes Solo Flight Across the Atlantic
Amelia Earhart was an American aviator who became the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. She did this exactly five years after Charles Lindberg, the first man to ever make the flight. Earhart made many other notable flights during her career, before disappearing during an attempt at flying around the world in 1937. -
Rosa Parks Arrested for Sitting on a Bus
Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her seat to a white passenger in the "colored section" of a Montgomery, Alabama bus when ordered to by the bus driver. She was arrested for it. Many people at that time were arrested for doing the same thing, but Rosa Parks case was chosen as a platform for the growing civil rights movement in the South. -
"The Feminine Mystique" Published
"The Feminine Mystique", written by Betty Friedan, is considered to be one of the most influential books of the women's rights movement. The book is about the role of the American housewife at the time and how unhappy they were. -
Sally Ride becomes First American Woman in Space
Sally Ride was an astronaut who became the first American woman to go to space. She worked for NASA and was a member of the crew on two flights of the space shuttle Challenger and she spent more than 300 hours in outer space. -
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Nominated to U.S. Supreme Court
Ruth Bader Ginsburg became just the second woman to be nominated to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court (preceded only by Sandra Day O'Connor), giving her the opportunity to continue her argument for gender equality at the highest level. RBG spent her career teaching law at prestigious law schools, working for the ACLU, and serving as a justice on the U.S. Court of Appeals before serving on the Supreme Court. She still serves there today at the age of 83. -
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Signed in to Law
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill signed in to law by President Obama. It provides protection for women from unfair pay discrimination. It is named for Lilly Ledbetter, a woman who complained at the end of her 19-year career that she had been unfairly paid compared to her male coworkers.
