Courageous women across cultures and ages have had a powerful and positive impact on American culture and success since the country began.
March is celebrated as Women’s History Month throughout the United States of America. Students, teachers, business and community leaders pause to acknowledge and spotlight successes achieved by courageous women. Contributions that these women have made continue to inspire, bless and benefit others.
March as National Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month. The origins of the celebration date back to 1978 when a California school district started Women’s History Week. Nearly ten years later, in 1987, March was declared National Women’s History Month. Around the country, various organizations, schools, places of business and communities band together to acknowledge the many contributions women have made to the United States and the world at large.
Not only have women like current First Lady Michelle Obama, former First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt and Laura Bush, Harriet Tubman, Katherine Sui Fun Cheung, Betsy Ross, Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony, Gwendolyn Brooks and Margaret Sanger made great contributions to American society, unknown heroines have done and continue to do the work that makes America strong. Mothers, aunts, sisters, daughters, cousins and mentors have a profound impact on individual lives.
The National Women’s History Project and the National Women’s Hall of Fame list biographies and achievements made by hundreds of American women. Teachers, students, community and business leaders can access the websites to gather additional facts and information on women across cultures and ages. Young girls and boys can be inspired and motivated to pursue their own dreams and purpose as they learn more about what great women have already achieved through faith, hard work and positive thinking.
Great Women Achievers Throughout History
Katherine G. Johnson is one of the many women who has strengthened the human landscape. After she received aerospace technology training in West Virginia, Katherine Johnson started to work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at their Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Her expertise involves finding solutions to issues of interplanetary trajectories and spacecraft orbit.
Wilma Mankiller is the first Native American woman who was elected the first woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. While living in San Francisco, California, Wilma Mankiller learned how to organize and lead people. She took lessons she learned back with her to Oklahoma and began to organize and lead peoples from her childhood communities. She ran for Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1983. Two years later she made history when she was elected the Cherokee Nation’s first woman Principal Chief.
Jeannette Rankin is the first woman who was elected to serve in the United States Congress. The congresswoman served two terms, representing the state of Montana. Born in 1880, Rankin was the only United States Representative who voted against the country fighting in both World Wars. At the age of 86 she marched for peace to oppose the Vietnam War. She devoted her life to the pursuit of peaceful resolution.
Parents, educators, students and business and community leaders can find books, articles and other pertinent materials about courageous women at local libraries and booksellers like Amazon.com, Cushcity.com, Borders, Barnes and Noble and Waldenbooks. The National Women’s History Project and the National Women’s Hall of Fame are excellent online resources to access for facts and articles on great women achievers.
