by michelle | Mar 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
The City of Chicago was established in 1837 but it took 142 years to elect its first female mayor. Jane Byrne grew up on the North Side of Chicago in the 1930s. She married William Byrne, a Marine, but was soon widowed when he died in a plane crash, leaving her to...
by michelle | Mar 22, 2023 | Uncategorized
The only woman in the United States to ever be given the Congressional Medal of Honor, she practiced medicine as well as advocating for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was the fifth daughter born to Alvah and Vesta Whitcomb Walker...
by michelle | Mar 21, 2023 | Uncategorized
More than the wife of a Founding Father, she made a home for orphans and preserved important parts of the birth story of America after her husband’s famous death. In 1857, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton was one of fourteen children born to Philip and Catherine...
by michelle | Mar 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
One woman’s fondness for cooking encouraged a standardized system of measure and a cookbook which has found a place in American homes for over a century. Fannie Merritt Farmer was born in 1857 in Boston, Massachusetts, the first of four girls in her family. Though it...
by michelle | Mar 18, 2023 | Uncategorized
As a young girl, Dr. Sally Ride’s parents encouraged her to follow her dreams, which would eventually take her to heights they could never have imagined. Born in 1951 in Encino, California, Sally began playing tennis at age 10, which led to scholarships and...
by michelle | Mar 16, 2023 | Uncategorized
Captured and taken from her home in Africa as a young girl, this enslaved person found power in the written word and is still studied for her poetry today. When the slave ship brought her to Boston in 1761 when she was around 7, she was purchased to be a domestic...
by michelle | Mar 15, 2023 | Uncategorized
Women in sports have had to fight to prove their worth, as both competitors and crowd-worthy entertainment. However, thanks to one woman who took a stand against the discrimination faced by her gender, sports fans saw that being a male did not equal dominance. ...
by michelle | Mar 15, 2023 | Uncategorized
WHM: Deborah Read As a teenager in Philadelphia, Deborah Read caught the eye of young Benjamin Franklin. While he wanted to marry, her mother did not trust him to return from an upcoming trip to England, so she suggested they wait until his return. The young...
by michelle | Mar 14, 2023 | Uncategorized
Once upon a time in New York City, there was a woman whose ambition to be recognized socially could not be ignored. Not only did she achieve wealth, status, and power, but she also campaigned for women’s rights. A daughter of a wealthy Southern family, Alva...
by michelle | Mar 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
If you’re unfamiliar with the true life story of the Delany sisters, you are in for a great treat! Years ago with my book club I read their memoir Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First Hundred Years. These women were not only remarkable for their long lives but...
