Every day women have, and are, making history. Discover their stories.
On 18 April 1906, Baroness Bertha von Suttner becomes the first woman to collect the Nobel Peace Prize. She had been instrumental in Albert Nobel creating a prize for peace at all.
Von Suttner was an international leader in the peace movement, and continued to campaign until her death, a few weeks before Franz Ferdinand’s assassination triggered the first World War she had sought to prevent.
Continue reading “Bertha von Suttner wins the Nobel Peace Prize: 18 April 1906”
On 9 April 1939, Marian Anderson stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and sang “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”. A crowd of 75,000 listened to her, and millions more tuned in on the radio. She sang where she did because she had been refused the use Constitution Hall by its owners. Marian was black, and the owners had a white-artists-only clause.
Continue reading “Marian Anderson sings in Washington: 9 April 1939”
On 28 March 1900, Queen Yaa Asantewaa addressed the remnants of the Ashanti government in Kumasi, in modern-day Ghana.
I must say this: if you, the men of Asante will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight! We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields.
Her words galvanised the Ashanti Confederacy, starting their final war against British colonialism on the Gold Coast. The Ashanti leaders chose Yaa Asantewaa to be the war-leader, the first woman to hold the post, and an army of several thousand was placed at her command.
Continue reading “Yaa Asantewaa: 28 March 1900”
On 22 March 1982, around 250 women block access to the airbase at Greenham Common in the UK. It is the first time the women’s peace camp has put non-violence to the test on a large scale, and 34 women are arrested. By the end of 1982, 30,000 women would arrive for the ’embrace the base’ protest. By 1983, over 100 similar peace camps are set up near nuclear sites around the world.
Continue reading “Greenham Women: 22 March 1982”
On 11 March 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun debuts on Broadway in New York. She is the first female African-American playwright to be staged there.
Continue reading “Lorraine Hansberry: 11 March 1959”Since we started compiling our database of things women achieved on this day in history, we have discovered many, many women we had not known about. Moira has written about one of them, Althea Gibson, for this year’s Illustrated Women in History Women’s History Month fanzine.
The site and zine are produced by Julie Gough, who is attempting to illustrate one women a week to learn more about women in history and celebrate their accomplishments. ‘zines, and women’s use of them to get their messages out, is something we’re big fans of so we are delighted to contribute a biog of Althea.
You can find out more about who the zine features this month over at Julie’s website, or click straight to her etsy shop to buy a copy!
We may well come back to Althea here: probably around the time the English media gets excitable about Wimbledon!
On 4 March 1933 Frances Perkins is sworn in as Secretary of Labour in Washington DC. She became the first woman to hold a cabinet post in the USA, and holds it until 1945.
Continue reading “Frances Perkins: 4 March 1933”All this March, we’ll be blogging weekly about a woman – or women – who made history in that week. As well as looking at what she did that day, we’ll look at the impact of her actions and what led her to it.
Women’s stories are part of our histories: tell them to anyone who will listen.
The blue plaque scheme in London, UK, honours the notable men and women who have lived or worked in them. But mostly the men.
English Heritage, who run the scheme, have asked the public for help on improving the percentage of blue plaques dedicated to women. Moira crunched some numbers for this article on the CityMetric website:
Which London boroughs have the best gender balance in their blue plaques?