Welcome to July, which is Women’s History Month in the U.S.!
There are lots of interesting books that celebrate these events!
- July 2, 1979 – The Susan B. Anthony dollar is released
- July 2, 1937 – Amelia Earhart’s plane is lost in the Pacific Ocean near Howland Island
- July 2, 1964 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act; Title VII prohibits sex discrimination in employment
- July 4, 1876 – Suffragists crash the Centennial Celebration in Independence Hall to present the Vice President with the “Declaration of the Rights of Women” written by Matilda Joselyn Gage
- July 6, 1957 – Althea Gibson is the first African American woman player to win a Wimbledon title in women’s tennis singles
- Try Reading: I Always Wanted to Be Somebody by Althea Gibson
- July 7, 1981 – President Reagan nominates Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman Supreme Court Justice
- July 12, 1984 – Representative Geraldine Ferraro (D-New York) is chosen as the first female to run for Vice President of the United States on the Democratic Party ticket with Walter Mondale (D-Minnesota)
- Try Reading: Ferraro: My Story by Geraldine Ferraro
- July 14, 1917 – 16 women from the National Women’s Party were arrested while picketing the White House demanding universal women’s suffrage; they were charged with obstructing traffic
- July 19-20, 1848 – The Seneca Falls Convention, the country’s first women’s rights convention, is held in Seneca Falls, New York Women’s Rights Movement
- July 20, 1942 – The first class of Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) begins at Fort Des Moines, IA
What about you, reader?
How do you celebrate Women’s History Month?