5 Influential Woman Activists In American History / International Women's Day
- Olivia Cigliano, Officer
- Mar 9, 2017
- 5 min read
Happy International Women's Day!
I am so excited to kick off our blog on such a significant day! In a time where women are still fighting for an equal pay check, full control over our own bodies, LGBTQ+ rights and respect, and simply an equal place in society as men, we must remain inspired and full of gratitude in order to accomplish our long fought goals. It is important to understand and appreciate the history behind this day and the brave women who fought for our rights to participate in the democratic system, to education, to protection, and more.
"When it comes to the work of the women before us...
Maybe we are not able to pay it back, but we can certainly pay it forward."
-Cleo Wade
1. Mary MacLeod Bethune (1875 – 1955)
Mary MacLeod Bethune was an American educator, stateswoman, philanthropist, humanitarian and civil rights activist.
Bethune was born in South Carolina to parents who were former slaves. As a young girl, she attended her town’s one-room black schoolhouse, being the first member of her family to attend school; everyday she would come home and teach her family the lessons she’d learned in class. Since she was young, she held a strong interest in education and she eventually attended Scotia Seminary (now Barber-Scotia College) to become a missionary in Africa.
In Daytona Beach, Florida she established a school for African-American girls, which later merged with a boy’s school and was namesd the Bethune-Cookman School. She continued to promote education for young African Americans and maintained the office of college president for about 20 years, being one of few women in the world to hold this position.
After contributing to the campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, she advised him on concerns of black people. She lobbied federal officials, including FDR, on behalf of African-American women who wanted to join the military.
2. Alice Paul (1885 – 1977)
Alice Paul was an American suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist.
Paul was born in New Jersey in 1885 and went onto college in Swarthmore college in 1905. She later furthered her education through graduate work in New York City and London. During her time in London, Paul became politically active, joining Britain’s women suffrage movement, participating in hunger strikes, and subsequently was jailed several times.
Later, she helped establish the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage with Lucy Burns in 1913 (later renamed the National Woman's Party). National Woman’s Party members, also know as the “Silent Sentinels”, were the first group to picket at the White House. They did this in 1917 to protest Woodrow Wilson’s administration, leading to Paul’s arrests in October and November.
During the 1910s, Paul was a major leader and suffragette in the fight for the Nineteenth Amendment (“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex”) which was enacted in 1919. She spent her next 50 years as the leader of the National Woman’s Party.
In the 1960s, Paul was a powerful force in the inclusion of protection for women in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an accomplishment she had been fighting for since 1945.
Paul continued to fight for equal rights until her death at the age of 92, leaving behind a legacy that granted women the legal protection to be heard in the most powerful democracy in the world.
3. Dorothy Height (1912-2010)
Dorothy Height was an activist for both women's rights and civil rights, focused primarily on improving the circumstances of African Americans and improving their opportunities.
Height was born in Virginia and during her youth, moved to Rankin, Pennsylvania where she attended racially integrated schools. In high school, Height participated by speaking in anti-lynching campaigns. After her acceptance to Barnard college in New York, it was later taken back because the school's quota for black students had been reached. She then applied to New York University and earned two degrees there.
Not long after working at the YWCA in Harlem in the late '30s, Height was pleased to meet Mary MacLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt upon their visit to her facility. Height later began to volunteer for the National Council of Negro Women. Her most influential achievements was her directing of the integration of all YWCA centers in '46. She established and ran the Center for Racial Justice and became president of the NCNW in '57. She soon became a major figure in the Civil Rights Movement, working with Martin Luther King Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, John Lewis and James Farmer on different campaigns and initiatives.
Height was one of the organizers of the March on Washington in '63 and later described the experience as eye-opening. She told the Los Angeles Times that her male counterparts "were happy to include women in the human family, but there was no question as to who headed the household". She decided to join the fight for women's rights and established the National Women's Political Caucus with Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Shirley Chisholm.
Height later returned to the YWCA to run it for another two decades. In 1990, her along with 15 others, she stated a group called the African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom.
Height passed away in April 2010. Her service was attended by many notable civil rights leaders as well as Barack and Michelle Obama.
4. Gloria Steinem (born March 25, 1934)
Gloria Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist, who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Steinem was born in Ohio to a family who constantly traveled the country in a trailer, learning through stories from Americans of various of backgrounds.
At the age of 22, Steinem had an abortion in London which became the “big click” that began her life as an active feminist, knowing that it was the first time she had taken responsibility for her own body and life. In 1969, she published an article, "After Black Power, Women's Liberation" which brought her to national attention as a new feminist leader. In 1972, she co-founded the widely popular feminist magazine Ms. with Dorothy Pitman Hughes and in 1971, Steinem was one of over three hundred women who founded the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC). In 1992, Steinem co-founded Choice USA, a non-profit organization which supports a younger generation that lobbies for reproductive choice.
Steinem was involved in the presidential campaigns of ‘68, ‘72, ‘04, ‘08, and ‘16 and acted as honorary co-chair and speaker at the Women’s March on January 21st, 2017. Even at the age of 82, Steinem continues to speak out for social justice for all Americans.
5. Angela Davis (born January 26, 1944)
Angela Davis is an American political activist, academic scholar, and author.
She was born in Birmingham, Alabama and during her youth, she was an active Girl Scout, which she attributes much of her political involvement to.
Davis later moved to attend Brandeis University in Massachusetts to study Philosophy. As a graduate student at the University of California in the late ‘60s, she became associated with several groups including the Black Panthers. However, most of her time was spent with the Che-Lumumba Club, an all-black branch of the Communist Party.
In the 1960s, she was a leader of the Communist Party USA but left it in 1991 and founded the Committees for Correspondance for Democracy and Socialism. Davis also was a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national grassroots organization focused on building a movement to abolish the prison-industrial complex. Her public speaking focused on her opposition to the Vietnam War (‘69), racism, sexism, the prison-industrial complex, and her support of gay rights as well as other social justice movements.
Davis was an honorary co-chair of the Women’s March on January 21st, 2017. Davis remains active in the fight for social justice in America.
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