Remarkable American Women
In March we celebrate Women’s History, so I set out to write a blog spotlighting some—women who were leaders, advocates and activists.
Dorothy Height. In 1929, Ms. Height was admitted to Barnard College but was not allowed to attend because the school had apparently met its yearly quota African American students. Instead, she went on to graduate from New York University. She eventually went on to work for the YMCA and joined the National Council of Negro Women beginning a career of fighting for civil rights and equality for black Americans and women. In 1957, she became NCNW’s fourth president, serving in the role for 40 years, and focused on ending the lynching of African Americans, restructuring the criminal justice system, and supporting voter registration in the South. Her prominence in the Civil Rights Movement and unmatched knowledge of organizing were noticed by several presidents who sought her advice.
In her memoir, Open Wide the Freedom Gates, she said, “I am the product of many whose lives have touch mine…” I had the pleasure of hearing Ms. Height speak at a luncheon in Washington DC in the late 1990s. She touched the lives of everyone present in the room that day. Ms. Height died in 2010 at the age of 98.
Ida B. Wells. Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment and Women’s Right to Vote in 2020, it’s only fitting to honor a suffragist. Ida B. Wells was a prominent journalist, activist, and researcher who battled sexism, racism, and violence. During the 1913 Women’s Suffrage Parade, a group of Black women marched in the back at the request of the parade’s organizers—who tried to discourage them from marching at all over concern of alienating Southern politicians. Ms. Wells was having none of this. On the day of the parade, she and her group, the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, marched with the rest of the Illinois delegation near the front.
Throughout her career she called out white suffragists and politicians for their racism and exclusionist views, fought for equal education for Black children and young people, a free press, women’s rights, civil rights, and against lynching. She helped create the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Dolores Huerta. Labor leader, organizer, feminist, and activists for women’s rights, civil rights, and environmental justice, Ms. Huerta is one of the most influential labor activists of the 20th century. After receiving an associate teaching degree, she briefly taught school in the 1950s. She soon discovered that she “couldn’t tolerate seeing kids coming to class hungry and needing shoes. I thought I could do more by organizing farmworkers than by trying to teach their hungry children.” She cofounded the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) with Cesar Chavez in 1962 to help the laborers who planted, tended and picked the vegetables and fruits grown on American farms.
On June 5, 1968, she was on the platform beside Sen. Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles as he delivered his victory speech following his win of the California presidential primary. Only minutes later, Kennedy and five other people were shot walking through the hotel’s kitchen.
These passages just touch on the lives of these amazing women, and there are so many more to learn about. Take some time this month, this year, to learn about these and other remarkable American women.
Cornelia Gamlem