Women's History Timeline
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| Sojourner Truth |
First Women’s rights convention is held in Seneca Falls , New York.
1851:
Sojourner Truth delivers her famous “Ain’t I A Woman” speech at a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio.
1866:
Newly freed black women, working as laundresses in Jackson, Mississippi, form a union and strike for higher wages.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton |
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony organize the National Woman Suffrage Association to fight for women’s rights, especially the right to vote.
1869:
Women shoe stitchers from six states form the first national women’s labor organization, the Daughters of St. Crispia.
1874:
The Women’s Christian Temperance Union is founded to fight alcohol abuse in the United States.
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| Sophia Smith |
Sophia Smith is the first woman to found and endow a women’s college Smith College.
1879:
Belva Ann Lockwood becomes the first woman lawyer to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
1881:
The American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton.
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| Florence Kelly |
The Knights of Labor, the first large-scale national labor federation, votes and agrees to admit women.
1890:
Florence Kelly begins her lifetime of work in Chicago for the early passage of state labor laws for women.
1895:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton publishes the first volume of The Woman’s Bible, in which she revises biblical passages that degrade women.
1896:
The National Association of Colored Women, founded by Margaret Murray Washington, unites black women’s organizations, with Mary Chruch Terell its first president.
1901:
Maggie Walker is the first African-American woman to establish and manage a bank.
1902:
Agnes Nestor helps for the International Glove Workers Union.
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| Mother Jones |
Mary Harris Jones, nicknamed “Mother” Jones, led a 125-mile march of child workers to bring the evils of child labor to the attention of the President and the national press.
1903:
Marie Curie is awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of radioactivity.
1903:
Working and upper-class women join forces in forming the Women’s Trade Union League, hoping to persuade male-dominated unions to take women workers more seriously.
1903:
Rose Schneiderman becomes the founder of the Jewish Socialist United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers Union.
1905:
Madame C.J. Walker created a line of beauty products for African-American people, eventually employing almost 3,000 Black women and becoming the first Black woman millionaire in the United States.
1909:
Women garment workers strike in NY for better wages and working conditions in the Uprising of the 20,000. Over 300 shops eventually sign union contracts.
1910:
Washington State grants women the right to vote.
1910:
Alice Stebbins Wells becomes the first female police officer.
1911:
The great fire of the Triangle Shirwaist Company claims the lives of 149 workers, mostly young women, who are trapped inside due to poor working and safety conditions.
1912:
Women and children are beaten by police during a textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
1915:
Nellie Taylor Ross is elected first woman governor in the U.S. for the sate of Wyoming.
1916:
Margaret Sanger opens the first birth control clinic.
1917:
Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress.
1918:
United Mine Workers organizer Fannie Sellin was gunned down by company guards in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania.
1920:
After 72 years of struggle, women win the right to vote with the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1920:
Lila Acheson Wallace is cofounder of the “Reader’s Digest.”
1921:
Margaret Sanger organizes the American Birth Control League, which evolves into the Federation of Planned Parenthood in 1942.
1923:
Maud Howe Elliot and Laura Howe Richards are the first women to win the Pulitzer Prize for biography with their profile of their mother, entitled Julia Ward Howe.
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| Gertrude Ederle |
Women compete for the first time in Olympic field events.
1928:
The first woman to swim the English Channel is U.S swimmer Gertrude Ederle, doing it in record breaking time and beating the fastest man’s record by 1 hour and 49 minutes.
1930:
Ellen Church, a registered nurse, becomes the first airline flight attendant.
1931:
Jane Addams wins the Nobel Peace Prize for her lifetime dedication to the cause of international peace. Addams opened “Hull House” in a run-down Chicago neighborhood a community center to improve conditions for poor immigrants.
1932:
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
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| Frances Perkins |
Laura Ingalls Wilder releases the first book in here series “Little House.”
1933:
Frances Perkins becomes Secretary of Labor, the first woman cabinet member in U.S. history.
1934:
Lettie Pate Whitehead becomes the first American woman to serve as a director of a major corporation, The Coca-Cola Company.
1935:
Under FDR’s New Deal Congress passes the Wagner Act, which creates the National Labor Relations Board and requires private employers to deal with unions and not discriminate against union members.
1936:
AFSCME is founded.
1937:
Mary Bannon becomes AFSCME’s first woman IVP.
1937:
Rosina Tucker helps to organize the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and begins the International Ladies Auxiliary, providing financial and emotional backing for the brotherhood.
1939:
Marian Anderson performs and Easter Sunday concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after having been barred earlier from singing in Washington’s Constitution Hall because she was black.
1941:
A massive government and industry media campaign persuades women to take jobs during the war.
1942:
About 350,000 women serve in the armed forces during WWII. Many more provide support services. About 100,000 of those women serve in the U.S. Navy as WAVES—Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services
1945:
Dorothy Shaver is named President of clothing giant Lord and Taylor. Her salary is $110,000 the highest of any U.S. woman, yet about a fourth of what the men in similar positions make at that time.
1945:
Madia Springee-Kemp becomes the first African-American woman to represent labor abroad when she is chosen for a labor exchange program in England. Late she would go to Africa for 10 years as an AFL-CIO international representative.
1950:
30% of all women are in the paid labor force. More than half of all single women and more than a quarter of married women.
1951:
Marion Donovan invents the disposable diaper.
1955:
Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization, is founded in San Francisco.
1956:
Bette Nesmith Graham develops “Liquid Paper,” a white paint that is used to correct typing errors.
1962:
Rachel Carson, a writer and biologist, touched off an international controversy about the environmental effects of pesticides with her book, “The Silent Spring.” The book became a best-seller and the foundation of modern ecological awareness and was then-on considered the mother of the environmental movement.
1963:
The Equal Pay Act establishes equal pay for men and women performing the same job duties.
1963:
Betty Friedan’s best-seller, The Feminine Mystique, is published, laying the groundwork for the modern feminist movement.
1965:
Weeks v. Southern Belle marks a major triumph in the fight against restrictive labor laws and company regulations on the hours and conditions of women’s work, opening many previously male-only jobs to women.
1965:
Phyllis Peterson and Julie Walsh are the first female members of the American Stock Exchange.
1966:
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded.
1967:
California becomes the first state to re-legalize abortion.
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Shirley Chisholm |
After her two-year construction of a radio telescope, Susan Bell Burnell discovers the first 4 pulsars.
1968:
Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman elected to Congress. Four years later, she became the first black person to run for President in the Democratic primaries.
1970:
Betty Friedan organizes the first Women’s Equality Day, August 26th, to mark the 50th anniversary of women’s right to vote.
1971:
The National Women’s Political Caucus is founded.
1971:
The first battered women’s shelter opens in the U.S. in Urbana, IL.
1972:
Congress passes the Equal Rights Amendment, 49 years after it was introduced.
1972:
Title IX, which ensures equal funding for both male and female sports in schools, is passed.
1972:
Sally Priesand becomes the first U.S. woman ordained as a rabbi in Reform Judaism
1973:
The National Black Feminist Organization is established.
1973:
In Roe V. Wade, the Supreme Court establishes a woman’s right to abortion.
1974:
Coalition for Labor Union Women is founded.
1976:
In a groundbreaking law, marital rape becomes a crime in Nebraska.
1977:
Two thousand delegates attend the National Conference on Women in Houston. It is the largest conference on women’s issues in U.S. history.
1977:
Michelle Barnes wins the first sexual harassment suit, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
1977:
Kay Koplovitz starts the independent cable network MSG Sports which later becomes the USA Cable Network.
1978:
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act to ban employment discrimination against pregnant women.
1979:
The first meeting of AFSCME’s Women’s Rights Committee is held.
1979:
First AFSCME Regional Women’s Conference is held in Washington, DC. With the theme “A Woman’s Place is in the Union,” the conference stressed working through union locals to identify and resolve the problems facing working women.
1980:
The “gender gap” first shows up at the election polls as women report different political priorities than men.
1981:
At the request of women’s organizations, President Carter proclaims the first “National Women’s History Week,” incorporating March 8, International Women’s Day.
1981:
Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
1982:
Maya Lin, a 21-year-old undergraduate at Yale University, wins a national competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.
1982:
AFSCME’s first Equal Partners Breakfast is held at the Atlantic City convention
1982:
The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Executive Council establishes the CBTU National Women’s Committee and appoints Reverend Addie L. Wyatt as its first chair.
1983:
AFSCME’s Women’s Rights Department is officially established.
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| Alice Walker |
Sally Ride becomes America’s first female astronaut when she spends six days in space.
1983:
Alice Walker author of “The Color Purple,” becomes the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
1984:
EMILY’s List is founded to raise funds for feminist candidates.
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| Wilma Mankiller |
Wilma Mankiller is named principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the first woman to lead a major Native American tribe.
1986:
Dorothy Brunson is the first African-American woman to own a television station>
1986:
The Supreme Court declares sexual harassment is a form of illegal job discrimination.
1986:
1,700 female flight attendants win an 18-year lawsuit against United Airlines, which had fired them for getting married.
1987:
The U.S. Congress declares March to be National Women’s History Month.
1987:
The Feminist Majority Foundation is founded by Ellie Smeal to help women candidates win public offices.
1988:
AFSCME membership becomes 50 percent women.
1988:
AFSCME Iowa Council 61 scores a $1.3 million win she an arbitrator ruled that AFSCME-represented state employees victimized by sex-based pay discrimination were entitled to an additional step.
1989:
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida becomes the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress.
1990:
Throughout the decade women in their twenties, calling themselves “the third wave” feminists, form myriad on- and off- campus organizations to tackle their generation’s particular concerns and vulnerabilities.
1990:
The number of Black women in elective office has increased from 131 in 1970 to 1,950 in 1990.
1990:
AFSCME Council 31 and the State of Illinois win a major pay discrimination case, rewarding 50 Veteran Service Officer Associates thousands of dollars in back pay and a four grade upgrade.
1992:
“The Year of The Woman” A record number of women run for public, office, and win.
24 are newly elected to the House of Representatives and 6 to the Senate.
1992:
The National Organization for Women leads more than 750,000 men and women in a march on Washington D.C. to support reproductive rights.
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|
Carol Moseley-Braun |
Women are now paid an average of 71 cents for every dollar paid to men. The range is from 64 cents for working-class women to 77 cents for professional women with doctorates. Black women earned 65 cents, Latinas, 54 cents.
1992:
Carole Moseley-Braun becomes the first African-American woman to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.
1992:
Women win all five of the gold medals won by Americans during the Winter Olympics.
1993:
The Family Medical Leave Act bill is signed by Clinton and put into effect.
1994:
The Violence Against Women Act tightens federal penalties for sex offenders, funds services for victims of rape and domestic violence, and provides for special training of police officers.
1994:
Congress adopts the Gender Equity in Education Act to train teachers, promote math and science learning by girls, counsel pregnant teens, and prevent sexual harassment.
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| Madeline Albright |
U.S. women achieve spectacular success in the Summer Olympics, bringing home 19 gold medals 10 silver, and 9 bronze.
1996:
Madeline Albright becomes the first woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State.
1997:
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Claudia Kennedy is promoted to lieutenant general, making her the first female three-star-general.
1997:
Pat Henry becomes the first American woman to sail solo around the world.
1997:
The eight-team Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) debuts.
2000:
Hillary Clinton becomes the first First Lady to be elected to public office.
2001:
Condoleeza Rice is the first woman to serve as national security advisor.
2002:
Halle Barry becomes the first African-American woman to win and Academy Award for best female actress.
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