Mary Lyon was an American pioneer in women's education
Alice Hamilton was an American doctor and expert in Occupational Health. Hamilton qualified as a doctor in 1893 and studied bacteriology and pathology in Europe before returning to Chicago in 1897. Her interest in occupational illnesses and injuries was sparked by seeing the effects they had on the people of Chicago. Hamilton sat on the Occupational Diseases Commission of Illinois and was the first woman appointed to the faculty at Harvard University. See also http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/online-resources/chemistry-in-history/themes/public-and-environmental-health/public-health-and-safety/hamilton.aspx Emma Hart Willard was an American women's rights activist and educator. She became a teacher and started the Middlebury Female Seminary at her home in 1814. This is now Emma Willard House and houses the Middlebury College Admissions Office. Willard went on to open Waterford Academy (which failed due to lack of funding) then the Troy Female Seminary in New York. The seminary was renamed Emma Willard School in 1895 and exists to this day as a girls' boarding school. Willard also travelled a great deal and wrote several books. See http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/emmawillard.html for more information on Emma Willard Mary Barbour, 22nd Feb 1875 – 2nd April 1958Mary Rough Barbour was born in Kilbarchan, Scotland and moved to Govan in Glasgow when she married. Barbour became politically active after joining the Kinning Park Co-operative Guild. Barbour was a founder of the South Govan Women's Housing Association, first female Labour Councillor on Glasgow Town Council (1920), Glasgow Corporation's first woman Baillie, and one of the first female magistrates in Glasgow. See http://www.gcu.ac.uk/radicalglasgow/chapters/mary-barbour.html Betty Gathergood was the third curator of Dr Johnson's House, following on from her mother (Phyllis Rowell) and her grandmother (Isabella Dyble). Interestingly, since the 300 year old townhouse was opened to the public, all the curators have been women. To see more about the house http://www.drjohnsonshouse.org/charity.html To read more about Betty Gathergood see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-betty-gathergood-1352618.html Also interesting is I don't have a photo of Betty Gathergood but will add one if/when I find one. Lydia Child was an American women's & "Indian" rights activist, abolitionist and journalist. Child was an organizer in anti-slavery societies and wanted women to have equal rights in these organisations. In 1839 she was elected to the Board of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) and edited the Anti-Slavery Standard from 1840 - 1843. She became disillusioned with the AASS because of in-fighting and a refusal, on the part of the AASS to renounce violence in the fight against slavery. Child wrote both factual and fictional pieces and believed that fiction could reach people that factual reporting couldn't. Child was a founder of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association. Kate Bushnell was an American writer, doctor, temperance worker and medical missionary to China. While in China, Bushnell realised that some passages in the Bible had been translated differently, to fit in with Chinese attitudes to women. Recognising that male bias also applied to Western translations, Bushnell wrote "God’s Word to Women" in 1908, which tackled the passages of the bible that claimed women were inferior. At the end of the 19th Century, Bushnell travelled the world with Elizabeth Andrew as Temperance Workers. Two interesting letters of introduction were published in Australian newspapers. They can be seen here For more information about "God's Word to Women" see http://www.calvin.edu/news/2010-11/forgotten-bible/ Rosa Parks was perhaps the most famous female Civil Rights Activist. In 1955 Parks took a seat on a bus just behind the area reserved for white passengers. When the white section filled up, the driver told her to give up her seat and Parks refused. Parks was arrested and charged and found guilty of disorderly conduct, enabling her to challenge the legality of racial segregation through her appeal. Today would have been Rosa Parks' 100th birthday. Rosa Parks interview: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0int-1 See also http://www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715 and the story behind the bus http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp Although born in the UK, Elizabeth Blackwell moved to the USA at 11. After her father's death when she was just 17, Blackwell, with her mother and sister opened a school. Blackwell later decided to study medicine and was accepted by Geneva Medical School, New York in 1847. Having previously studied privately, she graduated in 1849 - the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. Blckwell practiced medicine in the US, England and Europe and later became involved in Social Reform work. In the late 1860s, Blackwell opened a medical school for women - the Women’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary. http://www.biography.com/people/elizabeth-blackwell-9214198 Sarah Hackett Stevenson, 2nd Feb 1841 - 14th August 1909 Sarah Stevenson was an American Physician and the first woman to be a member of the American Medical Association. She gained her first degree in 1863 and graduated as an MD in Chicago in 1874. In 1880, Sarah Stevenson and Lucy Flowers founded the Illinois Training School for Nurses. Winifred Goldring, 1st Feb 1888 – 30th Jan 1971 Winifred Goldring was an American Paleontologist and was the first woman to hold the position of State Paleontologist. Goldring was an authority on stromatolites and Devonian Crinoids. In 1949 she was elected president of the Paleontological Society, a position (even now) only held by two women in a male dominated field |
AuthorI'm an amateur historian interested in Women's History, Social History, Social Reformers, the Temperance Movement, and the (so far) unwritten histories of "ordinary" people. Archives
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