First woman to swim across Atlantic

Read all about 56-year-old Jennifer Figge who becames the first woman to swim across the Atlantic Ocean! She left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa on January 12 and arrived at Chacachacare Island, in Trinidad on February 5, "swimming about 2,100 miles (3,380 kilometers)." http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-atlanticswim020809&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Inspirational coach dies

North Carolina State's women's basketball coach, Kay Yow, passed away this morning at age 66. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, and was admitted to the hospital last week. Yow raised awareness and support for breast cancer research throughout her battle with the disease, and was a "giver and she gave so much to every life she touched,” Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. Yow also coached NC's team, the Wolfpack, from 1975-2009; had over 700 career wins; and was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

She will be much missed, and our thoughts are with her family in this time of grief.

For a more detailed report, click here: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/news?slug=ap-obit-kayyow&prov=ap&type=lgns.

Amelia Earhart Museum

Check out the website for the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum in Atchison, Kansas: http://www.ameliaearhartmuseum.org/.

Timeline from The Ninety-Nines

Check out an Amelia Earhart timeline from The Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots, created "in 1929 by 99 licensed women pilots for the mutual support and advancement of aviation." http://www.ninety-nines.org/earhart.html

Sylvia Pankhurst

Today is British suffragist Sylvia Pankhurst's birthday!
http://sylviapankhurst.gn.apc.org/sylvia.htm

Interview with Charles J. Shields

Check out our exchange with Charles J. Shields, author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee and I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee. Many thanks to Mr. Shields for his time, patience and excellent responses! (You can visit his website at www.charlesjshields.com/.)

1. WHP: How did you first become interested in Harper Lee and writing a biography about her?
Charles J. Shields: When I began researching MOCKINGBIRD: A Portrait of Harper Lee, I was intrigued by these questions too of course, but in my mind, even more puzzling was: How can so little be known about the author of one of the most popular novels of the 20th century? And, why are the few facts available about her often inconsistent?

2. WHP: What was your research process like for your books Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee and I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee?
CJS: Harper Lee’s friends are not the type who will leave behind archives and memoirs. She never associated with literary people, except for Truman Capote. Consequently, I had to interview hundreds of persons who know or remembered her. It was almost like an oral history.

3. WHP: How did you adapt Mockingbird to your version for young adults, I Am Scout?
CJS: I changed the reading level from twelfth grade (the way the New York Times is written) to about eighth grade (People magazine). Also, I removed information that was not strictly necessary to know in order to appreciate Lee’s life. The result was that the young adult version was half the length of the adult version.

4. WHP: How would your describe Harper Lee in one word?
CJS: Consistent. Miss Lee has been remarkably consistent her entire life: she’s a nonconformist. I was surprised that the roughhousing girl of the 1930s was also the author of such a gentle book, and that she remained independent and a skeptic into middle age and beyond. Friends know her as warm, but she really doesn’t care about what anybody thinks of her.

5. WHP: How do you think Harper Lee fits into American women's history?
CJS: She is genderless and I think that’s refreshing. She belongs to a generation (she’s 84) that usually doesn’t identify with feminism, but her narrator, Scout, with the author intending it, is an example model for young women.

(Thanks for reading!)

What happened in women's history today?

Today is former Olympic swimmer Debbie Meyer's birthday. Also on today's date in 1986 "Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper retires from active duty in the US Navy. A pioneering computer scientist and inventor of the computer compiler, she was the oldest officer still on active duty at the time of her retirement," says the National Women's History Project.

A Catch-up List of August 1-7 Birthdays

A quick catch-up on happenings in women's history for this first week of August!

August 1st: Astronomer Maria Mitchell's birthday.
August 2nd: Chilean author Isabelle Allende's birthday.
August 3rd: Senior rights activist Maggie Kuhn's and entrepreneur, author and T.V. personality Martha Stewart's birthdays.
August 4th: White House correspondent Helen Thomas's birthday.
August 6th: Actress Lucille Ball's, tennis player Helen Jacob's, and lawyer and suffragist Inez Millhollan Boissevain's birthdays. Also, the "1965 Voting Rights Act outlaws the discriminatory literacy tests that had been used to prevent African Americans from voting," says the National Women's History Project.

Today is suffragist Paulina Wright Davis's and labor organizer and leader Elizabeth Gurley Flynn's birthdays.

New Harper Lee book for teens

Harper Lee's famous novel To Kill A Mockingbird is read by thousands across America. Yet little is known about the author herself. Check out Charles J. Shields' detailed and absorbing 2008 book I Am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee (an adapted version for young adults of his New York Times Bestseller Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee) with information from archives and interviews with Lee and those who knew her. You can also read I Am Scout discussion guides at http://www.charlesjshields.com/PDF/I_Am_Scout_Guide.pdf.

The Women's History Project

What happened in women's history on June 18th?

On June 18th, Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 dollars in her attempt to vote in the 1872 presidential election; Sally Ride became the first American woman in space; and aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.


The Women's History Project

Connie Chung

On today's date in 1993, "Connie Chung becomes the second woman to co-anchor evening news, 7 years after Barbara Walters became the first in 1976," says NWHP. Today is also Marilyn Monroe's birthday.

The Women's History Project

Gale Schools' Women's History Resources

Gale Schools has lots of resources for students and educators; check out their women's history features for kids at http://www.galeschools.com/womens_history/index.htm.

The Women's History Project

Birthdays!

We apologize for the lack of posts lately! On today's date, Lorraine Hansberry was born; she was the first women to have a play produced on Broadway with A Raisin in the Sun. Today is also the birthday of British politician Nancy Astor, who was the was the first woman to serve in the British House of Commons; and Nora Ephron, an actress and screenwriter known for her strong female roles.

The Women's History Project

Nellie Bly and Dorothy Andersen

Happy birthday to writer Nellie Bly! Also on today's date, in 1938, "Dr. Dorothy H. Andersen presents results of her medical research identifying the disease cystic fibrosis at a meeting of the American Pediatric Assn."

The Women's History Project

Audrey Hepburn

Happy birthday Audrey Hepburn! Check out http://www.audreyhepburn.com/, http://www.fabaudrey.com/, http://www.reelclassics.com/Actresses/Audrey/audrey.htm, and http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000030/.

The Women's History Project

What happened in women's history today?

Happy birthday to Israeli political leader Golda Meir, civil rights activist and educator Septima Clark (1898-1986), and writer (1912-1995) May Sarton. Also on today's date in 1974 was when Billie Jean King founded The Women's Sports Foundation, an organization which works to "advance the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity."

The Women's History Project

Today is Ellen Zwilich's birthday. She was the "first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music," says NWHP, in 1983. She won for her Symphony No. I (Three Movements for Orchestra), which was "commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra and premiered by that orchestra on May 5, 1982 in Alice Tully Hall, New York City," says the Pulitzer Prize website.

The Women's History Project

Harper Lee

Happy birthday to award-winning American author Harper Lee, famous for her novel To Kill A Mocking Bird.

The Women's History Project

In 1977, NWHP says, "18 women in the House of Representatives form the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues ." Also, our apologies for incorrectly stating that Anne Sullivan Macy's birthday was yesterday; the date is actually the 14th. Sorry for the mistake.

The Women's History Project

Happy Birthday

Today, dancer Irene Castle and singer Billie Holiday were born.

The U.S. Women's History Project