Monday, March 31, 2008

What happened today?

Happy birthday to actress and singer Shirley Jones! Also, today is the anniversary of the deaths of Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and England, Charlotte Brontë, author of Jane Eyre, another British author Enid Bagnold, and Congresswoman Bella Abzug, a noted women's rights champion.

The U.S. Women's History Project

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Gifts of Speech

Gifts of Speech "is a non-profit project, sponsored by Sweet Briar College, dedicated to preserving and creating access to speeches by influential, contemporary women from around the world. The idea for the project originated in 1989 when Liz Kent, a college librarian, was asked to help a student find a speech by Gloria Steinem. Mrs. Kent assumed it would be easy to locate a speech by Ms. Steinem, and was surprised when she could not find one in any of the resources available within her small college library." This episode inspired Gifts of Speech, which began in fall of 1996 with a donation by Dr. John Jaffe, the Director of Sweet Briar College Libraries and Integrated Learning Resources. "An address list of 85 prominent women in leadership positions around the world was compiled and letters were sent to the United States, Ireland, Kenya, Canada, England and Sri Lanka. In response to those 85 letters, 74 speeches were generously returned." Since then, more speeches have been added, and you can browse under the last name of the speech maker, or chronologically. Be sure to check this website out!

The Women's History Project

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Sara Vaughan

Today is singer Sara Vaughan birthday!

The Women's History Project

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Today is U.S. lawyer and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1981–2006) Sandra Day O'Connor's birthday. She was the first woman to join Supreme Court as justice (1981).

The Women's History Project

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

More birthdays!

Today is the birthdate of both Gloria Steinem and Aretha Franklin!

The Women's History Project

Monday, March 24, 2008

Today is Matilda Joslyn Gage and Dorothy Height's birthdays!

The Women's History Project

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Birthdays!

Today is the birthdate of both Fanny Farmer , most famous for her cookbooks, and Bette Nesmith Graham, the inventor of White Out. Also, The National Women's History Project says that on today's date in 1917, "Virginia Woolf establishes the Hogarth Press with her husband, Leonard Woolf."

The Women's History Project