Women's History

Examines the role of women in politics from the early women's movements to the female politicians in power today. The revised fourth edition includes: a new preface analyzing the 2020 elections, focusing on the historic victory of Kamala Harris and the gendered and racist critiques she endured on the campaign trail; recognition of the centennial of women's suffrage, with greater attention to Black and Indigenous women's often overlooked contributions to the fight for suffrage and expanded rights; election results from the historic 2020 elections when more women filed congressional candidacies than ever before and women's numbers in both Congress and state legislatures reached record highs; analysis of the gender gap in voting in 2020, focusing on both race and gender.updates reflecting President Biden's historic cabinet picks, including Deb Haaland as the first Native American to lead the Department of the Interior and Janet Yellen as the first woman to lead the Treasury Department; coverage of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the nomination and confirmation of her replacement, Amy Coney Barrett.

Amelia Earhart's prominence in American aviation during the 1930s obscures a crucial point: she was but one of a closely knit community of women pilots. Although the women were well known in the profession and widely publicized in the press at the time, they are largely overlooked today. Like Earhart, they wrote extensively about aviation and women's causes, producing an absorbing record of the life of women fliers during the emergence and peak of the Golden Age of Aviation (1925-1940). Earhart and her contemporaries, however, were only the most recent in a long line of women pilots whose activities reached back to the earliest days of aviation. These women, too, wrote about aviation, speaking out for new and progressive technology and its potential for the advancement of the status of women. With those of their more recent counterparts, their writings form a long, sustained text that documents the maturation of the airplane, aviation, and women's growing desire for equality in American society.

From social clubs in New York's Chinatown to conferences for Native American rights, and in African American newspapers and pamphlets demanding equality for Spanish-speaking New Mexicans, a diverse cadre of extraordinary women struggled to build a movement that would truly include all women, regardless of race or national origin. In Recasting the Vote, Cathleen D. Cahill tells the powerful stories of a multiracial group of activists who propelled the national suffrage movement toward a more inclusive vision of equal rights.

This is a story of a girl's construction of her identity, and of her family's search for a place in the world, for the Heimat that is so resonant for those of German background. We follow Helga through an adventurous childhood in Iran, whose vast open spaces her mother called 'my spiritual home'. Her engineer father worked on a grand scale, designing and laying roads and railways, and tunneling through mountain ranges. Then came the invasions of World War II, and the family, half-German, half-Austrian, found themselves on a long voyage to Australia, designated enemy aliens. Everyday life in the Australia of the late 1940s and early 1950s is freshly seen by this feisty, loving migrant family.

In September 1918, World War I was nearing its end when Marguerite E. Harrison, a thirty-nine-year-old Baltimore socialite, wrote to the head of the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence Division (MID) asking for a job. The director asked for clarification. Did she mean a clerical position? No, she told him. She wanted to be a spy. Harrison, a member of a prominent Baltimore family, usually got her way. She had founded a school for sick children and wangled her way onto the staff of the Baltimore Sun. Fluent in four languages and knowledgeable of Europe, she was confident she could gather information for the U.S. government. The MID director agreed to hire her, and Marguerite Harrison became America's first female foreign intelligence officer.

The Emmy Award-winning journalist and anchor of NPR's Latino USA tells the story of immigration in America through her family's experiences and decades of reporting, painting an unflinching portrait of a country in crisis in this memoir that is "quite simply beautiful, written in Maria Hinojosa's honest, passionate voice" (BookPage). An urgent call to fellow Americans to open their eyes to the immigration crisis and understand that it affects us all, this honest and heartrending memoir paints a vivid portrait of how we got here and what it means to be a survivor, a feminist, a citizen, and a journalist who owns her voice while striving for the truth.

From social clubs in New York's Chinatown to conferences for Native American rights, and in African American newspapers and pamphlets demanding equality for Spanish-speaking New Mexicans, a diverse cadre of extraordinary women struggled to build a movement that would truly include all women, regardless of race or national origin. Cahill reveals a new cast of heroines largely ignored in earlier suffrage histories: Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin (Zitkala-Sa), Laura Cornelius Kellogg, Carrie Williams Clifford, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Adelina "Nina" Luna Otero-Warren.

Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Clara Barton, Julia Ward Howe, and Sarah Josepha Hale came from backgrounds that ranged from abject enslavement to New York City's elite. Surmounting social and political obstacles, they emerged before and during the worst crisis in American history, the Civil War. Their actions became strands in a tapestry of courage, truth, and patriotism that influenced the lives of millions--and illuminated a new way forward for the nation.

By reckoning with the big challenges we face together, drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, Kamala Harris offers a master class in problem solving, in crisis management, and leadership in challenging times. Through the arc of her own life, on into the great work of our day, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values.

New Mexico Territory attracted outlaws and desperados as its remote locations guaranteed non-detection while providing opportunists the perfect setting in which to seize wealth. Many wicked women on the run from their pasts headed there seeking new starts before and after 1912 statehood. Colorful characters such as Bronco Sue, Sadie Orchard and Lizzie McGrath were noted mavens of mayhem, while many other women were notorious gamblers, bawdy madams or confidence tricksters. Follow the raucous tales of these wild women in a collection that proves crime in early New Mexico wasn't only a boys' game.

This essential book illustrates the important events and figures surrounding the suffrage movement; literature, art, and music; business leaders and breakthroughs; political history and office holders; advances in science and medicine; and other vital topics.

A celebration of women's history in the U.S. told through Smithsonian artifacts illustrating women's participation in science, art, music, sports, fashion, religion, entertainment, military, politics, and more. This book offers a unique, panoramic look at women's history in the United States through the lens of ordinary objects from, by, and for extraordinary women. Featuring more than 280 artifacts from 16 Smithsonian museums and archives, and more than 135 essays from 95 Smithsonian authors.

Provides a broad overview of many conditions that impact women's health. Each chapter represents a global region, featuring three to four countries, and reviews health goals and outcomes relative to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and World Health Organization discussions on social determinants of health. Cultural forces that impact health are discussed, including environmental risks; access to health care; reproductive health; infectious and noncommunicable diseases; behavioral/mental health; and intersectional identity considerations such as religion, ethnicity, and LGBTQ identity issues.

From the women who first broke through gender barriers to the women who have benefited from their predecessors' ground-breaking determination, the experiences of these athletes are diverse in their triumphs and tribulations. This A-to-Z format biographical dictionary covers notable American women in sports--both athletes and coaches--and is inclusive regionally, chronologically, and multiculturally. There are more than 150 entries, each containing basic biographical data, but focusing on the woman's achievements and contributions in sports.

Second Edition offers fascinating coverage of notable American women who have been proven leaders and activists in both the political and social realms.

Through poetry, essays, biographies, and editing, American women have had a long and significant impact on the art of writing. Millions of American women have told their own stories or the stories of others, or they've used writing as a way to create another world. American Women Writers, Third Edition profiles more than 190 such women, among them poets, essayists, journalists, editors, novelists, memoirists, and numerous other types of writers. This engaging resource examines the stories of women from a wide array of cultures and generations who share a love of writing. These women are also united by the unique challenges facing women writers--some having to opt for masculine pen names in order to be published.

From ancient times to the present day, scientifically inclined women in many cultures have had to battle against the traditional belief that men are more cognitively adept than women. At times throughout history, women were persecuted for their attempts to break down traditional gender barriers. Today, women scientists and mathematicians must continue to defend the quality of their work and demand the respect they deserve in the mathematical and scientific communities.

Profiles American Indian women who have had an impact on American Indian society and the world at large. This volume dispels popular myths and introduces the reader to numerous women whose stories have often remained untold until now.

From colonial tavern keepers and antebellum plantation owners to the financiers and CEOs of modern companies, American women have succeeded in business, despite legal barriers, demanding domestic duties, and attitudes about proper gender roles. Today, according to recent census information, there are 9.9 million women-owned firms in the U.S. Regionally, chronologically, and culturally inclusive, this eBook features more than 160 biographical essays, each highlighting a woman's achievements and contributions to the world of business and describing how the subject developed her particular skills and talents.

Female performers have often played a special role in American culture. Whether through acting, dancing, music, or other forms of performance, these bold women challenged cultural standards merely by seeking the limelight, and many of them, upon achieving stardom, would influence and change public opinions about what women can do. A to Z of American Women in the Performing Arts, Second Edition is an engaging resource that provides readers with insightful, up-to-date biographies of select women in the performing arts from the 19th century to the present. Regionally, chronologically, and culturally inclusive, this eBook includes more than 150 entries profiling film, stage, and television actresses; dancers; musicians; opera stars; and performance artists.

Throughout the nation's history, women in the U.S. have played a role in the creation of art in all media, from the painting and sculpture of yesteryear to the photography and computer-generated art of today. Many of them faced numerous obstacles along the way to greatness--familial responsibilities, limited access to education and training--but managed not only to reach success, but to open the door a little wider for more women to follow them.A to Z of American Women in the Visual Arts, Second Edition is an informative reference work that covers American women in the world of the visual arts from the eighteenth century to the present day. In addition to being regionally, chronologically, and culturally inclusive, the volume reflects a broad definition of visual arts, including photographers, architects, illustrators, craftspeople, and folk artists as well as painters and sculptors.

Chronicles the experiences of American women as they were shaped by factors such as race, class, religion, geographical location, age, and sexual orientation. Begins with a comprehensive look at early America, with gender at the center and looking at the colonizers as well as the colonized. Shows how women's labor shaped the Northern economy, and how slavery affected the lives of both free and enslaved Southern women. Covers 19th century movements led by women (temperance, moral reform, and abolitionism), women's experiences of the Civil War, the Progressive Era, World War I, and 20th century female activism for civil rights.

Divided into three chronologically arranged volumes, the set includes historical surveys and thematic essays on central issues and political changes affecting women's lives during each period. These are followed by A-Z entries on significant events and social movements, laws, court cases and more, as well as profiles of notable American women from all walks of life and all fields of endeavor. Primary sources and original documents are included throughout.

This collection of twenty-four original essays by leading scholars in American women's history highlights important scholarship on the key debates and future directions for research. Covers the breadth of American Women's history, including the colonial family, marriage, health, sexuality, education, immigration, work, consumer culture, and feminism.