02-25-95 Women of Achievement and Herstory

      This excerpt sums up why HERstory is necessary and why HIStory
as taught in our schools fails all of us. 
      "Historians went their accustomed way, writing about men and the
things men do, and calling their work 'history' ... then in the 1960's things
began to change.  There had always been some historians who went beyond
or behind politics to the society itself, who examined the way people lived
and what they though about and what their most deeply held values were. 
      "In the 1960's this view and the kinds of questions it engendered
began to spread.  This new social history attracted many young scholars
and gave rise to an ever-increasing amount of exciting work.  The
development in France and England of new research techniques, which
made it possible to ask and answer question about large numbers of
hitherto unexamined groups, provided an added impetus to the growing
concern with the history of society.
      "All this was going on as a resurgent feminism stirred many women
to wonder about the lives and experiences of their mothers and
grandmothers and all the other women who had lived and died unnoticed
since the first European settlement.  Some even began to wonder about the
women who were here when the Europeans arrived and about the African
women brought here against their will.  Feminism also emboldened an
increasing number of women to seek advanced training and to become
professional historians.  The combination of these developments has led to
an explosion of studies about women and families which are remaking the
historical landscape. "
      -- Suzanne Lebsock, _A Share of Honour: Virginia Women 1600-1945_.
Richmond, Virginia: The Virginia Women's Cultural History Project, 1984.

02-25 Anniversaries ..............................................

      B. 02-25-1842, Ida Lewis, in 1879 after 22 years of keeping the Lime
Rock Lighthouse in Newport, Rhode Island harbor, IL was officially
designated the first woman Keeper of the Light. During her lifetime she
saved at least two dozen people from drowning by going out alone in a
small row boat to rescue them regardless of the weather.  She had started
taking care of the light at age 15 when her father was paralyzed by a
stroke.  He died seven years later and for the next 15 years she tended
the light by herself and without title. Eventually her fame spread and she
was honored in numerous ceremonies and President Grant paid his
respects. 

      B. 02-25-1907, Mary Coyle Chase, playwright.  Won 1944-45 Pulitzer
prize for _Harvey_.  Her mother came from Ireland at 16 to keep house for
her four brothers.

      B. 02-25-1910, Millicent Fenwick, US Representative, New Jersey
known as the conscience of the Congress.  Doonesbury's Rep. Stacey     
is modeled after her.  Her mother died in the sinking of the Lusitania.

      Event 02-25-1972, the Rochester, NY, Junior Chamber of Commerce
chapter was suspended by the national organization because it admitted
women as members. (yes, 19777772 - only 23 years ago.)

      Event 02-25-1986, Corazon Aquino declared duly elected president of
the Phillipines.

Quotes du jour ......................................................

      "Women have always fought for men - and for their children.  Now
they are ready to fight for their own human rights.  Our militant movement
is established."
            -- Emmeline Pankhurst, My Own Story.

            -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

(C) 1995 Irene Stuber, PO Box 6185, Hot Springs National Park, AR 71902,
irenestuber@delphi.com. Distribute verbatim copies freely with copyright
notice for non-profit use. Don't let anyone tell you there weren't notable
and effective women throughout history.  They were always there, but
historians failed to note them in our histories so that each generation of
women has had to reinvent themselves.