MY
W E E K L Y
W O R D
SPECIAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH EDITION
3.14.21
My highlighting select achievements and milestones continues for Women's History Month, and this week starts with a warrior of the Civil Rights Movement, Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer. (to see previous Women History Month posts, click here)
WOMEN'S HISTORY THIS WEEK... | 3/14 - 3/20
by Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely
(click on images for further details, with a new entry added each day)
March 14, 1977: OTD the civil rights grassroots warrior Fannie Lou Hamer passed away. She went from the sharecropping system to fighting for her rights via SNCC to co-founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to running for Congress on its ticket to her famed '64 DNC Speech.
March 16, 1846: OTD the birth of Dr. Rebecca Cole, the 2nd African American woman to become a physician (Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was first), is celebrated. She would go on to work with the first woman to earn an M.D., Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, before moving on to other accomplishments.
March 18, 1942: OTD is the birthday of my dear friend & fellow SNCC activist, Kathleen Collins (w/me in photo at post-church burning event), also an acclaimed writer-director-producer & one of the 1st Black women with a U.S. released feature film. Among her films is the revered LOSING GROUND. Also an esteemed playwright, whose work is still lauded. She left us too soon at 46, but her daughter has kept her works alive.
March 20, 1852: OTD Harriet Beecher Stowe had a milestone, and in recognition that, I want to acknowledge the heroism of Harriet Bell Hayden, someone that both Ms. Stowe and my great-great grandparents knew. In fact, Mrs. Hayden, along with her husband, Lewis, gave shelter to them at their home--an Underground Railroad stop. Mrs. Hayden's also known for her famed photo albums of renowned abolition figures. She also established a Harvard Medical Scholarship fund.
March 15, 1933: OTD the 2nd woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born. Beyond her groundbreaking work as an attorney in gender equality, two of her major decisions as a Supreme Court Justice upheld the ACA and made same sex marriage legal in all 50 states.
March 17, 1905: OTD Eleanor Roosevelt married FDR, I note this, because based on what she did as First Lady it is likely in the 21st Century Eleanor would have been an elected or appointed official on her own earned merit. She also means a lot, because my mother admired her & my grandmother actually had tea with her at the Roosevelt Hyde Park home after randomly meeting her in NYC.
March 19, 2021: OTD marks 24 hrs. since the 1st Native American U.S. Cabinet member AND Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, had her 2nd swearing in with the 1st female & BIPOC U.S. Vice President, Kamala Harris. My heart is full seeing this image of Secretary Haaland in tribal clothing with her artist-activist daughter, Somáh Haaland, and imagining how ancestors of all tribes are celebrating this "coming home" to oversee the land once stolen...
© 2021 Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely. All rights reserved.