Happy Women’s History Month!
Written by Catelyn Devlin, LMSW – Director of Grants & Contracts
March is International Women’s Month, and we are grateful for all the torchbearers who went before us, lighting the way on how to speak up as advocates. Being the first can be a lonely experience, and we are grateful for their heroism and leadership in carving a path for more to follow in their footsteps. Some of the bold and brave women we want to highlight this month include:
· Grace Lee Boggs – a Chinese American philosopher and social activist. She participated in the 1941 March on Washington. In a spirit of volunteerism shared by CASA, she created Detroit Summer which brought hundreds of volunteers together to work with Detroit children and create community gardens.
· Dr. Antonia C. Novello – the first woman and the first Hispanic Surgeon General of the United States under George H.W. Bush in 1990. Dr. Novello focused on childhood immunization, the impact of HIV/AIDS on children, global nutrition, childhood injury prevention, and improved health care for Hispanic and Black communities.
· Saint and Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray – Pauli Murray was a civil rights activist who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to White passengers in 1940 – fifteen years before Rosa Parks followed in Murray’s footsteps by refusing to give up her seat in 1955. Pauli Murray became a lawyer at Howard University, coined the term Jane Crow to describe the intersection of misogynoir experienced by Black women, and worked to include “sex” as a protected characteristic in the 1964 Civil Rights Act which prohibited discriminating against women in the workplace. Later in life she became the first African American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest and became an Episcopal saint after her death.
How are you honoring and celebrating Women’s History this month? We’d love to hear from you!
Images obtained from Pauli Murray Center and The New Yorker