May Highlights in US Women’s History

• May 10, 1872 – Victoria Woodhull is nominated as the first woman candidate for U.S. president.
• May 8, 1914 – President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day
• May 21, 1932 – Amelia Earhart Putnam is the first woman to complete a solo transatlantic flight. She flew from Newfoundland to Ireland, a 2,026-mile trip, in just under 15 hours.
• May 5, 1938 – Dr. Dorothy H. Andersen presents results of her medical research identifying the disease cystic fibrosis at a meeting of the American Pediatric Assn.
• May 1, 1950 – Gwendolyn Brooks is the first black woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for poetry; in May of 1976, she is the first black woman inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
• May 12, 1968 – A 12-block Mother’s Day march of “welfare mothers” is held in Washington, D.C., led by Coretta Scott King accompanied by Ethel Kennedy
• May 21, 1973 – Lynn Genesko, a swimmer, receives the first athletic scholarship awarded to a woman (Univ. of Miami)
• May 3, 1974 – Billie Jean King founds The Women’s Sports Foundation
• May 29, 1977 – Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman to qualify for and complete the Indy 500
• May 7, 1980 – Shirley Hufstedler, former federal judge, becomes the first U.S. Secretary of Education.

May Birthdays

• May 1, 1830 (1930) – Mary Harris “Mother” Jones – Labor leader and organizer
• May 1, 1875 (1912) – Harriet Quimby – First American woman licensed air pilot
• May 3, 1898 (1986) – Septima Clark – Educator; Civil Rights activist; inspiration to Rosa Parks
• May 3, 1912 (1995) – May Sarton – Writer and poet
• May 5, 1865 (1922) – Elizabeth Seaman – “Nelly Bly”; journalist; circled the world in 72 days
• May 11, 1906 (1975) – Ethel Weed – Served in the Women’s Army Corp.; promoted women’s rights and suffrage in Japan; honored by Japanese government for her efforts on behalf of Japanese women
• May 11, 1893 (1991) – Martha Graham – modern dance innovator and choreographer
• May 15, 1937 – Madeline Albright, first woman to be U.S. Secretary of State
• May 19, 1930 (1964) – Lorraine Hansberry – first African American woman to produce a play on Broadway
• May 26, 1951 – Sally Ride – astrophysicist; first American woman astronaut
• May 27, 1907 (1964) – Rachel Carson – Scientist and environmentalist; wrote “The Silent Spring” which became cornerstone of modern environmental protection movement; 2003 National Women’s History Month Honoree
• May 31, 1912 (1997) – Chien-Shiung Wu – Renowned physicist; elected to National Academy of Science; received National Medal of Science