March is Women’s History Month

To address the absence of information about women in America’s schools, the National Women’s History Project led a movement to have Congress designate a celebration to recognize women’s historic achievements. The goal was to ensure that information about the myriad ways women have changed America would be part of our children’s education.

In 1980, President Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation calling on the American people to remember the contributions of women. By 1987, fourteen governors had declared March as Women’s History Month, and that same year, Congress and the president followed by declaring March as National Women’s History Month.

This year’s theme, "Women: Builders of Communities and Dreams," honors the spirit of possibility and hope set in motion by generations of women in their creation of communities and their encouragement of dreams.

Community comes in many forms, and dreams change, expand and are sometimes fulfilled. "Women: Builders of Communities and Dreams" honors women for bringing communities together and restoring hope in the face of impossible odds.

The purpose of women’s history is not to idealize women. On the contrary, the stories of women’s achievements present an expanded view of the complexity and contradiction of living a full and purposeful life.

Learning about the extraordinary achievements of women helps diminish the tendency to dismiss and trivialize who women are and what they accomplish. In celebrating women’s historic achievements, we present an authentic view of history. The knowledge of women’s history provides a more expansive vision of what a woman can do. This perspective can encourage girls and women to think larger and bolder and can give boys and men a fuller understanding of the female experience.

How are our children—girls and boys alike—going to understand the importance of women to American culture and history if their education includes little or nothing about the significance of women’s contributions?

We know from research and from anecdotal studies that learning the stories of women’s success, talent, and accomplishments expands a sense of what is possible for girls and women. Information about women and their successes gives males and females alike a perspective that challenges some of our culture’s most unconscious and archaic assumptions about women.

Thus, women’s history becomes a story of inspiration and hope. A story of courage and tenacity. A story of promise, possibility and purpose.

Women’s history is our nation’s story. It is the story of how women built communities and inspired and nurtured dreams and how they will continue to do so. Read on for the 2006 honorees (listed in alphabetical order) representing women creating community and sustaining dreams in countless ways and in myriad venues.

Juana Gutierrez (b. 1933)
Political Activist and Community Organizer

Juana Gutierrez began her political activism by knocking on her neighbors’ doors. It was the beginning of her work to take back her community from outside interests. To give the community a powerful and effective voice, she organized the Madres de Este Los Angeles (MELASI).

Aileen Hernandez (b. 1926)
Union Organizer and Human Rights Activist

Aileen Hernandez’s commitment to worldwide justice has been fueled by traveling and meeting with women throughout the world to gain a global perspective on humanitarian issues. Currently, she chairs the California Women’s Agenda (CAWA), a network of 600 organizations dedicated to implementing the plan of action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995.

Winona LaDuke (b.1960)
Author and Environmentalist

Winona LaDuke has worked for nearly three decades on the land issues of the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota including litigation over land rights in the 1980s. She currently serves as the Director of Honor the Earth and Founding Director of White Earth Land Recovery Project.

Cindy Marano (1947-2005)
Economic Justice Activist and Public Policy Visionary

Cindy Marano worked for 35 years to build a vision of economic equity for women and low-income workers. A brilliant strategic thinker, Marano focused on public policy issues, built legislative and government support, and engaged a network of national, state, and local organizations to help women and low-income workers fulfill their dreams. Many of her policies were adopted into federal law.

Mary Aloysius Molloy (1880-1954)
Educator and Innovator

Mary Molloy, developed a rigorous four-year undergraduate curriculum for a women’s college, comparable to those used by colleges that educated men. In 1907, she set high standards for both scholarship and public service. The College of Saint Teresa rapidly grew into one of the premiere Catholic colleges in the United States.

Nancy Skinner Nordhoff (b. 1932)
Philanthropist and Environmentalist

Nancy Nordhoff is a hands-on philanthropist who has been a funder and advisor for the Women’s Funding Alliance of Seattle for over 25 years. She generously puts her money, time and energy into visionary projects. These include Hedgebrook, a retreat center for women to write their stories, and Bayview Corner, a model of environmental integrity, economic development and community revitalization.

Mary Taylor Previte (b. 1932)
Pioneer and Advocate for Juvenile Justice

Mary Taylor Previte passed on the survival skills she learned from her seven years as a prisoner of war in a Japanese prison camp during World War II to the children of America’s urban wars. Her profound belief in humanity and her ability to communicate positively with youth made the Camden County Youth Center a national model for ages 14 to 17.

Betty Reid Soskin (b. 1921)
Cultural Anthropologist and Writer

Betty Reid Soskin’s deep, ingrained sense of culture, place and purpose are obvious in the way she lives her life. Helping to make our history authentic, she persuaded the Rosie the Riveter/ World War II Home Front National Historical Park to acknowledge the role of black neighborhoods surrounding the Richmond, California site, which had been bulldozed after the war.

Mary Tsukamato (1915-1998)
Educator, Writer and Cultural Historian

Mary Tsukamato’s ultimate decision to become a teacher was heavily influenced by teachers in her early life who helped fund her college education. Tsukamato’s family was interned in rural prison camps during World War II. This internment experience defined much of her life as a teacher and a leader. She worked tirelessly to secure the U.S. government apology and compensation for those who had been interned.

Marian Van Landingham (b. 1937)
Artist and Community Leader

Marion Van Landingham, with her belief that artistic expression is central to the health of a community, convinced the City of Alexandria, Virginia, to support her vision of an innovative partnership between the city and 185 artists. Her plan created the Torpedo Factory Art Center, which now serves as the anchor of Alexandria’s revitalized waterfront and a beacon of culture and community.