"I desire you would remember the ladies", Abigail Adams- Celebrating Women's History Month
Jacqui Fishman
Abigail Adams was not a woman who kept her opinions to herself. She did not sit idly by in Quincy Massachusetts while her husband forged a new nation. As the wife and the mother of presidents, and her husband’s closest advisor, she had a unique opportunity to influence the decisions of how a young country would be shaped and she implored her husband to “remember the ladies.” Abigail like so many women was left alone to manage the farm and raise her children while her husband was in Philadelphia and England for months and years, all in the midst of a revolution on her doorstep finding her life and her children’s lives in danger at all times. Abigail knew very well that the future of the new country would depend as much on its women as the men and she let her husband know that to not include women in the decisions and for them to have a real voice would set the new country on the wrong path. It would be 144 years until women were recognized as having the right to legally participate as a citizen with the passage of the 19th amendment acknowledging women’s right to vote, and would not be until 1965 and the passage of the Voting Rights Act that all women were allowed to vote.
American history is filled with stories of women, most unknown, who made their own way, defied societal expectation and command, and bravely and independently pushed down doors, ignorance, harassment and even threats to their lives and well being. Women such as Mabel Ping-Hua Lee who in a 1912 New York Times article was cited as “the symbol of the new era, when all women will be free and unhampered.” She was just 16 years old at the time and was already gaining notoriety for her work as a suffragist who had led over 10,000 in the New York suffrage parade. Mabel would go on to become the first Chinese woman to get a PhD in economics. Think of Maria Mitchell, born who on Natucket in 1818. In 1847 at the age of 29 Maria discovered a comet. She was the first female astronomer in the United States, and was also the first American scientist to discover a comet! Maria was a strong advocate for science and math education for girls and became the first female astronomy professor. Then there is Charlotta Spears Bass. Throughout the first half of the 20th century Charlotta was the editor of the African American newspaper The California Eagle. She worked as a journalist, civil rights activist, and politician...she was also the first Black woman to run for vice president of the United States in 1952. Charlotta dedicated her work to fighting what she called “The two-headed monster, Segregation and Discrimination.”
Why do we study women's history? The lives of women and their role in, and impact on, our history has been overlooked for so long. We need to know women's stories, we need to look to them as models, for inspiration, to follow our dreams and convictions. We need to learn about their lives and experiences. Their trailblazing paths will show us the way forward. Ensuring that every woman's story is heard and respected let’s every little girl know there is a role model to show her that This Girl Can!
This #WomensHistoryMonth we celebrate the rule breakers, the trailblazers, the fearless and the indefatigable who said Yes! #ThisGirlCan and She Will!