Recognizing National Women's History Month
CELEBRATING Women Throughout US History
Celebrating Women in the U.S. and PfISD
March is the month when we take the time to look back and honor the many achievements of women throughout history and the vast strides made by women today. Pflugerville ISD is happy to highlight the history and contributions of women in the United States throughout March in honor of National Women's History Month.
Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California. The Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women planned and executed a “Women’s History Week” celebration in 1978. The organizers selected the week of March 8 to correspond with International Women’s Day. The movement spread across the country as other communities initiated their own Women’s History Week celebrations the following year.
In 1980, a consortium of women’s groups and historians—led by the National Women’s History Project (now the National Women's History Alliance)—successfully lobbied for national recognition. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8, 1980, as National Women’s History Week.
Subsequent Presidents continued to proclaim a National Women’s History Week in March until 1987 when Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995, each president has issued annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.”
- 1st Female Principal - Pat Reuter
- 1st Female Superintendent - Libby Gardner
- 1st Female Board Trustee - Elaine Boozer
- 1st PfISD Board President - Elaine Boozer
- 1st PfISD Athletic Director - Johanna Denson
- 1st PfISD Black Female Trustee - Renae Mitchell
Historic Moments in Women’s History in the US
A Look In the Past
- 1849 - Harriet Tubman escaped slavery and served as a "conductor" of the Underground Railroad to help other Black slaves
- May 29, 1851 - Sojourner Truth delivers her "Ain't I a Woman" speech
- 1869 - Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton found the National Woman Suffrage Association
- 1912 - Girl Scouts of America is founded
- Aug. 18, 1920 - Women win the right to vote
- 1932 - Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Atlantic
- 1942 - Women serve in the armed forces during World War II
- June 10, 1963 - The Equal Pay Act passes
- 1966 - National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded by Betty Goldstein Friedan
- July 10, 1971 - Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, and Betty Goldstein Friedan form the National Women's Political Caucus
- 1971 - Gloria Steinem starts Ms. magazine
- 1973 - American tennis champion Billie Jean King defeats champion player Bobby Riggs in a "Battle of the Sexes" match
- Sept. 25, 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor becomes the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court
- June 18, 1983 - Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space
- 1994 - Congress passes the Violence Against Women Act
- 2007 - Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives
- 2021 - Kamala Harris becomes the first female Vice President of the United States of America