Women’s History Month brings important women to light

Women have come a long way to where we are now  in 2021 — from 1920 when the United States gave women the right to vote, 1963 the equal pay act was passed, and to 2021 when the first women vice president was sworn into office. Many women have paved the way for us females today. Women have fought for their rights and are not giving in now. Congress declared March Women’s History Month in 1987. Today, we are going to reflect on some of the most important women in politics, science, entertainment, and education. 

Born on March 26, 1930, Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Before the U.S. Senate, O’Connor was elected for two terms in the Arizona Senate. President Ronald Regan nominated O’Connor for the U.S. Supreme Court. She was known as the key swing vote in many important cases. O’Connor served on the nation’s highest court for 24 years before retiring (Biography.com). 

Rosalind Franklin was a British scientist who was born in 1958. Franklin is best remembered for her help with the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA. Franklin studied chemistry at the University of Cambridge. In 1951, she started researching at Kings College of London. When she was there, she used X-ray diffraction to research DNA. She paved the way for scientists James Watson and Francis Crick to come up with the hypothesis that DNA is a double helix spiral consisting of two DNA strands crossing around each other. Franklin unfortunately died of cancer in 1958 (Britannica.com). 

Lucy Slowe Diggs was an African American educator. Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Howard University was the first sorority founded by an African American woman, that woman being Lucy Slowe Diggs. In 1922 Slowe became the first Dean of Women at Howard University. She was not only an educator, but also an athlete. Diggs won the first national title of the American Tennis Association tournament. This made her the first African American to win an elite sports title. Diggs went on to find the National Association of College Women and the Association of Advisors to Women in Colored Schools (Blackhistory.news.columbia.edu). 

J.K Rowling is a British author best known for her bestselling series Harry Potter. She was born on July 31, 1956, in Yate, England. While struggling to support her daughter while being a single mother, she started writing the first out of seven books of the Harry Potter series. The first Harry Potter book could’ve been found on shelves for the first time in 1997, after multiple rejections. Cosmopolitan estimates J.K Rowling’s earnings off of the whole Harry Potter franchise to be just over $1.5 billion. Rowling is now remarried and has two children and a daughter from a first marriage (biography.com). 

Many women in the past have fought for rights and equality and still are. Women have come such a long way even in just 100 years. A hundred and one years ago, women were granted the right to vote in the United States, something most people take for granted in 2021. Women continue to be activists and inspire girls all over the world. There are only bigger and better things out there  waiting for women to tackle.