First Women
There have always been women who said, “I don’t give a damn if no woman has ever done this before. I’m doing it anyway!” Each of these First Women chipped away at glass ceilings, pushed against brick walls, and challenged legal barriers.
In this blog, I present profiles of First Women from U.S. history and current news to celebrate their accomplishments. These women deserve our accolades, our admiration, our imitation. They are our past and also our future.
They are little-known women, like Victoria Claflin Woodhull who was the First Woman to run for president of the United States in 1872. It would be another 48 years before women in the United States won the right to vote.
They are well known-known women whose lives we do not fully know, like Maya Angelou who was the First Woman streetcar conductor in San Francisco, before she became the First African American Woman to have a nonfiction best-seller.
They are also famous modern women like Madeleine Albright, the First Woman Secretary of State.
The goal of this blog is to provide inspiration, generate discussion, and encourage other First Women to share their stories, in hopes that one day it will no longer be necessary to designate First Women. I anticipate the day when women will participate fully in our society and there will be no assumptions that a woman cannot do a job or hold a position she desires to fill.
Latest Post
First Women in 2021
Most of us would prefer not to look back on 2021, myself included. On the bright side, however, there were more First Women in 2021. Here are just a few of my favorites: Kamala Harris Much is made of the fact that Kamala Harris is the First Black Woman to serve as...
Politics and Government
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Arts, Media, and Entertainment
Julia Collins – Jeopardy Winner
Julia Collins was the First Woman To win eight times on Jeopardy. Check out her exploits and those of other women contestants on Jeopardy at: http://www.goerieblogs.com/lifestyle/hertimes/2014/05/jeopardy-julia-first-8-time-female-winner-on-jeopardy/
Cristeta Comerford, White House Chef
Cristeta Comerford is the first woman (and first minority) to serve as White House Chef. Cooking was natural to her as both of her parents cooked at home. She likens preparing meals for a family with eleven children to preparing a banquet every day. Cristeta studied...
Maya Angelou – Renaissance Woman
A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. [Maya Angelou] Maya Angelou was the first African-American woman to. . . --work as a cable car conductor in San Francisco --work as a cable car conductor in San Francisco --have...
Eleanor Roosevelt – First Lady, Advocate for Human Rights
Eleanor Roosevelt was the first woman to hold a press conference as a First Lady. She was also the first First Lady to write a newspaper column, or speak at a national convention. Eleanor Roosevelt was educated at the Allenswood Girl’s Academy in London where Marie...
First Women in the Revolutionary War
Instead of blogging about contemporary women this month, I want to celebrate National Women’s History Month and write about women in our past history. The theme for the National Women’s History Project’s theme for 2014 is: Celebrating Women...
Pat Mitchell –CEO of PBS
Pat Mitchell has worked in front of the camera and behind it to improve the lives of women, both in the media industry and outside it. The first woman hired as President and CEO of the Public Broadcasting System, Pat Mitchell was also the first producer and...
Fall 2013’s First Women To. . .
I received the lovely grace of being able to spend the fall in Southern Europe. I enjoyed the quality of life and the freedom from the usual daily responsibilities, but I missed out on being in touch with the news from the United States. When I returned to a pile of...
Kathryn Bigelow – Academy Award for Directing
“I think all wars are a tragedy, and to critique it, you have to look at it. . .to examine and experience the futility of war, to engage in that subject and treat it as a raw, primal, experiential observation.” [Kathryn Bigelow] Kathryn Bigelow is a visual artist and...
Toni Morrison – Nobel Laureate in Literature
How does one write about Toni Morrison using ordinary words? Toni Morrison has won nearly every book prize awarded and in 2006 The New York Times Book Review named her novel Beloved, the best novel in the previous 25 years. She...
Dee Dee Myers – Press Secretary for the President of the United States
I remember seeing Dee Dee Myers in a documentary-style episode of West Wing, and so I was not surprised to learn that she has said, “Never take it personally—and never lose your sense of humor.” Dee Dee Myers’ career has melded communications skills with...
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