Overlooked History-Making Women
With the approach of Black History Month and Women’s History Month, we’re taking the opportunity to offer history-making women that should be celebrated throughout the year.
Too often suggested subject lists are decades old and do not reflect the wide range of accomplishments of women throughout history and in varied fields.
We’re providing brief introductions to historic females often omitted from the discussion.
If you are intrigued and want to learn more, use the links provided at the end as a springboard for your research to learn more about these history-making women.
Civil Rights Trailblazer
Did you know there was another landmark case one hundred years before Rosa Park’s highly documented transportation protest?
In 1854, Elizabeth Jennings was on her way to church when she was forcibly removed from a Third Avenue Railway Company bus in New York City.
No, segregation was not restricted to the Southern states.
There were rallies and protests following the event, but Ms. Jennings was unsatisfied with the lack of progress. She was a member of a well-connected and prominent family and decided to take the legal route by suing the bus company.
Her suit was successful and led to the desegregation of the New York City transportation system.
The junior attorney who represented Ms. Jennings later ascended to the highest office in the land. The winning attorney was Chester A. Arthur the 21st president of the United States.
Classical Music Composer
The painting of the three young girls is by Auguste Renoir. It hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. It’s titled “The Daughters of Catulle Mendès,” Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955).
Their mother was Augusta Holmès.
Elizabeth Holmès was a prolific composer in 19th-century France, achieving a level of success that any composer could be proud of. Like many women composers of her day, many of her works were published under a male pseudonym.
Although her success was mostly limited to the European stage, particularly in France, her achievements are still noteworthy. Her music is now featured on radio stations worldwide, including in the United States.
Ms. Holmès never married but had five children with poet Catulle Mendès, with whom she had a nearly thirty-year relationship.
Criminology Meets Art – The Birth of Modern Forensics
Do you enjoy watching crime scene investigation dramas on TV or at the movies?
Give thanks to Frances Glessner Lee!
It was her groundbreaking work that laid the foundation for the field of modern forensics.
The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death were miniature recreations of crime scenes that were used to train (surviving dioramas still are) homicide investigators in the science of observation and analysis of crime scenes.
The “dollhouse” replicas were painstakingly created with attention to every detail. They are the confluence of science, art, and craftsmanship.
See our YouTube short on the “Education Unpacked” channel.
Publishing & Banking
Maggie Lena Walker is covered in a separate post.
Bonus:
- 2025 Theme and Toolkit
- The 2024 Women’s History Month theme is “Women Who Advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion“
- The 2023 Women’s History Month theme was “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.”
Elizabeth Jennings Facts & Information
Elizabeth Jennings Graham – New York Transit Museum (nytransitmuseum.org)
July 16, 1854: Elizabeth Jennings Graham – Zinn Education Project (zinnedproject.org)
Elizabeth Jennings Graham, Teacher born – African American Registry (aaregistry.org)
NIHF Inductee Thomas Jennings and the History of Dry Cleaning (invent.org) – Father of Elizabeth
Frances Glessner Lee Facts & Infomation
Frances Glessner Lee | Harvard Magazine
Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death – YouTube
Glessner House – Family Home Museum
Augusta Holmès Facts & Information
Augusta Holmés: Forgotten Female Composers | Royal College of Music (rcm.ac.uk)
Augusta Holmès – Clarinet Music By Women
Discovering the Radical Augusta Holmès: History’s Forgotten Composer – Flypaper (soundfly.com) – with embedded videos
Additional Women in Classical Music:
BBC Radio 3 – Breakfast – The women erased from musical history
Ida B. Wells Facts & Information
Ida B. Wells became a journalist to expose the heinous practice of lynching in America. She is recognized more than the proceeding women but is included here for those unfamiliar with her story.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett | National Women’s History Museum (womenshistory.org)
Ida B. Wells (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Books by Ida B. Wells-Barnett (Author of Southern Horrors and Other Writings) (goodreads.com)
The best Ida B. Wells books (picked by 7,000+ authors) (shepherd.com)
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