War on Women Booklet - Three Rivers Community Foundation

Notes
Three Rivers Community
Foundation
War on Women:
Fighting Back with
Our Eyes Wide Open
March 31, 2012
3:00 - 5:00 PM
Contents
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•
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100 N. Braddock Ave., Ste. 302, Pittsburgh, PA 15208
412-243-9250
trcf@trcfwpa.org
http://www.trcfwpa.org
Agenda
Feminist History of the
Pittsburgh region
Contact information for elected
officials and information on a bill
pertaining to women
Agenda
War on Women:
Fighting Back with Our Eyes Wide Open
PA Governor Tom Corbett, on a proposed state bill requiring women
seeking abortions to undergo a mandatory fetal ultrasound:
“...you just have to close your eyes.”
3:00 - Gathering of the women - chatting, refreshments, and networking
Literature tables are available for all attendees!
3:30 - Speakers begin:
Denice M. Ferranti-Robinson
BPU Investment Management Inc.
http://www.bpuinvestments.com
Marybeth Kuznik
Democratic Women of Westmoreland
http://votekuznik.com/about_marybeth.html
Lois “Toni” McClendon
New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for
Reproductive Justice
http://www.newvoicespittsburgh.org
Alice Paul
Born January 11, 1885 - died July 9, 1977
While Alice Paul, the famous suffragette, isn’t from Southwestern Pennsylvania, she did graduate from Swarthmore College and received her
Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She is featured prominently
in the “Bad Romance” video shown at this event.
Having initially joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she left and formed the National Women’s Party in 1916 when
NAWSA began feeling like a constitutional amendment was not practical
at the time.
Alice Paul was imprisoned for protesting in favor of a woman’s right to
vote. Her captors tried to prove that she was insane, and strapped her in a
straightjacket. She tried going on hunger strikes while being a political
prisoner, but they force-fed her in a violent way. After winning the 19th
Amendment, she was the author of the original language of the Equal
Rights Amendment, which still has yet to be passed.
3:55 - Group discussion - what are the biggest threats that PA women
face, and what can we do about them?
4:30 - FUN!
Three Rivers Community Foundation would like to thank the following:
The organizing committee for this event:
Tracy Baulding, Veronica Coptis, Gina Jones, Erin Kelly, Anne E. Lynch
Our speakers:
Denice Ferranti-Robinson, Marybeth Kuznik, Lois “Toni” McClendon
Jeff Parker, Ron Ruppen, and UCP/CLASS for hosting
The Vegan Goddess for the refreshments
Stephanie Rex from Forest Hills/Regent Square Patch
http://foresthills-regentsquare.patch.com/
Page 2
“I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic...Each of us puts in one
little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end.”
-- Alice Paul, women’s rights activist.
Page 19
“Bad Romance” Lyrics
(Refrain 1 - repeated)
Vo vo votes ah aah
Whoa aa, won’t ta aah
Stop ha ool la la
Til we have suffrage!
It’s gotten ugly
They passed the 15th
Still women have no right
Nor guarantee to liberty
Child, health, wealth,
Or property.
Hey! We’ll raise our banner
Across this land, hey!
‘Cause franchise isn’t just
The right of a man!
Universal
Yuh, yuh, yuh it’s universal!
You know we don’t want to
Take freedoms away from you
Just want our rights
And nothing less
(Refrain 2)
We cry for freedom
Oh, hear our voice
And see we’re equal to all men!
Oh oh oh oh…
We the whole people
Not just male citizens
Formed this most perfect union!
Oh oh oh oh…
Caught in a bad romance!
Oh oh oh oh…
Caught in a bad romance!
(Refrain 1)
It is a horror
A cruel design
That makes it criminal
A right that is mine
I want the vote
Vote, vote, vote
Page 18
I want the vote
Well I think you’re psycho
I think that it’s sick
I’m queen of my home,
Raise my babies that’s it
Don’t need to vote
No, no, she don’t want to vote!
Three Rivers Community Foundation promotes Change, not charity™,
by funding and encouraging activism among community-based organizations in underserved areas of Southwestern Pennsylvania. We support
groups challenging attitudes, policies, or institutions as they work to promote social, economic, and racial justice.
In June 2011, TRCF crossed $1,000,000 in grantmaking!
The rights of citizens
Shall not be denied or abridged
New legislation, baby!
By the United States
On account of sex
(Refrain 2)
(Refrain 1)
March, march, be courageous
Fighting for our rights we may just
Start greatness for the ages
Freedom it is contagious (repeat)
Remember the ladies
Not to be above
But equal to all men.
We only ask to be
Part of this Union!
Comme dirait le Français
c'est Démocratie!
Permettez-moi participer!*
I’m a citizen
Of this nation!
An American!
I want suffrage!
And independence!
(Refrain 2)
Oh oh oh oh…
I want to wear pants!
Caught in a bad romance
I want my suffrage!
Oh oh oh oh…
And independence!
Caught in a bad romance!
Vo vo votes ah ah
Woah ah, won’t ta ah
Stop ha ooo la la
Now we have suffrage!
* As the French would say: This is
democracy! Let me participate!
TRCF’s Key Issue Areas:
http://soomopublishing.com/suffrage/
Oh oh oh oh…
Caught in a bad romance!
Oh oh oh oh…
Caught in a bad romance!
Three Rivers Community Foundation
Disability Rights
Economic Justice
Environmental Justice
LGBTQ Rights
Peace/Human Rights
Racial Justice
Women, Youth & Families Issues
The Counties We Serve:
Allegheny
Armstrong
Beaver
Butler
Fayette
Greene
Indiana
Lawrence
Washington
Westmoreland
In October of 2011, TRCF hosted Building Change: A Convergence for
Social Justice. This three-day event brought together over 1,000 people
to discuss and strategize about social justice issues in the Southwestern
PA region. One of the ideas to continue the momentum of the Convergence was for TRCF’s Building Social Change Committee to host
quarterly sessions, either issue- or skills-based, to allow people to come
together and keep learning. At the March meeting of the BSCC, it was
decided to take advantage of March being Women’s History Month and
to do the first forum on the threats on women’s rights in Pennsylvania.
The Building Social Change Committee is open to anyone to join! All
you need is a passion for organizing for social justice. To join, please
email committee chair Craig Stevens at craig_stevens@verizon.net or
Anne Lynch, TRCF’s Manager of Administrative Operations, at
trcf@trcfwpa.org.
Page 3
Important Events in SW PA’s Feminist History
From TRCF’s Progressive Pittsburgh 250 monograph and further research
1754 - Queen Aliquippa died on December 23 (birth date is estimated to
be the early 1670s to the very early 1700s). She led a band of Mingo
Seneca who had settled between the three rivers. She allied herself to the
British in the French and Indian War, even traveling with her tribe to Fort
Necessity to assist George Washington in 1754.
1758 - Pittsburgh founded December 1. General John Forbes named it
after William Pitt, the English prime minister.
1805 - Jane Holmes was born (died 1885). She was a philanthropist and
humanitarian, who created and funded several social service agencies
(including the Western PA School for Blind Children). She gave away
her money to groups regardless of class, race, ethnicity, or gender in a
time where it was highly unusual for a woman to be a philanthropist (or
anything other than a wife and mother).
1815 - Jane Grey Swisshelm was born (died 1884).
She was a journalist, feminist, and abolitionist. She
started publishing The Saturday Visiter, a weekly
abolitionist journal, in 1847. She ran for mayor of
Pittsburgh in 1851, despite the fact that it would be
more than 60 years before women would win the
right to vote. She was the first woman to be granted
the privilege to sit in the US Senate press gallery.
Swisshelm moved to St. Cloud, MN, started the St.
Cloud Visiter, and immediately got in trouble with
her attacks on Gen. Sylvanus Lowry, a resident who owned slaves in the
free territory. Lowry and his followers broke her printing press, throwing
the pieces into the Mississippi River. When the Civil War broke out, she
sold the St. Cloud Visiter to become a nurse in the Union Army, and then
returned to the Pittsburgh area after the war ended.
1838 - Elizabeth Wilkinson Wade (aka “Bessie Bramble”) was born
(died 1910). Her journalist career began by working for the Pittsburgh
Leader, writing music reviews as Pittsburgh’s first salaried newswoman.
The anonymity of her reviews allowed her to venture further in journalism, writing columns critiquing education, wages for working women,
domestic violence, child labor laws, divorce laws, and clerical support of
the patriarchy. She also helped to found the Women’s Club of Pittsburgh and the Women’s Press Club. She became the Pittsburgh Press
Club’s first female member in 1892. Additionally, she was a teacher and
principal, and only when she retired from teaching in 1886 did she reveal
her true name in “Bessie Bramble’s” column.
Page 4
Important Bill Relating to PA Women
PA House Bill 1077 - The Women’s Right-to-Know Act
An Act providing for ultrasound test requirements to determine gestational ages of unborn children; establishing the right to view ultrasound
image and ultrasound video of unborn child and the right to observe or
hear the fetal heartbeat; providing for powers and duties of the Department of Health and for duties of physicians performing abortions; requiring certain reports to be filed with the Department of Health; imposing
administrative sanctions and criminal penalties; and providing for remedies. Presented by Representatives Rapp, Turzai, Stern, and others.
This bill was tabled on March 12, 2012. However, tabled bills can still
be brought back for a vote!
If passed, this bill would require the following, amongst other things:
• An ultrasound performed at least 24 hours before an abortion
• The ultrasound’s screen to be pointed at the face of the patient
(though she is not required to view the screen)
• Two prints, in separate sealed envelopes, to be provided to the patient, one of which must be delivered by her to the physician/health
care provider who is performing the abortion, along with signed
statements by both the ultrasound provider and the patient
• A separate fee charged for the ultrasound and the abortion (though
the abortion fee will be refundable if the patient decides against
abortion)
• The physician performing the abortion to inform the patient of the
gestational age of the child at the time of the abortion, record the
fetal heart rate, and offer the patient the opportunity to view an ultrasound video which accurately depicts an unborn child at the stage in
pregnancy when her abortion is performed
Additionally, late last year legislation (Senate Bill 732) was passed and
signed into law in Pennsylvania that significantly toughened standards
for abortion clinics. It included the following:
• Abortion facilities are now regulated to the same safety standards as
ambulatory or outpatient surgical facilities - while this sounds harmless, the new requirements of wider hallways, wider doors, bigger
operating rooms, full-time nurses, hospital-grade elevators, and expanded parking lots, will require clinics to put out so much money
for renovations, that they could easily just choose to close.
• The Department of Health will now conduct at least one unannounced inspection of each facility per year
• The definition of what qualified as an “abortion facility” changed
Page 17
Contact Information for Elected Officials
Governor Tom Corbett
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17108
717-787-2500
How to find your Pennsylvania House Representative:
http://www.house.state.pa.us/
How to find your Pennsylvania Senator:
http://www.pasen.gov/index.cfm
United States Senators from Pennsylvania
Robert P. Casey (D)
393 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-6324
Toll-free: 866-802-2833
Pittsburgh Office:
Regional Enterprise Tower
425 Sixth Ave., Suite 2490
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
412-803-7370
http://www.casey.senate.gov/
Patrick J. Toomey (R)
502 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-4254
Pittsburgh Office:
100 W. Station Square Dr., Suite 225
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
412-803-3501
http://www.toomey.senate.gov/
Page 16
1848 - Women employees at Allegheny Cotton Mill and five other factories launched the Cotton Mill Strikes, where they demanded an end to
the 12-hour day. They drove scabs away by taking axes to the factories’
entrances. As a result of these strikes, the 10-hour day became standard,
and restrictions were placed on child labor.
1857 - Ida M. Tarbell was born on November 5 (died
January 6, 1944) in Erie County, later moving to Venango
County. She was the only woman in the class of 1880 at
Allegheny College, majoring in biology. She was a
teacher, author, and muckraking journalist, best known for
her 1904 book, The History of the Standard Oil Company,
a scathing exposé on the organization, and contributing to
antitrust actions.
1862 - The Allegheny Arsenal exploded on September 17. The most
common theory for the cause of the explosion is a metal horseshoe from
a delivery carriage caused a spark that, in turn, ignited loose powder.
The disaster killed 78 people, mostly women and girls who could not
escape the building through the windows because of their hoop skirts.
1864 - Nellie Bly was born (died 1922). Elizabeth
Jane Cochran, who went on to use the pen name
“Nellie Bly,” was born in Armstrong County in
1864. In November 1885, she began her newspaper
career by investigating factories and public institutions. Bly’s most famous story came out of her
having herself committed to an asylum on Black’s
Island in New York in 1887. This institution was
for poor women and girls deemed insane. Women
were treated like prisoners - locked in all the time, not given sufficient
blankets or clothes to stay warm, and having buckets of cold water
poured over their heads for “baths.” She stayed for 10 days. She described it as, “a human rat-trap. It is easy to get in, but once there it is
impossible to get out.” This early investigative exposé resulted in large
reforms in mental health care.
1865 - Bertha Floersheim Rauh was born (died 1952). She established
the Juvenile Court Association, the Family Welfare Association, and the
League of Women Voters. From the 1920s to the 1940s, she campaigned
for clean air laws. She was the first woman to hold a cabinet post in a
major PA city - head of the Department of Charities - in 1922.
Page 5
1874 - Gertrude Stein, writer, was born in Allegheny City (died 1946).
Moving to Paris in 1903, she, her brother, and her partner Alice B. Toklas hosted salons for intellectual and artistic elites, including Picasso,
Matisse, and Apollonaire. When the Nazis took Paris, she and Toklas
fled to the countryside, where they hid other Jews. She declared, “War is
never fatal but always lost. Always lost.” Also, “It is funny that men
who are supposed to be scientific cannot get themselves to realize the
basic principles of physics, that action and reaction are equal and opposite, that when you persecute people you always rouse them to be strong
and stronger.”
1889 - Eliza Kennedy Smith was born (died 1964). As a vocal suffragette, she helped found the Allegheny County Equal Franchise Federation, and helped raise money for women’s rights by being a contributor
to The Suffrage Cook Book. Additionally, she was one of several
women who drove around Pennsylvania with the Liberty Truck (see
Jennie Bradley Roessing - 1915) She was named a Distinguish Daughter
of Pennsylvania in 1953. Her son, Templeton Smith, Jr., was one of the
area’s first environmental lawyers. Her granddaughter, Eliza Smith
Brown, is a historian who lives in Squirrel Hill and author of Pittsburgh
Legends and Visions: An Illustrated History. As of 2009, Brown was
working on a book about Smith entitled She Devils at the Door.
1896 - The Ladies Health Protection Association formed to advocate
for clean air laws. Though they couldn’t vote or attend meetings, and
had to have men speak for them, they convinced City Council to pass its
first general smoke ordinance (though most industrial sites were exempted). They also sued pollution-causing industries.
1898 - A group of Jewish women in Pittsburgh conceived of the idea of
creating a medical society to aid their fellow Jews who were having trouble paying medical bills. The newly-formed Hebrew Ladies Hospital
Aid Society provided funds for hospital care for Jews, and visited poor
neighbors, to check and see how they were doing. They fundraised
enough to open Montefiore Hospital in May of 1908, which was needed
because most area hospitals did not even admit Jewish people, or offer
kosher food, prayer meetings, or other special services Jewish patients
wanted. It also provided a place for Jewish doctors to practice and train.
It was the first hospital in the region to offer community health clinics
and home care, in addition to being the first to employ Black doctors.
1907 - The Woman’s Club of Pittsburgh was founded (see Elizabeth
Wilkinson Wade - 1838), sponsored by the State Convention for Equal
Rights for Women. The city’s oldest club, their first meeting was held at
the First Baptist Church on Fourth Avenue. They undertook several
civic, educational, and cultural projects.
Page 6
Colmes, and CNN. A week later, after
receiving increasing national pressure,
A&F dropped the shirts. Cochairwoman of Girls as Grantmakers,
Emma Blackman-Mathis, said, “I think
it’s really amazing that a group of 20
girls between the ages of 13 and 16 can
start and end this kind of movement in less than a week.”
2005 - Wyona Coleman, a leader of the PA Chapter of
the Sierra Club, died. She was from California, PA, and
in the 1980s, she established the Sierra Club as a lobbying presence in Harrisburg. She was a founding member
of the Tri-State Citizens Mining Network, dedicated to
informing and educating the public about the effects of
mining on the environment and on the communities in
the coalfields. She was instrumental in getting the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
passed, even attending the White House Rose Garden ceremony when
Jimmy Carter signed it into law on August 3, 1977.
2007 - Khadra Mohammed of the Pittsburgh Refugee Center and Karen
Lynn Williams, a children’s book author from Squirrel Hill, created the
book Four Feet, Two Sandals, about two Afghani girls who meet at a
refugee camp and share one pair of sandals. The idea came about while
Mohammed was reading to a group of refugee children, who asked her,
“Are there any stories for children like us? You know, kids who had to
leave their homes.”
2008 - University of Pittsburgh professor Jen Saffron, with her students,
produced the film “Democracy: A Steady, Loving Confrontation,” one
of only 10 films shown during the Cinemocracy Film Festival as part of
the Democratic National Convention in August. The film consisted of
the students traveling to Georgia and Alabama, interviewing civil rights
activists from the mid-1900s.
2011 - The Milk Truck arrived in Pittsburgh. Started as the brainchild
of CMU art professor Jill Miller, the Milk Truck is a 10-foot van topped
with a giant breast. It shows up at sites that have been hostile to breastfeeding mothers. The van provides a safe space for mothers to nurse,
and, at the same time, draw attention to making businesses and shops
more friendly to nursing mothers.
This has been just a sample of the amazing women who have come from our region, and events that shaped women’s rights regionally. If you know of someone
or an event that should be part of TRCF’s ongoing Progressive Pittsburgh history project, please email Anne at trcf@trcfwpa.org or call 412-243-9250!
Page 15
1989 - Over 400 pro- and anti-choice protestors clashed at three local
clinics in February, resulting in 200 arrests.
1996 - The FISA Foundation, the largest foundation in the country governed by women, was founded.
2000 - Sam and Barbara Hays published Environmental Politics in the
United States Since 1945. In his four decades working at the University
of Pittsburgh, Sam, a historian, worked tirelessly on efforts to raise environmental consciousness. The husband and wife team had previously
collaborated (in 1987) to write Beauty, Health, and Permanence: Environmental Politics in the United States , 1955-1985.
2003 - Deborah J. Aaron, a University of Pittsburgh professor in the
Graduate School of Public Health, along with Sandra Quinn, released the
first comprehensive survey of LGBT people in Allegheny County. The
study showed that in areas ranging from family life, to spirituality, to
health care, that population’s needs were going unmet. An associate professor of health and physical activity, her main focus of study was on
health disparities between lesbians and non-lesbians. She died on April
23, 2008.
2004 - New Voices Pittsburgh:
Women of Color for Reproductive
Justice formed. NVP is only human
rights and social justice activist organization for, led by, and about women of
color in the greater Pittsburgh area.
2005 - The Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards officiated over a
wedding ceremony for two women. Edwards is a Presbyterian minister who is wholly dedicated to ensuring
full recognition of gays and lesbians within the Pittsburgh Presbytery. An official complaint was lodged by
a church member, and the Presbyterian Church subsequently charged her with breaking church law in 2006.
Charges were dismissed on a technicality – they were
filed after the statute of limitations expired. In 2008, she has again been
brought up on the same charges, and again charges were dismissed.
2005 - In October, the Allegheny County Girls as Grantmakers program launched a “girlcott” of Abercrombie & Fitch after the clothing
company started selling shirts with slogans such as, “Who needs brains
when you’ve got these?” printed across the chest of shirts geared towards
girls and young women. Their protest resulted in national media attention, including television appearances on NBC’s Today, Fox’s Hannity &
Page 14
1907 - Rachel Carson, the environmental justice pioneer,
was born on May 27 in Springdale (died April 14, 1964).
She graduated from what is now Chatham University, and
is widely recognized as the mother of the modern environmental movement. She published Silent Spring in 1962,
which detailed the ecological ramifications of post-World
War II chemical pesticides, especially on bird populations.
Both the general population and the government responded, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and Earth Day can be credited to Carson’s efforts and writings.
1907 - The Pittsburgh Survey was begun by Crystal
Eastman and 70 investigators. This was one of the earliest and most thorough descriptions of urban conditions in
the country, with the hope that the results would alert the
public about social and environmental ills occurring in
industrial regions of the country. The report, Work Accidents and the Law, published in 1910, resulted in the first
workers’ compensation law.
1909 - Daisy Lampkin moved to Pittsburgh. An advocate for women’s
and civil rights, she was a tireless fundraiser for the NAACP and the Urban League, and held her first women’s rights tea in 1912. She also recruited Thurgood Marshall to the NAACP’s legal team.
1910-1911 - The Westmoreland County Coal Strike occurred when
workers in the Irwin Gas Coal Basin fought for improved wages, better
working conditions, and the right to unionize. Several wives of the
workers were imprisoned for harassing strikebreakers, and since no one
could take care of their children, the kids were imprisoned as well. Mary
Harris “Mother” Jones travelled to see them, encouraging them to sing all
night, every night they were in jail. The jail was next door to the sheriff’s home, several hotels, and other homes, and the singing kept the residents awake. After five days, townspeople demanded the judge free the
women, which he did.
1912 - Dorothy Height was born in Richmond, Virginia, moving shortly
thereafter to Rankin (March 24, 1912-April 20, 2010). Her first brush
with activism came when she was just 11 years old, when she worked to
integrate the Rankin Christian Center's swimming pool. She helped organize the 1963 March on Washington. She was a longtime president of
the National Council of Negro Women (1957-1997), and helped found
the National Women's Political Caucus. She attempted to attend Barnard
College, but they refused her, as they had met their quota of two Black
women. She was known for saying, "If the time is not ripe, we have to
ripen the time."
Page 7
1913 - Genevieve Blatt was born (died 1996). In 1952, she was the first
woman elected to a statewide office, that of Auditor General. In 1975, as
a judge, she ruled that high school sports teams could not discriminate on
the basis of sex. As Solicitor of Pittsburgh, she wrote the first smokestack ordinance.
1914 - Ann Sawyer Berkley was born (died December 7, 2002). She
was an artist, poet, and public speaker who was dedicated to interracial
understanding. She helped A. Philip Randolph plan the 1941 March on
Washington. She served as artist-in-residence at CAPA and was a charter member of the Kuntu Writers Workshop at the University of Pittsburgh.
1915 - Jennie Bradley Roessing, the president of the Pittsburgh Woman
Suffrage Association and chairwoman of the Allegheny County Equal
Rights Association, drove a “Liberty Truck” to all 67 counties in PA to
speak about women’s rights. The Liberty Truck had a full-sized replica
of the Liberty Bell on top to draw attention. The clapper on the bell was
to symbolize that freedom wouldn’t truly ring until women had the right
to vote.
1915 - A pamphlet entitled “From Man to Man” was put out by the
Pittsburgh Men’s League for Woman Suffrage, making the argument to
men that they could not properly represent women in government, so
women should represent themselves.
1916 - Evelyn Cunningham was born (January 25,
1916-April 28, 2010). She was an editor and reporter
for the Pittsburgh Courier, having come on staff in
1940, reporting largely on the civil rights movement
and lynchings in the South. She once attempted to
interview Eugene "Bull" Connor, who was the police
commissioner in Birmingham, Alabama, who order
the fire hoses to be turned on against civil rights activists. He called her a racial epithet and walked
away. In her words: "Actually, I didn't anticipate he
would give me the interview, but as a reporter, I had
to give it a shot." She, and the rest of the Courier staff, were awarded the
George Polk Award in 1998 for their work.
1917 - Harriet Shetler was born in Leechburg, Armstrong County
(August 1, 1917-March 30, 2010). In 1979, she helped co-found the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI is now the nation's
largest, grassroots mental health organization.
Page 8
1980 - One of the co-founders of the Thomas
Merton Center, Molly Rush, was also one of the
Plowshares Eight. On September 9, 1980, the
Plowshares Eight entered the General Electric
Nuclear Missile Re-Entry Division building in
King of Prussia, PA, where nose cones for the
Mark 12A warheads were made. Their demonstration included hammering on two of the nose
cones, pouring blood on documents, and chanting
prayers for peace. They were arrested and
charged with over 10 different felony and misdemeanor counts. After ten
years of appeals, they were sentenced to time served. This act launched
the Plowshares Movement, dedicated to “turning swords into plowshares” while maintaining complete nonviolence.
1980 - Despite a threat of being held in contempt of court, Pittsburgh
Action Against Rape’s first education coordinator, Anne Pride, refused
to turn over client records, thus resulting in her being sent to jail. The
State Supreme Court heard her case after a series of appeals, with the end
result of the State Legislature passing the nation’s first law recognizing
total confidentiality in communications between rape victims and rape
crisis counselors.
1984 - In Grove City College v. Bell, the US Supreme Court held that
Title IX could be applied to schools that refused federal funding, as long
as a large number of students had received federally-funded scholarships.
This ruling came about seven years after the Mercer County school refused to sign a Title IX compliance form, in effect, refusing to comply
officially with laws prohibiting sex discrimination. The case resulted in
the creation of the Civil Rights Restoration Act, also known as the Grove
City Bill, specifying that recipients of federal funding must comply with
civil rights laws in all areas, not just the specific program or activity that
received federal funds. Another result is that Grove City College now
forbids any attending students from using federal Stafford loans to help
fund their education.
1988 - East Liberty dedicated a park to Wilhelmina Byrd Brown. Wilhelmina was a force with which to be reckoned in the NAACP, being
their first chair of the NAACP Human Rights Dinner. She was also a
founder of Freedom Unlimited, Inc. She married Homer S. Brown, a
judge (the first African American judge in Pittsburgh), attorney, and fellow civil rights activist, in 1927, and had Byrd Rowlett Brown (19302001), who followed in his parents’ footsteps. Overall, she dedicated
over 50 years of her life to civil service.
Page 13
1969 - Dr. JoAnn Evansgardner (1925-2010) and the Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), formed their own
press - KNOW, Inc. Through this, they published the first articles and
reprints of the fledgling women’s studies movement. In 1994, she led a
campaign to eliminate racism in the feminist movement. Her husband,
Gerald Gardner (1926-2009), also was a strong feminist and support her
whole-heartedly.
1970 - Allison Krause, from Churchill, was one of four students who,
during an anti-Vietnam War protest, was killed by National Guardsmen
at the Kent State Massacre.
1972 - Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, the second rape-victim advocacy organization in the country, was formed.
Mid-1970s - Carol Wharton Titus formed the East End chapter of
NOW (National Organization of Women). She was instrumental in making the chapter racially-integrated, which led to a campaign to integrate
the national NOW board. She died on March 27, 2006.
1976 - Gwen Elliott, with 11 other women, become the
first female police officers in Pittsburgh. A decade later,
she was promoted, to become the department’s first
Black female commander. In 2002, she founded
Gwen’s Girls, the first nonprofit organization in Allegheny County dedicated solely to serving the needs of at
-risk girls from ages 8 to 18. She died May 14, 2007.
1976 - Assistant District Attorney Jo Ann D’Ariggo was dismissed from
the courtroom by Judge Nicholas Papadakos of the Allegheny Court of
Common Pleas. He refused to hear her because she was wearing a pantsuit.
1977 - Eleanor Cutri Smeal, from Mount Lebanon, was elected president of the National Organization of Women for the first time (serving
from 1977-1982, then from 1985-1987). While president, she led the
effort to include gay rights in their official Plan of Action, in addition to
organizing the first abortion rights march (over 100,000 attended). In
1987, she founded the Feminist Majority Foundation, now publisher of
Ms. Magazine. Previously, after graduating from college in 1963, she
had worked to gain disability benefits for working mothers.
1979 - Jean Witter, a South Hills native, wrote the legal opinion for the
National Organization of Women that became the basis for Congress’
three-year extension of the Equal Rights Amendment ratification deadline.
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1919 - Madalyn Murray O’Hair was born (as Madalyn Mays) in
Beechview on April 13 (died September 29, 1995). She was the founder
of American Atheists. Her claim to fame is the lawsuit Murray v. Curlett, which led to the Supreme Court ruling that banned prayer in public
schools.
1919 - Fannie Sellins, an organizer for United Mine Workers, was shot
to death with Joseph Starzelski in Brackenridge on August 26, the eve of
a nationwide steel strike.
1920 - The first women showed up to vote in Allegheny County on
November 2.
1921 - Anne Steytler was born (January 10, 1921-September 13, 2010)
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She settled in Pittsburgh after college. Originally a teacher, she decided to switch careers to social work. She was a
life-long peace activist, who was dedicated to social justice. She was one
of the two co-founders (the other being Ellen Berliner) of the Women's
Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, beginning it as a drop-in place
for women to talk in 1974.
1921 - Wilma Scott Heide was born in Johnstown,
Cambria County (February 26, 1921-May 8, 1985). In
1967, she was elected President of the National Organization of Women's Pittsburgh Chapter, and in
1971, she was elected the President of the national
group. She was the Commissioner of Human Relations for the Commonwealth from 1969-1972. She
was instrumental in the case Pittsburgh Press C. v.
Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations (US Supreme Court, 1973),
which dealt with segregated employment listings for women and men.
1921 - Gertrude Watson Jacobs was born (December 15, 1921-June 2,
2009) in Pensacola, Florida. Her ancestors had hidden in Florida
swamps to escape President Andrew Jackson's "Trail of Tears," which
forced Native Americans from their ancestral lands into Oklahoma. She
and her family moved to the Pittsburgh area, and she graduated from
Perry High School. She was instrumental in helping to form the Council
of Three Rivers American Indian Center, starting in 1969. In 1979, she
organized the Council's first pow-wow, which has since become an annual showcase of Native American art, crafts, food, demonstrations, and
dancing. She herself was a dancer and a skilled maker of regalia, specializing in beading.
1922 - On January 9, Minnie Penfield became the first woman to sit on a
jury in Allegheny County.
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1923 - Alma Speed Fox was born. From a young age, she has been
dedicated to civil rights and women’s rights, serving as Executive Director of the Pittsburgh NAAC (1966-1971), a US Department of the Interior equal opportunity manager, and a member of the Pittsburgh Human
Relations Commission (since 1972). In 1968, she organized a campaign
against Sears & Roebuck, demanding access to jobs and credit for African Americans. Members of the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Organization of Women got involved in the campaign, which led to Fox’s
involvement with NOW.
1924 - Helen (Smith) Faison was born (July 13, 1924). She 1960 she
became Pittsburgh Public Schools’ first Black high school counselor, and
she went on to become its first female and first African-American high
school principal. In 2005, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named her the
region’s most influential person in education.
1930 - On August 27, Sara Soffel was sworn in as Judge of (Allegheny)
County Court, becoming the first woman jurist in Pennsylvania.
1930s - Pearl Harris, a teacher, moved to the Washington, PA area. She
soon became alarmed at the high failure rates of African American students in the first grade. She created classes for 2-5-year-olds to give
them a basic grounding in academics and social skills. She referred to
this as the Head Start program, and it became a template that would
eventually be used around the country, and was the inspiration behind
President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 "Project Head Start," an 8-week
summer program for kids from low-income families.
1934 - Helen Richey, from McKeesport (born 1909, died
1947), became the first woman to pilot a commercial airliner. She resigned within a year due to overwhelming sexism, but went on to become the first female licensed as an
instructor by the Civil Aeronautics Authority.
1941 - Mary Cardwell Dawson founded the National Negro Opera Company in Homewood as the first all African
American opera company in the United States.
1941 - Marjorie Matson became the first woman to serve as an assistant
Allegheny County solicitor. When she went into private practice, she
became known for being a firm defender of women, minorities, war resisters, ending the death penalty, and free speech, being a past president
of the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. She
argued three cases in front of the US Supreme Court: 1) students and
parents opposed to school prayer during a commencement at Mt. Lebanon High School; 2) the right of public workers to strike; and 3) quesPage 10
tioning the validity of the state’s new search warrant form. She joined
the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom while in high
school, and remained a member for the rest of her life. She passed away
at age 67 in 1980.
1942 - Anne X. Alpern became the first woman to be appointed City
Solicitor, making her the first woman to become the chief legal officer of
any American city. She maintained a strong political presence for her
lifetime, and was also the first woman in Pennsylvania’s history to be
appointed to its Supreme Court (1961).
1944 - Pittsburgh native Alma Illery lobbied Congress to establish January 5 as George Washington Carver Day, to honor the Tuskegee Institute
Scientist. Also in the 1940s, she worked to integrate hospitals in the
area, and established Camp Achievement, a summer program bringing
inner-city youth to a rustic camp in Fayette County. Camp Achievement was operated by Illery for over 40 years. She passed away in 1972.
1951 - Anne Feeney was born (July 1) in Charleroi. A
co-founder of Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, Feeney
is best known as a political singer-songwriter, with
titles including, "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?,"
"Union Maid," and "Ain't I a Woman." She has
worked as a trial attorney, and has been the only female to be elected President of the Pittsburgh Musician's Union.
1963 - Florence Reizenstein and Marion B Jordon found the Negro
Education Emergency Drive, a what was supposed to be temporary program through the Urban League to raise funds for 76 Black high schools
students who had been accepted to colleges but didn’t have the financial
resources to attend. NEED has now served over 19,000 students.
1968 - Cindy Judd Hill, an area high school teacher, was fired for getting pregnant while on leave to get her Masters. The National Organization of Women sued on her behalf, and in a case that reached the state
Supreme Court, won protections for female teachers, forbidding schools
from firing them, and requiring them to return them to the same position
at the same pay scale as before they left for maternity leave.
1969 - Michelle Madoff, later a City Councilperson, and a group of concerned citizens formed the Group Against Smog and Pollution, an organization that has continued to keep the issue of clean air on the radar
screen in Pittsburgh. GASP has created lists of “The Dirty Dozen,” legislators who refused to push for stringent pollution control laws (or their
enforcement), and has been involved in several federal lawsuits to improve Southwestern PA’s air quality.
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