The History of National Women’s History Month

MEGANMURPHY

Ebbtide Staff

As some of you may or may not know, the month of March is National Women’s History Month. Here’s a little history behind the making of this fine celebration.

Women’s history has been one that most school curriculums for grades K- 12 tend to leave out. Even in society this topic is fairly unknown. In order to fix this problem the Education Task Force of Sonoma County located in California decided to take it upon themselves to initiate a celebration that would have a domino affect and influence the entire country.

In 1978 the county celebrated the first Women’s History Week ever. They chose the week of March 8th to allow the already existing International Women’s Day to be the focal point of their celebration. They held a variety of different activities, and after a few years a number of schools in the county jumped on the bandwagon. Soon there were essay contests, parades and other various programs to help make this week an even bigger and better celebration than it had originally started out as.

In 1979 one of the members of this newfound group was invited to Sarah Lawrence College. Once the school got wind of the countywide celebration they joined in creating a similar experience within their own districts. Together they banded together to create a Congressional Resolution to declare an official National Women’s History Week and succeeded in 1981.

Just six years later in 1987 the National Women’s History project decided they wanted to expand the week to the entire month of March. After petitioning congress the resolution was approved in both the House and the Senate. The more years that go by the bigger and better this month has gotten.

For more information on the National Women’s History Project, go to www.nwhp.org. They provide posters, displays, activities, videos, etc. This way others in your community can put together conferences, lessons, training, etc. This website also provides a list of events and activities to help support the importance behind this month.