In 1978 “Women’s History Week” began in Sonoma County, California. In 1987, Congress expanded the celebration. March was declared Women’s History Month. Below are just a few of the remarkable women we should celebrate.

1587 – Virginia Dare was the first person to be born in America to English parents.
1792 — Suzanne Vaillande appeared in the first ballet in the U.S. and was probably the first female choreographer and set designer in the U.S.
1795 – Anne Parrish established the first charitable organization for women in Philadelphia.
1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first U.S. women to earn a medical degree.
1864 – Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first black women to receive an M.D. degree from the New England Female Medical College.
1870 — Ada Kepley became the first women to graduate from a law school.
1872 – Victoria Woodhull is the first woman presidential candidate in the U.S. when she was nominated by the National Radical Reformers.
1896 — Alice Blachè is the first American film director, who made more than 300 films and short features.
1981 — Sandra Day O’Connor is appointed by President Reagan to the Supreme Court making her its first female justice.
1983 – Sally Ride was the first American woman to be sent into space.
1990 – Antonia Novello is sworn in as U.S. Surgeon General, becoming the first women and the first
Hispanic to hold that position.
2006 – Effa Manley, co-owner of the Negro Leagues team the Newark Eagles, was the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
2007 – Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House.
2007 – Drew Gilpin Faust was Harvard’s first female president in its 371-year history.
2010 – Kathryn Bigelow was the first women director to win Best Director at the Oscars for The Hurt Locker.

And women continue to contribute…locally, nationally and internationally.