This month we celebrate women of courage from Selma, Alabama to the White House.

 

Without question, these are heroic women who have sat down so that we can stand up.  Throughout the year our scholars learn about women in History.  The common thread that connects the women highlighted in this edition of News and Notes is the fact that they have paved the way for all women in this country and across the globe.

 

Whether leading in Congress or marching in Selma, their names and the content of their character and sacrifices will be remembered. For Women's History Month we highlight a few of these trailblazers.

Rosa Parks

Civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, spurring the Montgomery boycott and other efforts to end segregation.

 

Coretta Scott King

An American civil rights activist and the wife of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., she established a distinguished career in activism in her own right.

 

Dr. Antonia Pantoja

Founder of Aspira of New York and numerous institutions. She was the first Puerto Rican woman  to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor also bestowed to Rosa Parks, during the Clinton administration.

 

Honorable Sonia Sotomayor

Nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in US history.

 

First Lady Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama is a lawyer, Chicago city administrator and community outreach worker, as well as the wife of U.S. President Barack Obama and the 44th first lady.

 

Shirley Chisholm

She was the first African-American congresswoman in 1968. Four years later, she became the first major-party black candidate to make a bid for the U.S. presidency. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1924, Shirley Chisholm is best known for becoming the first black congresswoman (1968), representing New York State in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven terms. She went on to run for the 1972 Democratic nomination for the presidency—becoming the first major-party African-American candidate to do so. Throughout her political career, Chisholm fought for education opportunities and social justice. Chisholm left Congress in 1983 to teach. She died in Florida in 2005.

 

Susan B. Anthony

A suffragist, abolitionist, author and speaker who was the president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Born Susan Brownell Anthony on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts, Susan B. Anthony grew up in a Quaker family. She developed a strong moral compass early on, and spent much of her life working on social causes.

 

International Leadership CHS not only celebrates but fosters female leadership and empowerment through their partnership with The WomanHood Project. Created by Amanda Matos in September of 2013, the program facilitates mentor-lead workshops aimed at developing student’s leadership skills, preparing them to become leaders in their communities.