November 26 - December 02
Birthdays
November 27
In 1809, Fanny Kemble, British actor and author whose writings give historians insight into stage and social conditions of the 19th century. Born into an acting family, she was an acclaimed star in both England and the United States. She had disdained acting but was forced into it to save her family from financial ruin. For a time she retired from the stage, marrying a Philadelphia man, who was also a Georgia plantation owner. Her shock at the plantation's conditions and later her husband's socially accepted adulteries led to divorce. Although she wrote several books, her Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation (1863) is her most telling work. She was an early suffragist.
In 1875, Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons, holder of a Ph.D., who had to publish under the pseudonym John Main so as not to embarrass her husband with her feminist views. After divorce she became a noted anthropologist and expert of the Pueblo Indians. Foremost of her many books and articles is the two-volume Pueblo Indian Religion (1939).
November 28
In 1944, Rita Mae Brown, novelist and poet. Gained fame with her novel Rubyfruit Jungle about growing up a lesbian in South Florida when she became friends with actor Alexis Smith. Later she had an affair with tennis player Martina Navritalova and wrote a controversial "revenge" book about women's tennis.
November 29
In 1832, Louisa May Alcott, writer whose main fame today is for her book Little Women, although she wrote more than 270 works.
In 1888, Toni Sender, union consultant to U.N. and instrumental in the U.S. investigating and opposing slave labor camps.
November 30
In 1854, Mary Eliza McDowell, social worker and reformer. While nursing and helping refugees from the Chicago fire, she developed a life-long interest. Her friendship with Francis E. Willard led her into the Women's Temperance movement, then to the development of kindergartens, became active in Jane Addams' Hull House settlement programs. As resident director of the McDowell settlement house (renamed at her death) she forced reform of the habit of using open garbage pits, and developed sanitation in the immigrant areas. She was instrumental in the creation of the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, supported the labor movement, interceded in race matters, and was active in the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and the Urban league.
In 1874, Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of more than 20 books but none more famous than Anne of Green Gables (1908).
In 1924, Shirley Chisholm, first black woman to serve in US Congress. She got legislation passed that guaranteed minimum wages for domestic workers. Angered the political powers by actively seeking the presidency, winning 154 delegates. After serving seven terms, Chisholm retired from Congress in 1982, becoming a professor at Mount Holyoke College.
In 1929, Joan Gana Cooney, television producer. After winning an Emmy for an anti-poverty special in 1966, she raised the funds to found the Children's Television Workshop which developed and produced Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and provide home and hearth for the Muppets.
December 1
In 1813, Ann Preston, refused entrance to medical colleges because of her sex, eventually entered the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania's first class. Later she became a professor and was instrumental in forming a Woman's Hospital because women physicians were barred from working in teaching clinics in Philadelphia and was the first woman dean of the Woman's Medical College.
In 1847, Christine Ladd-Franklin, psychologist who produced a method defined in her paper "The Algebra of Logic" to reduce all syllogisms to mathematical formulas. She had not only been refused admission to John Hopkins University because she was a woman, but after completing studies under a special fellowship program, she was also refused her Ph.D. Turning to a study of binocular and color vision, produced the universally acclaimed Ladd-Franklin theory of color vision. She lectured for many years at both Johns Hopkins and Columbia. In 1926 at the age of 79, Johns Hopkins finally awarded her its Ph.D.
Happenings
November 26
In 1883, Sojourner Truth died, Black abolitionist who is said to have adopted the name Sojourner as a symbol of her lecture tours, which espoused abolition and women's rights. Her original name was Isabella.
November 28
In 1919, US-born Lady Astor was elected the first female member of British Parliament.
November 30
In 1954, the first meteorite ( 8 lb ) known to strike a woman (Liz Hodges-Sylacauga AL).
December 1
In 1955, Rosa Parks, refused to give her seat to a white man on an Montgomery, Alabama, bus and the modern black civil rights movement began. Four days later Dr. Martin Luther King, a virtually unknown minister, called for a boycott of the Montgomery bus line by Blacks. Ms. Parks is considered the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.
In 1968, The New York newspapers, the Times, Post, Daily News, and Village Voice, ended sex-segregated want ads after several years of campaigning by women's groups led by NOW.
December 2
In 1988, Benazir Bhutto, became the premier of Pakistan and the first woman to ever head an Islamic country.
Birthdays
November 27
In 1809, Fanny Kemble, British actor and author whose writings give historians insight into stage and social conditions of the 19th century. Born into an acting family, she was an acclaimed star in both England and the United States. She had disdained acting but was forced into it to save her family from financial ruin. For a time she retired from the stage, marrying a Philadelphia man, who was also a Georgia plantation owner. Her shock at the plantation's conditions and later her husband's socially accepted adulteries led to divorce. Although she wrote several books, her Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation (1863) is her most telling work. She was an early suffragist.
In 1875, Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons, holder of a Ph.D., who had to publish under the pseudonym John Main so as not to embarrass her husband with her feminist views. After divorce she became a noted anthropologist and expert of the Pueblo Indians. Foremost of her many books and articles is the two-volume Pueblo Indian Religion (1939).
November 28
In 1944, Rita Mae Brown, novelist and poet. Gained fame with her novel Rubyfruit Jungle about growing up a lesbian in South Florida when she became friends with actor Alexis Smith. Later she had an affair with tennis player Martina Navritalova and wrote a controversial "revenge" book about women's tennis.
November 29
In 1832, Louisa May Alcott, writer whose main fame today is for her book Little Women, although she wrote more than 270 works.
In 1888, Toni Sender, union consultant to U.N. and instrumental in the U.S. investigating and opposing slave labor camps.
November 30
In 1854, Mary Eliza McDowell, social worker and reformer. While nursing and helping refugees from the Chicago fire, she developed a life-long interest. Her friendship with Francis E. Willard led her into the Women's Temperance movement, then to the development of kindergartens, became active in Jane Addams' Hull House settlement programs. As resident director of the McDowell settlement house (renamed at her death) she forced reform of the habit of using open garbage pits, and developed sanitation in the immigrant areas. She was instrumental in the creation of the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, supported the labor movement, interceded in race matters, and was active in the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and the Urban league.
In 1874, Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of more than 20 books but none more famous than Anne of Green Gables (1908).
In 1924, Shirley Chisholm, first black woman to serve in US Congress. She got legislation passed that guaranteed minimum wages for domestic workers. Angered the political powers by actively seeking the presidency, winning 154 delegates. After serving seven terms, Chisholm retired from Congress in 1982, becoming a professor at Mount Holyoke College.
In 1929, Joan Gana Cooney, television producer. After winning an Emmy for an anti-poverty special in 1966, she raised the funds to found the Children's Television Workshop which developed and produced Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and provide home and hearth for the Muppets.
December 1
In 1813, Ann Preston, refused entrance to medical colleges because of her sex, eventually entered the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania's first class. Later she became a professor and was instrumental in forming a Woman's Hospital because women physicians were barred from working in teaching clinics in Philadelphia and was the first woman dean of the Woman's Medical College.
In 1847, Christine Ladd-Franklin, psychologist who produced a method defined in her paper "The Algebra of Logic" to reduce all syllogisms to mathematical formulas. She had not only been refused admission to John Hopkins University because she was a woman, but after completing studies under a special fellowship program, she was also refused her Ph.D. Turning to a study of binocular and color vision, produced the universally acclaimed Ladd-Franklin theory of color vision. She lectured for many years at both Johns Hopkins and Columbia. In 1926 at the age of 79, Johns Hopkins finally awarded her its Ph.D.
Happenings
November 26
In 1883, Sojourner Truth died, Black abolitionist who is said to have adopted the name Sojourner as a symbol of her lecture tours, which espoused abolition and women's rights. Her original name was Isabella.
November 28
In 1919, US-born Lady Astor was elected the first female member of British Parliament.
November 30
In 1954, the first meteorite ( 8 lb ) known to strike a woman (Liz Hodges-Sylacauga AL).
December 1
In 1955, Rosa Parks, refused to give her seat to a white man on an Montgomery, Alabama, bus and the modern black civil rights movement began. Four days later Dr. Martin Luther King, a virtually unknown minister, called for a boycott of the Montgomery bus line by Blacks. Ms. Parks is considered the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.
In 1968, The New York newspapers, the Times, Post, Daily News, and Village Voice, ended sex-segregated want ads after several years of campaigning by women's groups led by NOW.
December 2
In 1988, Benazir Bhutto, became the premier of Pakistan and the first woman to ever head an Islamic country.