Women's History Calendar

July Highlights in US Women's History

  • July 4, 1777 - Mary Katherine Goddard publishes the Declaration of Independence in Baltimore where she is the only printer.
  • July 19-20, 1848 - Seneca Falls Convention, the country's first women's rights convention, is held in Seneca Falls, New York
  • July 4, 1876 - Suffragist crash the Centennial Celebration in Independence Hall to challenge the Vice President about the fact that federal government of the United States opposed the right of women to vote.
  • July 14, 1917 - The National Women's party starts picketing the White House for universal woman suffrage
  • July 2, 1937 - Amelia Earhart's plane is lost in the Pacific Ocean, near Howland Island
  • July 20, 1942 - the first class of Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) begins at Fort Des Moines, IA. The WAAC accepts both black and white women.
  • July 6, 1957 - Althea Gibson is the first black woman player to win a Wimbledon title in women's tennis singles. Two weeks later she won a major U.S. tennis title, capturing the national clay court singles championship
  • July 2, 1964 - President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act; Title VII prohibits sex discrimination.
  • July 1, 1979 - the Susan B. Anthony dollar starts circulating
  • July 7, 1981 - President Reagan nominates Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman Supreme Court Justice
  • July 12, 1984 - Representative Geraldine Ferraro (D-New York) is chosen to run for Vice-President of the United States on the Democratic Party ticket with Walter Mondale
    (D-Minnesota).

July Birthdays

  • July 7, 1861 (1912) - Nettie Stevens - Biologist, discovered X and Y sex chromosome
  • July 8, 1926 - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - Writer and lecturer; developed techniques for counseling the dying and their families
  • July 10, 1875 (1955) - Mary McLeod Bethune - Black educator; minority affairs advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  • July 16, 1821 (1910) - Mary Baker Eddy - Founder, Church of Christ Scientist
  • July 16, 1862 (1931) - Ida B. Wells-Barnett - Black journalist, crusaded against lynching
  • July 12, 1856 (1913) - Louise Bethune - First woman architect, 1881
  • July 22, 1849 (1887) - Emma Lazarus - Poet; wrote "The New Colossus," 1883, later inscribed in the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…"
  • July 23, 1844 (1929) - Harriet Strong - Agriculturist; patented water storage dams
  • July 24, 1920 (1998) - Bella Abzug - Lawyer; NY Congresswoman, 1972-1976, initiated proposal for Women's Equality Day
  • July 28, 1879 (1966) - Lucy Burns - Suffragist; leader of Congressional Union with Alice Paul. During July 2004 the New York City Council will issue a proclamation that that pays tribute this extraordinary woman from Brooklyn, New York.
  • July 29, 1929 (1994) - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis - First Lady from 1961 - 1963; established White House Historical Association