History

Did you know that women have only had the right to vote for 86 years of the 230 years that the United States has been a nation?

Visit the National Women's History Project for more interesting information. NWHP is a nonprofit organization that recognizes and celebrates the diverse and historic accomplishments of women by providing information and educational materials and programs.

Margaret Sanger
Founder of the American birth control movement and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.







The Clara Bell Duvall Reproductive Freedom Project
In 1929, 34 year old Clara Bell Duvall died from complications of a self-induced abortion. Left behind were five young children, including Linn Duvall Harwell, who has dedicated her life to ensuring that other women do not suffer the same tragic fate as her mother.






Lydia Maria Child, best remembered for her Thanksgiving poem Over the River and Through the Woods, was an author and abolitionist. In 1826 she started the first monthly periodical for children in the U.S., Juvenile Miscellany. When she published An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called African in 1833, much of her audience turned against her. In 1870, she was a founding member of the Massachusetts Women's Suffrage Association, however Abolition was always her first priority. Child was also the author of The Frugal Housewife, The History of the Conditions of Women in Various Ages and Nations, and An Appeal for the Indians, which proposed solutions for justice for Native Americans. The Mother's Book, published in 1831, voiced her concern that mothers guide the education of their children, particularly their daughters, and stressed the importance of sex education for children.



Inez Milholland was born in 1886. As a student at Vassar, she was suspended after organizing a rally in a cemetery in response to the college's policy prohibiting speakers on women's suffrage from appearing on campus. In 1913, Milholland led the women's suffrage demonstration in Washington on a white horse. She became one of the leaders of the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage.




In 1896 Helga Estby and her daughter Clara walked 3500 miles across America in the hope of winning a $10,000 wager in order to save the family farm in Eastern Washington. Helga faced disapproval from family and friends for making a decision that challenged Victorian society's standards for women. As a result, Helga's story was silenced by her family and the written account she kept was lost to future generations. The award-winning book Bold Spirit by Linda L. Hunt describes Helga and Clara's fascinating journey.

The Boundaries of Her Body: The Troubling History of Women's Rights in America
by Debran Rowland