The United States Celebrates Women's Achievements in March

In 1981, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution establishing National Women's History Week. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month, and has since passed such a resolution every year. Congressional action is followed by a U.S. presidential proclamation declaring March as Women’s History Month.

Since its founding in 1980, the National Women's History Project has recognized and celebrated the rich and varied contributions of women to the history and culture of the United States.

The 2007 Women's History Month theme, Generations of Women Moving History Forward, celebrates the wisdom and tenacity of prior and future generations of women and recognizes the power of generations working together.

According to the National Women's History Project, "the year 2007 presents special opportunities to highlight some critically important events in women’s history, including the 50th anniversary of the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the 30th anniversary of the National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas.

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Organizations

National Collaborative for Women's History Sites
Operating from the Alice Paul Institute, the National Collaborative for Women's History sites "supports and promotes the preservation and interpretation of sites and locales that bear witness to women's participation in American life." Information on over thirty historical sites as well as news and calendars of events is available on this site.

National First Ladies' Library
Based in Canton, Ohio, this facility contains archives devoted to educating everyone from children to serious scholars on the contributions of the First Ladies and other important women in history. In addition to its physical holdings, the library provides an electronic virtual collection available to people in the United States and abroad.

The National Women's Hall of Fame
In 1969, a group of women and men of Seneca Falls created the National Women's Hall of Fame, believing that the contribution of American women deserved a permanent home in the small village where it all began. The Hall is home to exhibits, artifacts of historical interest, a research library and office.

National Women's History Museum
Founded in 1996, the National Women's History Museum is a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational institution dedicated to revealing, presenting, and celebrating the rich and diverse history of women's contributions that have shaped American culture and society.

The National Women's History Project:
In 1980, the National Women’s History Project (NWHP) was founded in Santa Rosa, California, to broadcast women’s historical achievements. The NWHP started by leading a coalition that successfully lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the country. Today, the NWHP is known nationally as the only clearinghouse providing information and training in multicultural women’s history for educators, community organizations, and parents -- for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women contributions to U. S. history. There are separate sections offering information on Events; Honorees; Program Ideas; and Themes.

Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture
Part of Duke University's Rare Book, Manuscript, Special Collections Library, women's manuscripts represent a substantial portion of the library's collections. The material at the Sallie Bingham Center "ranges from plantation diaries to women's suffrage documents, from a Phyllis Wheatley letter to Anne Tyler manuscripts, from the records of local Women's Temperance Union to the papers of contemporary feminist activities."

Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America collects manuscripts, books, and other materials essential for understanding women's lives and activities in the United States. A non-circulating library open to the public free of charge, it draws researchers and students from around the world. Its unique holdings include thousands of records of organizations and individuals, in addition to photographs, books, periodicals, ephemera, oral histories, and audiovisual materials. It is also home to one of the world's most significant culinary books collections, and it maintains the archives of Radcliffe College.

Additional Resources

Conversations with History: Women's Rights
Drawing upon the resources of the Conversations with History Archive at the University of California at Berkeley, this site consists of transcripts, video interviews and bibliographies of men and women talking about their lives, their views, and their work. Sociology professor Manuel Castells, Air Force colonel Brenda Hollis, and psychologist Judith Lewis Herman are among those interviewed.

Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement
The materials in this on-line archival collection at Duke University focus specifically on the "radical origins of this movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s."

The History of Women's Suffrage in America: Exhibits from the History Channel
Features of this site include a summary of the women's suffrage movement, a list of women's "firsts," and a chronology of important dates going back to 1777.

Jane Addams
Jane Addams was the founder of Hull House in Chicago, an early settlement house, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. This site from About.com includes a biographical sketch and a list of quotations. It also provides links to her writings on various topics, bibliographies, and other resources.

Living the Legacy: The Women's Rights Movement 1848-1998
A history of the women's movement from the Women's History Project.

Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
This is the companion Web site to the Public Broadcasting Service's documentary film on Stanton and Anthony. It presents an overview of their lives and the nineteenth-century women's movement, as well as resources on the history of women's rights and selected articles, essays and original documents.

The Seneca Falls Convention, July 19-20, 1848
Text and photographs from a National Portrait Gallery exhibition are shown on this site, which also provides links to additional images from the gallery's collection.

Sophia Smith Collection
Located at Smith College, the Sophia Smith Collection is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history.

Suffragists Oral History Project
This project, from the Bancroft Library's Regional Oral History Office at the University of California, Berkeley, collected interviews with leaders and participants in the woman's suffrage movement. Major figures in twentieth-century suffragist history are represented here with full-length oral histories.

Woman Suffrage
This page takes you back to 1912 when the public debate over women's suffrage was contested in editorial pages, political cartoons, the streets, and in the home. The pro-suffrage arguments, the anti-suffrage arguments, and information about the political process are portrayed using cartoons, photographs, and essays.

Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment: Teaching with Documents
"Failure Is Impossible" -- the National Archives' salute to women's suffrage, including primary sources, activities and links to related websites for educators and students.

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830-1930
This website is intended to introduce students, teachers, and scholars to a rich collection of primary documents related to women and social movements in the United States between 1830 and 1930. It is organized around editorial projects completed by undergraduate and graduate students at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Women's Equality: Changing Attitudes and Beliefs
Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, this comprehensive lesson plan for grades 6-8 includes a useful list of related links. Complementary lesson plans from "EdSitement" include Voting Rights for Women: Pro- and Anti-Suffrage, Who Were the Foremothers of Women's Equality?, and Women's Suffrage: Why the West Went First.

Women's History in America
Sponsored by the Women's International Center, this website gives a brief history of women in American society.

Women's Suffrage from About.com
These links from About.com focus on woman suffrage in the United States. They include articles and biographies for more in-depth information on the long struggle to win the vote for women and include information on Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Pankhursts, Mathilda Jocelyn Gage, and others.