Important Dates in Women's History
December

December 1868

Senator Pomeroy of Kansas introduced the first federal women's suffrage amendment to Congress.

December 1913

Alice Paul (suffragette leader) was expelled from the National American Woman Suffrage Association as a militant. She then started the Congressional Union for Women's Suffrage. Paul, who died in 1977, was also involved in the attempt to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.

December 1, 1955

Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. This sparked the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.

December 2, 1980

Maryknoll Sisters were murdered in El Salvador by right-wing death squads.

December 3, 1910

Freda du Faur climbed Mount Cook in New Zealand in a record 6 hours. Not only was she the first woman to do so, but she did it in try "lady-like" fashion - she wore a skirt!

December 4, 1911

The verdict was reached in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York. The defendants, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris were found Not Guilty. The verdict spurred the efforts of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to organize for better working conditions. It resulted in Congress passing laws to improve conditions in the industry's sweatshops.

December 9, 1978

The first game of Women's Professional Basketball was played

December 10, 1931

Jane Addams won the Nobel Peace Prize. She was president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

December 10, 1948

The United Nations General Assembly passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, much of which was written by Eleanor Roosevelt.

December 14, 1970

The National Press Club, who had excluded women from membership since its inception voted to admit women.

December 18-19, 1981

The first U.S. women's volleyball championship was held (Collegiate)

December 19, 1848

Emily Bronte, author, died.

December 24

Mother's Night (Modresnach) is celebrated in Germany. The celebration has more to do with Winter Soltice than Motherhood and actually refers to Mother Earth.

December 25, 1821

Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, born. (Read some of her quotes, below)

"I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man's work for less than a man's pay."

"The surest test of discipline is its absence."