Women’s history celebrated during month of March

March is Women’s History Month and Women’s Studies along with other organizations on campus are sponsoring many programs to celebrate women in history an to remember the important contributions they have made.
Congress passed a resolution in 1987 designating March as Women’s History Month. “ETSU has been celebrating Women’s History Month, I suspect, since that resolution was passed,” said Dr. Amber Kinser, director of women’s studies at ETSU.
“I think it’s important to have a month celebrating women’s history because what has been celebrated in history has largely been the accomplishments of men,” Kinser said.
Kinser said one example of this is Eli Whitney and his invention of the cotton gin. According to Myra and David Sadker’s book, Failing at Fairness: How America’s Schools Cheat Girls, Whitney’s original design of the cotton gin was flawed in that it caused the seeds to be clogged in the rollers.
Catherine Littlefield Greene, a widow of a Revolutionary War general who owned the mansion where Whitney worked, came up with the idea to use brushes for the seeds.
But, at a time when it was unlikely for a woman to patent an invention, Greene received no credit for her idea that would change the way cotton is produced forever. “There are volumes of examples like that of women who have contributed in very important ways but haven’t received their due,” Kinser said.
“Women’s History Month is an effort to try to dig into what has been covered up and find more stories like that,” she said.
“Without Women’s History Month, women would not be acknowledged for their important contribution to history,” said Kristen Heffern, graduate assistant to Women’s Studies.
The National Women’s History Project works to recognize these historic accomplishments of women by educating people through information and programs.
This year’s theme for the month-long celebration, set by the National Women’s History Project is “Women Inspiring Hope and Possibility.” There are eight honorees who embody what this theme is about. These women are: * Sarah Buel, a domestic violence attorney, activist and educator
* Edna Campbell, a professional athlete and cancer awareness spokesperson
* Jill Ker Conway, a writer, educator and historian
* Marian Wright Edelman, a children’s advocate and civil rights activist
* Maxine Hong Kingston, a writer educator and peace activist
* Susan Love, a women’s health and breast cancer research expert
* Vilma Martinez, a civil rights attorney and community activist
* Leslie Marmon Silko, a writer, poet and educator

Among the events at ETSU is “She Raves,” the kick-off event for Women’s History Month on March 9 at noon.
“She Raves” is a casual and unrehearsed event in the Reece Museum where students, faculty and staff can “rave” about females who have influenced their lives, Kinser said. These women can be family member, artists, writers or anyone who has made an impact.
“That’s a very communal experience – women and men coming to celebrate the women who have been influential to them,” she said.
The Women’s Resource Center will be providing refreshments at the event. “It’s very casual and fun,” Kinser said.
Also during Women’s History Month will be a concert by Magdalen Hsu-Li, an Asian American musician, painter, poet and speaker.
Hsu-Li will be performing songs from her latest CD, Fire which has been called “sweet, melodic, and real” by the New York Times.
Hsu-Li’s work deals with gender and sexuality diversity as well as disabilities, Kinser said. She will perform on Thursday, March 11 at 7 p.m. in the Martha Street Auditorium in the D.P. Culp Center.
On Wednesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. in Brown 261, Darcy Martin, an alumna of ETSU’s MALS Program will present “Beyond the Shadow of Little Rock: Remembering Daisy Bates.”
Daisy Bates was involved in the “Little Rock Crisis” during 1957. She advised nine students when they attempted to enroll in Little Rock High School as a result of the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education ruling.
On Thursday, March 25, at 7 p.m. in Brown 261, Dr. Mary Anglin from the University of Kentucky will present a lecture on her book, Women, Power, and Dissent in the Hills of Carolina. The book studies the history of the mica industry in Western North Carolina and how it came to be organized around women’s labor.
Kinser encourages all students, male and female, to take part in the Women’s History Month celebrations.
“If females can benefit from sitting in a classroom and hearing about the accomplishments of men, and of course they can, then males learning about the accomplishments of women is by definition beneficial,” Kinser said.
For more information on Women’s History Month or about this year’s honorees, visit the National Women’s History Project web site at www.nwhp.org.

Women’s History Month Events

Every Thursday – Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance meeting, 4 p.m. in the Cave