March is Women's History Month!!!!

[Kobi]

Mary Louise Guinan—better known as "Texas" Guinan (1884-1933). Getting her big start in Vaudeville in 1909, Mary drifted into film by 1917. First cast as a vamp, she quickly found her niche as a Western heroine and movie star, cranking out westerns for 6 years. In 1922, tiring of the movies, she made her way to New York where she became an icon of the night club scene, intimate with movie stars, partnering with gangsters, she became so notorious as to be barred from entering England or France.




1935 - Only black lawyer in the "twenty against the underworld team," Eunice Hunton Carter led the way for prostitution reform in New York. The underworld took in $12 million a year on prostitution alone during the Depression years, with Charles "Lucky" Luciano, New York's Mafia leader, in charge. The subsequent trial brought Luciano's conviction.It also brought Eunice Hunton Carter an appointment as chief of Dewey's Special Sessions Bureau, supervising more than 14,000 criminal cases each year.

[girl_dee]

i ran across this ad from the 1800's:


WHY ARE
THE MADAME MORA'S CORSETS

A MARVEL OF COMFORT AND ELEGANCE!





Try them and you will Find

WHY they need no breaking in, but feel easy at once.
WHY they are liked by Ladies of full figure.
WHY they do not break down over the hips, and
WHY the celebrated French curved band prevents any wrinkling or stretching at the sides.
WHY dressmakers delight in fitting dresses over them.
WHY merchants say they give better satisfaction than any others.
WHY they take pains to recommend them.

Their popularity has induced many imitations, which are frauds, high at any price. Buy only the genuine, stamped Madame Mora's. Sold by all leading dealers with this
GUARANTEE:
that if not perfectly satisfactory upon trial the money will be refunded.
L. KRAUS & CO., Manufacturers, Birmingham, Conn.

[The_Lady_Snow]

[Kobi]

Jewel S. LaFontant-MANkarious (1922-1997), A.B. Oberlin 1943, '79 hon., trustee 1981-86. She was the first African American woman to serve as assistant U.S. attorney and the first African American woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.





From October 1943 onward, Marianne Cohen, (a member of the French Resistance), smuggled groups of children to Switzerland until she was arrested with a group of 28 of them in May 1944. The Jewish members of the underground planned to rescue her, but she refused, fearing her escape would endanger the children. The children were rescued, but Marianne was kidnapped by members of the special services from Lyon on July 3, 1944, severely tortured and murdered in Ville la Grand, near Annemasse.

[weatherboi]

In response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, Harriet Beecher Stowe, writer, teacher and abolitionist, wrote the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly", an anti-slavery novel which was the best selling novel of the 19th century, helping lay the groundwork for the Civil War and which was published on this day in 1852. While people today tend to criticize the book for it's negative stereotypes, it was a very important part of our anti-slavery and American history with even Abraham Lincoln, upon meeting Stowe, saying "So this is the little lady who started this great war".

[Kobi]

Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 - December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, linguist, and second President of Bryn Mawr College.

In 1885 Thomas, together with Mary Elizabeth Garrett, Mamie Gwinn, Elizabeth King, and Julia Rogers, founded The Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore Maryland. The school would produce well-educated young women who met the very high entrance standards of Bryn Mawr College.

In 1894, she became president of Bryn Mawr college. During her tenure as president, Thomas' primary concern was upholding the highest standards of admissions and academic rigor. The entrance examinations for the college were made as difficult as those at Harvard University, and pupils could not gain admission by certificate. For the academic curriculum, Thomas emulated the "group system" of Johns Hopkins, in which students were required to take parallel courses in a logical sequence. Students could not freely choose electives. There were also other requirements, including a foreign language requirement that culminated in a sight translation examination proctored by Thomas herself. Overall, the academic curriculum at Bryn Mawr under Thomas shunned liberal arts education, preferring more traditional topics such as Greek, Latin, and mathematics.[2] Thomas was also instrumental in bringing several new buildings to the College, which introduced collegiate Gothic architecture to the United States.

In 1908, she became the first president of the National College Women's Equal Suffrage League. She was also a leading member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. After 1920 she advocated the policies of the National Woman's Party. She was one of the early promoters of an equal rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Thomas lived for many years in a relationship with Mamie Gwinn. After Gwinn left Thomas in 1904 to marry (a love triangle fictionalized in Gertrude Stein's Fernhurst), Thomas started another relationship with Mary Garrett; they shared the campus home, living together until Garrett's death.

M. Carey Thomas had firm views on marriage, and in a letter to her mother she described it as a "Loss of freedom, poverty, and a personal subjection for which I see absolutely no compensation"

[Kobi]

In Kenya in 1993, 14 year old Kakenya underwent female circumcision. But, she had a plan. She negotiated a deal with her father, threatening to run away unless he promised she could finish high school after the ceremony.

"I really liked going to school," she said. "I knew that once I went through the cutting, I was going to be married off. And my dream of becoming a teacher was going to end."

Dreams like Ntaiya's weren't the norm in Enoosaen, a small village in western Kenya. Engaged at age 5, Ntaiya spent her childhood learning the skills she would need to be a good Maasai wife. But her mother encouraged her children to strive for a better life, and Ntaiya heeded her advice, postponing the coming-of-age ritual as long as she could. When her father finally insisted, she took her stand.

Ntaiya's bold move paid off. She excelled in high school and earned a college scholarship in the United States. Her community held a fundraiser to raise money for her airfare, and in exchange, she promised to return and help the village.

Over the next decade, Ntaiya would earn her degree, a job at the United Nations and eventually a doctorate in education. But she never forgot the vow she made to village elders.

In 2009, she opened the first primary school for girls in her village, the Kakenya Center for Excellence. Today, Ntaiya is helping more than 150 girls receive the education and opportunities that she had to sacrifice so much to attain.

The Kakenya Center for Excellence started as a traditional day school, but now the students, who range from fourth to eighth grade, live at the school. This spares the girls from having to walk miles back and forth, which puts them at risk of being sexually assaulted, a common problem in rural African communities. It also ensures the girls don't spend all their free time doing household chores.

"Now, they can focus on their studies -- and on being kids," Ntaiya said. "It's the only way you can give a girl child a chance to excel."
Students receive three meals a day as well as uniforms, books and tutoring. There are also extracurricular activities such as student council, debate and soccer. Class sizes are small -- many schools in Kenya are extremely overcrowded -- and the girls have more chances to participate. With these opportunities and the individual attention they receive, the girls are inspired to start dreaming big.

"They want to become doctors, pilots, lawyers," Ntaiya said. "It's exciting to see that."

Just 4 years old, the school already ranks among the top in its district.

"Fathers are now saying, 'My daughter could do better than my son,' " Ntaiya said.

As a public school, the Kakenya Center for Excellence receives some financial support from the Kenyan government. But the majority of the school's expenses are paid for by Ntaiya's U.S.-based nonprofit. While families are asked to contribute to cover the cost of the girls' meals, an expense that can be paid in maize or beans, Ntaiya covers the costs of any students who cannot pay.

Each year, more than 100 girls apply for approximately 30 spots available in each new class. Parents who enroll their daughters must agree that they will not be subjected to genital mutilation or early marriage.

Many families are willing to accept Ntaiya's terms, and that's the kind of change she was hoping to inspire. It took her years to drum up support for the project, but eventually she persuaded the village elders to donate land for the school.

"It's still quite challenging to push for change. Men are in charge of everything," she said. "But nothing good comes on a silver plate. You have to fight hard."

Chief John Naleke, a village elder, can testify firsthand to Ntaiya's powers of persuasion. As recently as 2006, he claimed there was no need for girls to be educated. But she managed to win him over; he's now an important partner in her efforts.

Naleke said Ntaiya's accomplishments and spirit have made her a role model, noting that villagers also respect the fact that she didn't forget her promise.

"We have several sons who have gone to the United States for school. Kakenya is the only one that I can think of that has come back to help us," Naleke said. "What she tells us, it touches us. ... She brought a school and a light and is trying to change old customs to help girls get a new, better life."

In 2011, Ntaiya moved to Nairobi, Kenya's capital, with her husband and two young sons. She spends about half her time in Enoosaen, where she loves to visit with the girls and see them evolve.

"When they start, they are so timid," she said. "(Now) the confidence they have, it's just beyond words. It's the most beautiful thing."

Her nonprofit also runs health and leadership camps that are open to all sixth-grade girls in the village and teach them about female circumcision, child marriage, teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS.

"We tell them about every right that they have, and we teach them how to speak up," Ntaiya said. "It's about empowering the girls."

In the coming years, Ntaiya plans to expand her school to include lower grades. She also wants to provide tutoring for the students from her first class when they head to high school next year, and she wants to eventually open a career center for them. She hopes that one day the school will serve as a model for girls' education throughout Africa.

Ultimately, Ntaiya wants girls to have the opportunity to go as far as their abilities will take them.

"I came back so girls don't have to negotiate like I did to achieve their dreams," she said. "That's why I wake up every morning."

Want to get involved? Check out the Kakenya Center for Excellence website at www.kakenyasdream.org and see how to help.

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While female circumcision and child marriage are now illegal in Kenya -- new laws banning genital mutilation have contributed to a decline in the practice -- officials acknowledge that they still go on, especially in rural tribal areas. Despite free primary education being mandated 10 years ago by the Kenyan government, educating girls is still not a priority for the Maasai culture. According to the Kenyan government, only 11% of Maasai girls in Kenya finish primary school.