Women at the Center

In 2019, for the first time in history, the majority of students in American medical schools were female. The battle for women’s access to the medical profession has been long and arduous since 1849, when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate from an American medical college. Even in 1969, women still only made…

While the Center for Women’s History exhibition, Cover Story: Katharine Graham, CEO,  is on view in the Joyce B. Cowin Women’s History Gallery through October 3, 2021, Women at the Center will explore the lives and professional experiences of women in media—and how their work transformed journalism while fighting against persistent, systemic biases, including sexism, racism,…

Fifty years ago, the New York Times began publishing excerpts and analyses of the “History of the United States Decision-Making Process on Vietnam Policy,” better known as the Pentagon Papers. To mark the anniversary of the ensuing clash between President Richard Nixon’s administration and free press, the Center for Women’s History dives into the story…

To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Center for Women’s History is diving into the story behind a photograph from the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library collection of the Morning Star Mission in 1916, showing several tables of young Chinese girls sewing under the supervision of three white women. How, and when, did…

In 2008, Alison Saar’s statue Swing Low became the first public monument to an African American woman in New York City. Located in Harlem, it honors Harriet Tubman, the celebrated African American abolitionist who self-emancipated in 1849 and repeatedly risked her life to complete an estimated (and astonishing) 13 trips back to her native Maryland…