Despite the pleasures of a three-day weekend, the second Monday in October has a highly contentious history. Although it was not celebrated at the federal level until 1934, the commemoration of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage became widespread at a time of intense anti-immigrant—particularly anti-Asian—sentiment. As historian Malinda Maynor Lowery put it, in the late 1800s,…
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Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Honoring Caroline Parker, Haudenosaunee Artist
October 8, 2021
Despite the pleasures of a three-day weekend, the second Monday in October has a highly contentious history. Although it was not celebrated at the federal level until 1934, the commemoration of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage became widespread at a time of intense anti-immigrant—particularly anti-Asian—sentiment. As historian Malinda Maynor Lowery put it, in the late 1800s,…
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Spotlight on Radical Women Journalists of Color
July 27, 2021
The relationship between the U.S. government and the news media has long been a contentious one. That tension is particularly clear when we look back at the lives and careers of women journalists of color who spent decades battling with the federal government for the minds, opinions, and favor of the American people. Participants in…
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The First Women Doctors: Q&A with Author Olivia Campbell
July 12, 2021
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…
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Through Diana Davies’ Lens: Capturing 1970s Radicalism
June 30, 2021
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,…
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“Let’s go. Let’s publish.” Katharine Graham and the Pentagon Papers
June 7, 2021
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…
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Behind the Photograph: Women and Girls in New York’s Chinatown
May 28, 2021
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…
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