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The History of Women’s History Month
Before the 1970’s, the topic of women’s
history was largely missing from general public
consciousness. To address this situation, the
Education Task Force of the Sonoma County
(California) Commission on the Status of Women
initiated a “Women’s History Week” celebration
in 1978 and chose the week of March 8 to
coincide with International Women’s Day.
The celebration was met with positive
response, and schools began to host their own
Women’s History Week programs. The next year,
leaders from the California group shared their
project at a Women’s History Institute at Sarah
Lawrence College. Other participants not only
became determined to begin their own local
Women’s History Week projects but also agreed
to support an effort to have Congress declare a
national Women’s History Week.
In 1981, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep.
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) cosponsored the first
Joint Congressional Resolution proclaiming a
“Women’s History Week.”
In 1987, the National Women’s History
Project petitioned Congress to expand the
celebration to the entire month of March. Since
then, the National Women’s History Month
Resolution has been approved every year with
bipartisan support in both the House and
Senate.
About This Year's Theme: Women’s
Art: Women’s Vision
The National Women’s History Project chose
its 2008 national theme “Women’s Art: Women’s
Vision” to honor the originality, beauty,
imagination and multiple dimensions of women’s
lives. Women in the arts have left their
valuable mark upon history. Theirs is the story
of amazing accomplishments often acclaimed at
the time but later forgotten.
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