NOT FOUND: Leading_a_march_of_300_women_of_the_California_Equal_Suffrage_Association_in_Oakland_August_27_1908_were_l_to_r_Lilllian_Harris_Coffin_Mrs_Theodore_Pinther_Jr_and_Mrs._Theodore_Pinther_Sr.jpgThe GFWC Antelope-North County Women’s Club is celebrating Women’s History Month. California women won the right to vote in November of 1911. There were two earlier elections in which women did not get the right to vote. This did not stop the movement; women went “church to church, school to school, club to club, door to door, person to person; all received handbills and newspaper articles about the suffrage movement”. It was the rural areas of California that swung the election in 1911; these areas never saw a suffragette but carried the elections because of the ground swell for a woman‘s right to vote. This year is the 100th anniversary of that great event. Remember, this was only for State elections women did not get the right to vote in federal elections until 1920.
Leading a march of 300 women of the California Equal Suffrage Association in Oakland August 27 1908 were (l to r) Lilllian Harris Coffin, Mrs. Theodore Pinther, Jr. and Mrs. Theodore Pinther, Sr.
Photo: California Historical Society, San Francisco, CA
NOT FOUND: sally-ride.jpgAnother great event for women was Sally Ride’s flight on the shuttle. Dr. Ride was born in Encino, California in 1951. In 1983 she became the first American woman in space. The Soviet Union had already sent two women into space. All over the USA women now had someone to look up to who was one of them, good in math and science so good that she went to work for NASA and went into space! Dr. Ride retired from NASA in 1987 and became a Physics Professor at the University of California, San Diego. She has written several books on space exploration. The “Sally Ride Science” is an organization she founded to help girls interested or who might get interested in math, science and technology. Check it out at https://www.sallyridescience.com
The GFWC, General Federation of Women’s Clubs is an excellent source for information on women and our history. The GFWC’s Women’s History and Resource Center, WHRC, collects, preserves, helps to interpret and promotes the history of GFWC women and women volunteers. It starts with the headquarters building for the GFWC which is at 1734 N St. NW, Washington, DC; and goes on with a collection going back to 1890 when our women’s clubs first realized the need to have women’s clubs all over the country united and became the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. The Pacific Coast Women’s Press Association of San Francisco was started in 1890. Our own Women’s Improvement club of Roseville just celebrated their 100th anniversary in October 2010. Those are just two examples of the longevity for some of these ideas for women to help make their communities better places to live. The WHRC is on-line at www.gfwc.org, check it out. The ladies there would love to help you learn more about the GFWC & women volunteers.
NOT FOUND: Votes-for-women.jpgDoes this sound like something you would like to be a part of? Then come to our next meeting, March 12 at 11:00am. Call Dori at 332-7133 for the place. Check us out on face book at GFWC Antelope-North County Women’s Club or at GFWC California Federation of Women’s Clubs. We would love to have you help us to make history right here in the Northern part of Sacramento County. Visitors are always welcome.