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Frances Perkins
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Frances Perkins, Modern Politics, and Historical Memory

The current political moment is reshaping the narrative about the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet.
Pamela Harriman posing in an expensively decorated bedroom beside a four poster bed.

How a Mid-Century Paramour Became a Democratic Power Broker

Churchill weaponized her powers of seduction—but Pamela Harriman came into her own when she brought her glamour to Washington.
President Ronald Reagan is applauded by Beverly LaHaye, President of Concerned Women for America, right, shortly before he addressed a group in Arlington, Va., Sept. 25, 1987.
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The Woman Who Helped Build the Christian Right

How one activist helped turn evangelical women into the backbone of right-wing conservatism.
Mabel E. Macomber

The Neighborhood Nuisance: One Woman’s Crusade to Shape Brooklyn

“It is true that my life has been threatened as the leader of this playground campaign,” wrote Mabel E. Macomber in 1929 from Brooklyn’s Bedford neighborhood.
Daisy Bates speaking at the March on Washington.

How Might the Civil Rights Movement Looked Different With Women at the Forefront?

Why women civil rights organizers marginalized at this event, and how that affects our collective memory of the struggle.
Anna Rosenberg talking to Lyndon B. Johnson.
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One of the Most Important Women in American History Has Been Forgotten

Anna Rosenberg had massive influence in American politics for 40 years. Remembering her story offers a guide for solving problems today.
Patsy Min, the first woman of color and the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress.

My Mom Fought For Title IX, but It Almost Didn’t Happen

When the personal and professional lives of Hawai'i Congresswoman Patsy Mink collided.
Phyllis Schlafly and a group of supporters with signs and "Stop ERA" buttons.

The End of the Equal Rights Amendment

As the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment lapsed in June 1982, the amendment's foes celebrated, while its proponents looked to the future.
Lady Bird Johnson looking through stack of papers at a desk

The Lost Story of Lady Bird

Why do most chroniclers of LBJ’s presidency miss the centrality and influence of the first lady?
Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act with Frances Perkins behind him.

The Woman Who Helped a President Change America During His First 100 Days

Frances Perkins was the first female Cabinet secretary in U.S. history, paving the way for the record number of women serving in President Biden’s Cabinet.
Marjorie Taylor Greene
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Marjorie Taylor Greene Is Just the Latest Radical White Woman Poisoning Politics

Such women have long pushed American politics to the right, and their ideas have become mainstream.

A Record Number of Women Are Serving in the 117th Congress

Since Jeannette Rankin was elected in 1916, 352 women have served in the House and 46 in the Senate. About two-thirds entered Congress during or after the 1990s.
Bella Abzug with a group of women with strike signs.

'In a Perfectly Just Republic,' Bella Abzug – Born a Century Ago – Would Have Been President

Before presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, before Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, there was Congresswoman and firebrand Bella Abzug.
Black and white photo portrait of a woman wearing un-rimmed glasses and a short brimmed hat with a satin bow on it.

Suffrage in Spanish

Hispanic women and the fight for the 19th Amendment in New Mexico.
Victoria Woodhull speaks as the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives receives a group of female suffragists, January 11, 1871

The Scandalous and Pioneering Victoria Woodhull

The first woman to run for president was infamous in her day.

Putting Women Back Where They Belong: In Federalism and the U.S. History Survey

Looking to the local level showcases how women claimed their rights in Early America.

On Robert Caro, Great Men, and the Problem of Powerful Women in Biography

Power and ambition in women are often hidden, buried, disguised, crushed, mocked, diminished, punished, or excoriated.
Chart of Democratic and Republican women in Congress from 1959 to 2019.

We Mapped Out the Road to Gender Parity in the House of Representatives

Exploring the last 100 years of women in politics through data.

This Map Shows When Each State Elected a Woman to Congress

Women could make history this year — but there's still a long way to go before there's equal representation.

Female Trouble

Clinton's memoir addresses the gendered discourse and larger feminist contexts of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Anita Hill and Her 1991 Congressional Defenders to Joe Biden: You Were Part of the Problem

Hill revisits the infamous Clarence Thomas hearings with five of the congressional women who supported her.
Cartoon portraits of women who were mayors in 1922.

In the 1920s, the Now-Forgotten Flood of 'Girl Mayors' Became the Face of Feminism

Profiles of a few of the municipal leaders elected in the wake of the 19th Amendment.
Emma Goldman.

Emma Goldman’s “Anarchism Without Adjectives”

The writings of Emma Goldman entered the public domain. Here is an introduction to Goldman's life and her particular brand of anarchism.
Taylor Swift's Instagram post endorsing Kamala Harris. Swift is holding a cat and facing the camera, dressed in black.

Taylor Swift and the History of the Celebrity Endorsement

Do pop culture interventions in presidential elections make a difference?
Kamala Harris waving at the Democratic National Convention.
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Kamala Harris Is Borrowing From the Feminist Playbook

Harris is taking a page from the playbook that has long helped women advance the quest for equality.
Kamala Harris

The Cultural History Behind Trump's Attack on Kamala Harris's Race

What the scholarship on biraciality tells us about politics now.
1924 Democratic convention at Madison Square Garden.

Why the 1924 Democratic National Convention Was the Longest and Most Chaotic of Its Kind

A century ago, the party took a record 103 ballots and 16 days of intense, violent debate to choose a presidential nominee.
Three photographs of Mother Jones with each becoming less pixelated until the final image is clear.

America’s Best Made-Up Person

On the transformation of Mary Harris into Mother Jones.
Women's suffrage march

When Feminism Was ‘Sexist’—and Anti-Suffrage

The women who opposed their own enfranchisement in the Victorian era have little in common with the “Repeal the 19th” fringe of today.
Regina King as Shirley Chisholm in "Shirley," a new film.

The True History Behind Netflix's 'Shirley' Movie

A new film dramatizes Shirley Chisholm's history-making bid to become the first Black woman president in 1972.

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