Annie Smith Peck enjoyed a privileged upbringing in Rhode Island. Her father, an attorney and business owner, was a prominent man in Providence serving on their City Council. Annie started her education by attending Dr. Stockbridge’s School for Young Ladies before going to the local high school and then graduating from a Rhode Island teaching college. As was common at the time, students who wished to teach gained extra training by attending a normal school. Annie graduated from the Rhode Island Normal School in 1872. The Rhode Island Normal School had opened in 1854. Since the first normal school in the United States started in 1823 in Vermont, Rhode Island’s Normal School was one of the first in the nation—schools in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Michigan preceding it. Annie’s program was a teacher preparation curriculum, but the school eventually developed into a teaching college and then later into a comprehensive higher education institution when it became Rhode Island College.
After receiving teaching training, Annie moved (in the mid 1870s) to Saginaw, Michigan—a lumber town—to teach high school courses. While in Michigan, Annie decided to pursue further education. In 1870, the prestigious University of Michigan had opened its doors to women. With the first class of women graduating from U of M, Annie enrolled in the Classical Languages program (specializing in Greek). She graduated with honors in 1878. Annie then pursued a master’s degree in Greek, which she received in 1881. From Michigan, she ventured off to Europe to obtain further training. Annie was reportedly the first woman to attend the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece. (“Annie Smith Peck,” Dr. Russell Potter faculty page, Rhode Island College, accessed 12/21/2017)
It was in Europe that Annie discovered the thrill of mountain climbing and her aptitude for it. She scaled mountains in Italy, Switzerland, and Greece. She became the third woman ever to reach the summit of the Matterhorn in the Alps. Social convention required women to wear skirts or dresses at all times, but Annie donned trousers for the climb—scandalizing everyone I’m sure. Mountain climbing was a male sport, so there wasn't equipment available for women. Annie had to engineer or adapt the necessary implements...even her shoes. After climbing the Matterhorn in 1895, Annie set her sights on the Americas. She scaled Mount Orizaba in Mexico in 1897 and tried to climb Mount Illampu in Bolivia, but failed.
In 1908, after several attempts, and at the age of 58, Annie Smith Peck was the first person to scale Peru’s Mount Huascaran. It was a major achievement that was fraught with danger. At the time, she thought she had climbed the highest peak in the Americas. It would turn out not to be the highest, but it was still a record-breaking climb of 22,205 feet. A year later, she promoted suffrage by planting a “Votes For Women” flag at the top of Mount Coropuna in Peru.
Throughout her life, she continued mountaineering, exploring, and travel writing. Although she climbed until right before she died, she included exploring by plane to her adventuring ways. She explored South America by flight and wrote about it in her 1932 book, Flying Over South America: Twenty Thousand Miles by Air. Annie Smith Peck died in 1935 at the age of 84 having set new records for men and women alike.Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall conducted research which revealed aspects of the chimp society previously unknown to the scientific community, such as: tool making/ using, emotional displays, social status and relationship building between chimps, communication and dietary characteristics. Jane made discoveries which indicated a parallel between chimps and humans in several areas, indicating that chimps are much more like humans than previously believed. This information was shared with the scientific community and though it was criticized for not following set scientific standards, her findings were recognized as significant. Jane went to Cambridge University and obtained her PhD in Ethology. She opened the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation in 1977 to promote the research as well as address concerns with conservation. Following a conference in 1986, Jane became acutely aware of the dangers imposed upon the chimps due to a diminishing environment from human encroachment upon their ecosystem. She left her beloved research in Africa to take up the cause to bring awareness to the peril chimps faced from man’s disruption of their environment. In 1991, Jane developed a conservation program for children called Roots and Shoots to educate and support the following generations in their goal to protect the environment. It is currently available in almost 100 countries today. Jane travels 300 days a year speaking to people around the world to champion the cause for chimps and promote changes to preserve our environment. Her work as an ethologist, scientist, activist and conservationist encourages society to make changes that promote sustainable living and preservation of the environment and animals, especially the chimps.
From an early age, Goodall loved animals. She dreamed of going to Africa someday to write about the animals she so loved. Growing up in a society where girls were dissuaded from such ideas, she had the support of a matriarchal household that encouraged Jane to follow her dreams via hard work and use of opportunities. During her childhood, World War II had broken out and she, her mother and her sister went to stay with her grandmother. Her father joined the military then later divorced her mother. After graduation from high school in 1952, Jane did not have enough money to go to college. Urged by her mother to learn secretarial work, Jane took classes and became employed as a secretary in a few different firms. In 1956, Jane was presented with the opportunity to go to Africa to a friend’s family farm. She used this opportunity to pursue her dream. Shortly after arriving in Africa, Jane met anthropologists Drs. Mary and Louis Leakey who hired her as an assistant. She accompanied them on an archeological dig in Olduvai Gorge. Recognizing Jane’s enthusiasm and intelligence, the Leakeys asked Jane if she would go to Gombe to study chimpanzees to determine a link between man and this species. After funds were secured for the research, Jane found herself at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in 1960. As a young girl with no degree nor experience, Jane used methods deemed unempirical in the current scientific community. In doing so, she made significant discoveries which rocked the scientific world’s understanding of chimp behaviors. Understanding the need for Jane to be educated, the Leakeys arranged for her to attend Cambridge University to obtain a PhD. This was unprecedented as Jane did not even have an undergraduate degree. However, she completed her thesis using her research at Gombe and obtained her PhD in Ethology in 1965. Setting up the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977, she left less than 10 years later to promote environmental awareness and sustainable living to save the chimpanzees. As of this publication in 2017, she is in her 80s and continues to travel the world 300 days a year to share her message of activism and environmental protection.
The name Jane Goodall is synonymous with chimpanzee research. She has been identified as the authority of chimpanzees but her story goes well beyond that. Depicted in issues of National Geographic and appearing in National Geographic documentaries, it may seem her fame as an ethologist was obtained effortlessly. However, Jane faced many obstacles before reaching her goal of studying animals in Africa. As a child, she faced the trials of living during a world war with an absent father. Her love of animals and propensity for research at an early age did not prevent a society who felt girls did not belong in such positions from discouraging her. The scientific community challenged her methods, despite the incredible discoveries she made during her research. Jane met this opposition with determination, taking advantage of every opportunity that allowed her one more step towards her goal. She was blessed with a mother that encouraged and supported her and later in her life and the Leakey's who recognized her strengths and offered opportunities that led to her goals. These efforts paid off: Jane is the leading authority on Chimpanzees with decades of research, several books and academic papers to support this. In addition, she is invited around the world to share her knowledge about her research and the environmental changes needed to maintain a sustainable future.
The information gained from Jane’s research may seem only relevant to the scientific community and those interested in chimpanzees, but it extends well beyond this. She revealed that animals can have similar emotions, social patterns and relationships as humans. Jane transformed the way animal research is approached today, stepping outside the scientific boundaries to gain insight about chimpanzees that were never realized before. Extending beyond her research, Jane understood the need for changes to occur in the manner humans relate to their environment so a more balanced ecosystem may be maintained, one that could support the animals, particularly the chimps, in their ever-decreasing environment. She continues to advocate for changes in the way humans treat and interact with nature, teaching adults and children alike the need to take care of the earth for future generations of both humans and non-human creatures alike. Through her research and activism, Jane continues to strive towards developing a better world for all.Goodall, Jane. The chimpanzees of Gombe: patterns of behavior. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986.
Goodall, Jane. Through a window: thirty years with the chimpanzees of Gombe. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990.
Goodall, Jane, and Dale Peterson. Africa in my blood: an autobiography in letters: the early years. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
Goodall, Jane, and Phillip L. Berman. Reason for hope: a spiritual journey. New York, NY: Warner, 2005.
Goodall, Jane, and Hugo Van Lawick. In the shadow of man. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.
Montgomery, Sy. Walking with the great apes: Jane Goodall, Diane Fossey, Biruté Galdikas White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Pub., 2009.
O’Malley, Robert C., William Wallauer, Carson M. Murray, and Jane Goodall. "The Appearance and Spread of Ant Fishing among the Kasekela Chimpanzees of Gombe." Current Anthropology 53, no. 5 (October 2012): 650-63.
Women had won the right to vote just four years before Shirley Chisholm’s birth. Racial segregation was still the norm and women were expected to be maids, mothers, and homemakers. Colleges could require different standards from women applicants than men. There was no question of gender and racial inequality, it was a fact of life. Shirley Chisholm broke the mold society had created for women--she cracked it wide open. Shirley Chisholm was radical; her support for social justice, feminism, black nationalists, and her opposition to US foreign policy was far outside the norm. Yet she stayed in politics, trying to bring progressive change to the Democratic Party as another facet of a movement striving for equality. At the same time Chisholm was fighting her hardest to get Lewis Flagg (a black judge) elected to an all-white municipal court, Rosa Parks was refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was calling African Americans to action against inequalities. While Chisholm was running her campaign for state congressional office, the Greensboro sit-ins were capturing national attention. The year Chisholm was elected to the House of Representatives, Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Chisholm ran for the presidency in the period of mourning following assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The nation was in turmoil and Shirley Chisholm was the revolutionary inspiration it needed to move forward.
The firstborn of four daughters to first generation Barbadian immigrants in Brooklyn, Shirley spent her formative years (3-10 years old) in Barbados being educated in the traditional British fashion before returning to the States where she attended Brooklyn College. As a woman, her grade point average had to be five percent higher than a man’s to be admitted (Winslow 2014). She planned to eventually pursue education, one of the few fields viewed as open to women. While in college she joined and formed various political clubs such as the Harriet Tubman Society, Pan-American League, the Urban League, and IPOTHIA (In Pursuit Of The Highest In All). She didn’t view politics as a viable career choice however, because societal norms indicated that women, especially black women, did not belong in politics. She also had a basic awareness that racism and sexism often interacted in complex ways to restrain black women’s agency in social and political reform (Brown 2008). Instead of pursuing a Political Science degree, Chisholm earned a Masters in Education. Then, in 1936 she moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant and was the first person of color to join the 17th District Assembly (Ratmaa 2011), a political group representing the dominantly black district of Bedford-Stuyvesant. There she reinforced the value of female club member's contributions. She demanded to be a part of the assembly, despite the assumption that as a black woman she would remain seen but not heard. She teamed up with activist Mac Holder to create the Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League to help elect the first African American judge to the municipal court--a successful venture. (Pollack 1994) She then went on to form the Unity Democratic Club, which showed members how to push petitions and go door to door.
In 1964, Chisholm decided to run for Assemblywoman in the New York House of Representatives, shocking black and white men alike. Many black men lashed at her for trying to carve out her own place in politics instead of just supporting the black men who were struggling to gain equality themselves. Scholar Valerie Smith has noted, “For some black men, Chisholm’s confidence and assertiveness brought to mind the negative stereotypes of overbearing black women.” (Brown 2008)
She won the general election for Assemblywoman of the 17th Congressional District of New York and in her first ever vote as an elected official she broke party precedent, earning her a reputation for being someone with strong independent beliefs and convictions but also as a trouble maker. She introduced 50 bills, eight of which were passed. Shirley’s first bill protected domestic workers from unemployment and paved the way for the Domestic Worker’s Bill of Rights. Her second, SEEK, helped underprivileged minorities go to college. She passed a bill giving unemployment insurance and Social Security to agricultural and domestic workers, a goal of the civil and labor rights movement for over 30 years. She also fought for the legalization of abortion, which was partially achieved, at a time when just 4 of 207 legislators were women (Winslow 2014). She was reelected twice, with healthy margins both times. Then Chisholm had a bigger goal--the House of Representatives. She ran her campaign funded only by small donations from supporters, leading to her campaign slogan, “Unbought and Unbossed”. During the campaign Chisholm discovered she had a pelvic tumor and she was forced to stay in the hospital to recover from her surgery. Mere days after being released, Chisholm was once again campaigning. Her opponent, African American republican James Farmer, mocked Chisholm and claimed her gender made her unfit. His portrayal of her gender as a detriment enraged the women of the district who came out in droves to support their sister and lead her to a victory.
Once in office, Chisholm assigned women to every position in her office, in an attempt to fight sexism and increase the number of women in politics (Ratmaa 2011). She was assigned to the House Agriculture Committee, but did not feel she could bring value to that position. Despite being told to accept it and be happy Chisholm went to a caucus for approving committee assignments to reject her assignment. She was told such a move might end her career but to be quiet was not in her nature. She was reassigned to the Veteran’s Affairs Committee, where she promptly began investigating accusations of racial discrimination in benefit distribution. Shortly after President Nixon announced he was cutting the Head Start program (a preschool funding program for needy school children) to fund the Vietnam War and a missiles program, she gave her very first speech to the House of Representatives announcing her intention to vote against all bills sending money to the military for a war she vehemently opposed.
In 1972 with the nation mourning its assassinated civil rights leaders and lacking faith in Nixon, Chisholm announced her candidacy for President of the United States. Despite many hurdles, she was the first black candidate for a major party to advance to the presidential primaries. Although unable to secure the nomination to be the Democratic candidate, her victory sent a message of hope to many who had lost it. She continued to be politically active after her departure from the House of Representatives in 1983, working on Jesse Jackson’s first and second presidential campaign and serving as president of what is today the National Congress of Black women before moving to Florida for retirement. She died January 1, 2005 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, New York.Barcella, Laura. Fight Like a Girl (California: Zest Books, 2016).
Brown, Tammy. “A New Era in American Politics,” Callaloo 31 (2008): 1013-1025.
Pollack, Jill. Shirley Chisholm (New York: Franklin Watts, 1994).
Raatma, Lucia. Shirley Chisholm: Leading Women (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2011).
Winslow, Barbara. Shirley Chisholm: Catalyst for Change (Colorado: Westview Press, 2014).
Primary Sources
Unbought and Unbossed by Shirley Chisholm (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970).
With World War II in its infancy, Jackie Cochran wrote Eleanor Roosevelt to suggest that female pilots be used in the war; she also approached General Hap Arnold, but was dismissed. In 1940, Cochran broke the speed record. General Arnold seeing no abatement to the war and recognizing Jackie's persistence and superior aviation skills sent her to England to study women pilots flying with the Royal Air Force. Cochran returned and was given permission to organize a Woman's Flying Unit; she was appointed its director in 1942. In 1943, Cochran was appointed to the U.S. Army Air Force staff as Director of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Very few women were chosen to be a part of this elite group, though thousands enlisted to join. Out of 25,000 applicants, 1,074 women pilots completed their flight training (Cornelsen). Women in the WASPs had to be no shorter than 5ft 2 ½ in tall, no younger than 18 ½ years old, and have flown no fewer than 200 hours (Pope). Jackie Cochran wanted the WASPs to be trained like the men in the Airforce so once the women made it into the program they had to endure 200 hours of flight lessons and 400 hours of ground school (Fly Girls). Her dedication to making sure these women were trained the same as men and were prepared for all situations made this group of approximately 1000 pilots an elite force. The women test-flew every plane that came off the assembly line, as well as flew planes for target practice. The WASPs flew more than 60 million miles and over 77 different types of military aircrafts for the Airforce (Cornelsen). Thirty-eight of these women gave their lives for their country having never left U.S. air space. Between September 1942 and December 1944, WASPs delivered 12,650 aircraft of 78 different types.
Cochran continued to win awards and set records after the war's end. In 1953, she became the first woman to break the sound barrier. From 1959-1963, she was the first female president of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. In the early 1960s, Cochran was involved in efforts to test the ability of women to be astronauts. She retired from the Air Force in 1969, but continued working as a consultant to NASA. Her other achievements include being inducted into numerous Halls of Fame, an unsuccessful (but close) race for the Californian Congress, and over two hundred records.Carl, Ann B. A WASP Among Eagles: A Woman Military Test Pilot in World War II. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999).
Cornelsen, Kathleen. "Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II: Military Aviation, Encountering Discrimination, and Exchanging Traditional Roles in Service to America ." Journal of Women's History, Winter 2005.
Fly Girls. Directed by Laurel Ladevich. By Laurel Ladevich. Performed by Mary McDonnell, Kathy Soucie, and Paul Tibbets. PBS.org. 1999. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/flygirls/filmmore/webcredits.html.men
Kamps, Charles Tustin. "The WASPs." Air & Space Power Journal, (Summer 2013).
Langley, Wanda. Flying Higher: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II. (North Haven, Connecticut: Linnet Books, 2002).
Pope, Victoria. "Flight of the WASP." American Heritage, (Spring 2009).
Cochran, Jacqueline, and Maryann Bucknum Brinley. Jackie Cochran: An Autobiography. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1987.
WASP Gallery (includes digitized artifacts and primary sources)Women In Higher Education website
Diversity at the Top: The American College President 2012
Jana Nidiffer and Carolyn Terry Bashaw, eds., Women Administrators in Higher Education: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001).
Mimi Wolverton, Beverly Bower, and Adrienne Hyle, Women at the Top: What Women University and College Presidents Say About Effective Leadership (Stylus Publishing, 2008).
Saginaw Hall of Fame, biographical sketches by Ed Miller and Jean Beach, published by The Saginaw Hall of Fame, 2000.
Michigan's Women's Hall of Fame, Lansing, Michigan.