Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America

by Charlotte S. Waisman, Jill S. Tietjen

Overview

Most people have heard of Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Margaret Sanger, and Eleanor Roosevelt. But did you know that a female microbiologist discovered the bacterium responsible for undulant fever, which then led to the pasteurization of milk? Or that a female mathematician's work laid the foundation for abstract algebra?

Her Story is a one-of-a-kind illustrated timeline highlighting the awesome, varied, and often unrecognized contributions of American women throughout U.S. history, beginning in the 1500s and spanning all the way through 2011. The women featured in Her Story range from writers, artists, actors, and athletes to doctors, scientists, social and political activists, educators, and inventors, and come from all backgrounds and philosophies. Her Story is a captivating look at America's often unsung female champions that will resonate with women and men alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062041463
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	01/02/2013
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	268
Sales rank:	27,874
File size:	124 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

For more than twenty-five years, Charlotte S. Waisman, PhD, has advocated for women as a professor, political activist, keynote speaker, and expert witness. She has co-authored several books, and is director of human resources for the Women’s Vision Foundation.

Author, speaker, and electrical engineer Jill S. Tietjen, PE, is one of the nation’s top historians on scientific and technical women. She is the CEO of Technically Speaking, a national consulting company specializing in improving technological career opportunities for women and girls.

Read an Excerpt

Her Story
A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America

Chapter One

Years
1580-1650

1587
One hundred sixteen people, including Eleanor and Ananias Dare, settle on Roanoke Island (now part of North Carolina) as part of the second effort of the British to colonize the New World. Their daughter, Virginia Dare, is the first child to be born to English parents on what is now American soil. Unfortunately, this entire group vanished. A U.S. stamp commemorating Virginia Dare's birth and the "Lost Colony" is later issued.

1607
One hundred four British men and boys settle in Jamestown (later part of the state of Virginia) as part of continuing attempts by the British to colonize the New World. Jamestown is named in honor of James I, the king of England. This group of pioneers was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London.

1608
Pocahontas saves a Jamestown colonist, Captain John Smith, from execution by her father, Algonquin chief Powhatan.

1619
Purchased by the Virginia colony, the first African slaves (seventeen men and three women) arrive at Jamestown. By the end of the transatlantic slave trade, an estimated five hundred thousand people have been "exported" to the United States; 30 percent of them are women.

1620
More than a hundred Pilgrims, men, women, and children, leave England aboard the ship Mayflower in search of religious freedom. When the ship arrives at Plymouth Rock, its passengers establish the first settlement in what will become the state of Massachusetts.

1622
Mary Johnson A slave named Mary arrives in Jamestown; she laterbecomes one of the first freed slaves in the United States who has the right to choose her own surname (Johnson). A common practice at the time is to choose the surname of a benefactor; thus it is believed that someone with the surname of Johnson helped Mary and her husband attain their freedom.

1636
Harvard College is established in Massachusetts; its mission is to educate men to become ministers.

1637
Anne Hutchinson expresses religious views that are not appreciated by some influential members of the local government. Their accusations result in her becoming the first female defendant in a Massachusetts court and, upon a finding of her guilt, her expulsion from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638. She and much of her family settle in Rhode Island.

1644
Upon the death of her husband, Mistress Sarah Jenney becomes the first woman to run a grain mill. In 1652, this Pilgrim and resident of the Plymouth Colony receives a land grant.

1645
Lady Deborah Moody founds Gravesend (now a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York) based on a town patent she receives from the Dutch. Moody becomes the first female landowner in the New World, which also makes her eligible to vote.

1648
Margaret Brent emigrates from England to the Maryland settlement in 1638 with one of her sisters and two of her brothers. She claims a land grant, conducts business, and appears in court. On his deathbed, Governor Leonard Calvert appoints her as his executor, and her ensuing actions enable the settlement to survive. In 1648, she appears before the legislature to request two votes—one for herself, as she is a landowner, and another in her role as Lord Baltimore's attorney.

1650
Anne Bradstreet, who emigrates from England to Massachusetts with the Puritans in 1630, is the first American poet and the first American woman to have a book published in what will become the United States. She writes poetry while raising eight children and serving as hostess for her husband, who becomes governor. Her first book of poetry, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America, by a Gentlewoman of Those Parts, is published in England in 1650 by her brother-in-law, who takes her poems without her knowledge. The American edition is published in 1678.

Her Story
A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America. Copyright © by Charlotte Waisman. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5 Up—Abigail Adams's admonishment to her husband to "remember the ladies" is the guiding principle for this volume. After a foreword by Madeleine Albright, the authors highlight more than 900 women who have impacted American history. Using a chronology that begins in 1587, noting the birth of Virginia Dare, the pages are filled with colorful illustrations, drawings, and historical photographs that underscore women's achievements up to 2011. The final entry is for surfer Bethany Hamilton. Some of the women will be well known to readers but others, such as Edith Clarke, who was one of the first three women fellows of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, will not, thus making the volume most enlightening. Scientists, authors, politicians, actors, athletes, and military officers are included, as are many "firsts," including Margaret Petherbridge Farrar, who was the first woman to produce a crossword puzzle book. The fascinating entries go on and on, and readers will find themselves saying, "I didn't know a woman did that." Lavishly illustrated pages, an absorbing selection of subjects, and a helpful professions index make this a great volume for browsing or for general interest.—Patricia Ann Owens, Illinois Eastern Community Colleges

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