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| ASA staff helped kick off Arkansas Women's History Month recently at the Old State House Museum. |
“Arkansas Women’s History Month is important because it recognizes
and highlights women’s accomplishments in all aspects of life and society,”
said Dr. David Ware, state historian and director of the Arkansas State
Archives. “This is simple justice for those who have gone before us, and even
better, it points the way ahead for the women who will lead us in decades to
come.”
Historically, women’s rights were limited in the U.S., which makes
historical research into their families and legacies more challenging. As
recently as the 1970s, women’s history was largely omitted from school
curriculums. Women’s History Week was established in 1978 in response to the
lack of history about women in schools, and President Jimmy Carter issued the
first Presidential Proclamation for National Women’s History Week in 1980. The
weeklong celebration turned into all of March in 1987, when Congress declared
National Women’s History Month.
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In the early days of the
telephone industry, telephone
operators
were predominantly
women. This photo shows women
at the Little Rock Telephone Co.
on a typical
day in 1915.
Photo courtesy of the
Arkansas State Archives.
G2046
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| Patricia Peacock was born in 1938 and grew up in Stuttgart. She won her first duck calling contest at 12 years old. She was the Junior World Champion in Duck Calling in 1950. From 1951 to 1955, she was the Women's World Champion. She was the Arkansas State Champion and the Open World Champion of duck calling in 1955. This photo is circa 1955 in Stuttgart and is courtesy of the Arkansas State Archives. G5257 |
The Arkansas Women’s Suffrage Commemoration Committee also
participated in the event commemorating the 19th Amendment, which
gave women the right to vote, which went into effect 100 years ago on Aug. 26,
1920.
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Effiegene Locke Wingo
(April 13, 1883 – Sept. 19, 1962)
was a U.S.
representative
from Arkansas. She was
elected as a
Democrat on Nov. 4, 1930,
after the seat was left vacant
by her husband’s death.
In 1934, Wingo cofounded
the
National Institute of Public Affairs
in Washington, D.C.
Photo, circa 1930,
is
courtesy of
the Arkansas State Archives.
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Short biographies of significant women from Arkansas are
available on the Arkansas Women’s History Institute’s website at
ArkansasWomen.org.
Since 2015, the
Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame also has recognized the accomplishments and
achievements of Arkansas women. The deadline to nominate a woman for 2020 is
March 9. Inductees have included performer, poet and author Maya
Angelou and Dr. Mary
Lowe Good, a renowned chemist, innovator, professor and government leader.
“Without women’s stories, historical narratives are at once flat
and lopsided — like long-playing records full of nothing but battles and
politics,” Ware said. “Embracing and exploring women’s history shows us a more
complex story — it helps us, as a society, sort out what we are and how we
became this way.”
The Arkansas State Archives holds historically significant photos,
documents and teacher plans on Arkansas women’s history online at Archives.Arkansas.gov. For more
information, visit the Arkansas
State Archives at 1 Capitol Mall, Suite 215, call 501-682-6900 or email state.archives@arkansas.gov.
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An American Red Cross Nursing Class poses in Leslie, Arkansas.
Women were instrumental in the war effort during World War I.
Standing left to
right: Dexter Thomas Morrow, Verlie Kimbrell
Norman, unknown student, Miss Hart
(teacher),
Ivy Norman Stokes, Willie Leonard, Lillian Britton,
Gertrude Shipley
and Polly Mabrey-Rand-Thomas.
Seated left to right: Miss Livingston (teacher),
Florence Porch, Goldie Hilton and
Hazel Leonard Mabrey.
Photo, circa 1917-1918,
is courtesy of
the Arkansas State Archives. G3218.04
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