I Stand on the Shoulders of the Women Who Came Before Me: Celebrating Women’s History Month

Photograph shows suffrage and labor activist Flora Dodge "Fola" La Follette (1882-1970), social reformer and missionary Rose Livingston, and a young striker during a garment strike in New York City in 1913. Glass negative from the George Grantham Bain Collection, 1913. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Women’s History month, according to the National Women’s History Museum, started in a small local community in Santa Rosa, California in 1978, and spread to other communities in the United States. In 1987, Congress passed Pub.L.100-9 and President Regan issued Proclamation 5619, according to the Library of Congress. Since 1995, each year the current President has issued a proclamation declaring March “Women’s History Month.” 

And so we celebrate them! In schools around the country, children read about the women who were brave and worked to pave the way for others. There are school assemblies, posters, and book reports. Businesses and Organizations post on their Socials, tributes to Women in honor of “Women’s History Month.”

And as the Co-Founder of Museum Mavens: Educational Constants, I am thrilled that we were able to launch our all women-owned business in the Month of March. Three women trying to support museums in their missions to educate the public and bring history to life. 

But, I do have to wonder. I do have to think. I do have to remember.  I could not do any of this without Standing on the Shoulders of the Women Who Came Before Me. And so I say thank them. 

Thank you to Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul for fighting for women’s rights, including the right to vote and the right to matter. They gave us the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions 1848, modeled after the Declaration of Independence, it said “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal…”

Thank you to Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Ida B. Wells for fighting for Minority Women’s Rights, including desegregation and anti-lynching laws. 

These women and many more fought. And they fought for women like me and for the daughters that come after me. 

I was also reminded recently that some of the most important women that continue to shape the lives of countless daughters: Mothers. My mom specifically taught me to be strong and caring, to never give up and to lead.

I celebrate them. If I could address them today, what would I say?  I would say…thank you! Thank you for your courage, your conviction, and your desire to make a difference for the generations who came after you. 

Today, as a minority woman who just co-founded a business, I Stand on the Shoulders of the Women Who Came Before Me. Because of them, I grew up in a world where I could go to college, get a masters degree, have a career and a child, I could vote, run for office, own my own home, and start a business. And this I do! 

Thank you to all the Women! We celebrate you!