Women’s History Month Recap

March was National Women’s History Month and Starr King celebrated by highlighting some lesser known influential women. Below you’ll find the amazing women featured on the official Starr King Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram accounts throughout March 2020.

Dr. Aurelia Henry Reinhardt

Dr. Reinhardt was a renowned educator, activist and leader within American Unitarianism. She served as the first woman moderator of the American Unitarian Association, was a member of the association’s first Commission on Appraisal, and was a member of Starr King’s Board of Trustees. In 1981, Starr King established an endowed faculty position in her name, currently held by Dr. Gabriella Lettini, to ensure a feminist voice and presence on our faculty.

Learn more about Dr. Reinhardt by watching this video.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

“Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a 17th century nun, self-taught scholar and acclaimed writer of the Latin American colonial period and the Hispanic Baroque. She was also a staunch advocate for women’s rights.”

Learn more about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Fannie Lou Hamer

“Hamer became a community organizer for the SNCC in 1962 and dedicated her life to the fight for civil rights. She spearheaded voter registration drives and relief efforts, but her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement often left her in harm’s way; during the course of her activist career, Hamer was threatened, arrested, beaten and shot at.”

Learn more about Fannie Lou Hamer.

Viola Liuzzo

“Viola Liuzzo, a Unitarian Universalist committed to work for education and economic justice, gave her life for the cause of civil rights. The 39-year-old mother of five was murdered by white supremacists after her participation in the protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.”

Learn more about Viola Liuzzo.

Gloria Anzaldúa

“Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa was an American scholar of Chicana cultural theory, feminist theory, and queer theory. She loosely based her best-known book, “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza,” on her life growing up on the Mexico–Texas border and incorporated her lifelong experiences of social and cultural marginalization into her work. She also developed theories about the marginal, in-between, and mixed cultures that develop along borders.”

Learn more about Gloria Anzaldúa.

Florence Buck

“Florence Buck was a Unitarian minister at a time when women ministers were uncommon and a leader in the development of Unitarian religious education.”

Learn more about Florence Buck.

Anna Filosofova

“Anna Pavlovna Filosofova was a Russian philanthropist and feminist. She was an important charity organiser, and, alongside Maria Trubnikova and Nadezhda Stasova, was one of the founders and leaders of the first organised Russian women’s movement.”

Learn more about Anna Filosofova.

Harriot Stanton Blatch

“Harriot Stanton Blatch was a leader in the woman suffrage movement, a writer and an advocate for labor reform…Her radical style combined militant civil disobedience with political activism. The combination of her energy, daring and political savvy spurred the movement on to its goal of enfranchising American women with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1920.”

Learn more about Harriot Stanton Blatch.

Vandana Shiva

“Vandana Shiva has written and spoken extensively about advances in the fields of agriculture and food. Intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, and genetic engineering are among the fields where Shiva has fought through activist campaigns.”

Learn more about Vandana Shiva.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

“Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, often referred to as Miss Major, is a trans woman activist and community leader for transgender rights, with a particular focus on women of color. She served as the original Executive Director for the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, which aims to assist transgender persons, who are disproportionately incarcerated under the prison-industrial complex. Griffin-Gracy has participated in activism for a wide range of causes throughout her lifetime, including the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City.”

Learn more about Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.

Doria Shafik

“Doria Shafik was an Egyptian feminist, poet and editor, and one of the principal leaders of the women’s liberation movement in Egypt in the mid-1940s. As a direct result of her efforts, Egyptian women were granted the right to vote by the Egyptian constitution.”

Learn more about Doria Shafik.

Rigoberta Menchú

“Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a K’iche’ Indigenous feminist and human rights activist from Guatemala. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala’s Indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996), and to promoting Indigenous rights internationally.”

Learn more about Rigoberta Menchú.