AAUW Oswego Branch Newsletter October 2016
Presidents’ Message
Hello to All of you:
We welcome crisp fall weather and hope that it stays comfortable and nice for at least a couple more months! We
especially hope for a good day on October 15, which is our District III meeting that we are hosting here at Steamers. I have
sent a separate email and attached another registration form in case you misplaced the first one! We hope for a good
attendance for what should be an informative and interesting day. New York State AAUW is providing a grant of $500
which will partially cover expenses incurred for the day. We are very grateful for this assistance!
Remember that our November meeting will be on the 17th. Shawn Doyle, an Oswego County legislator, will be speaking on
the history of Oswego County. He should have a book published and available by that time as well. Please put the date on
your calendar now.
The first of the presidential debates is tomorrow (Monday) evening, September 26. If you are like me, you are no doubt
exhausted by all the rhetoric and length of the presidential campaign so far, but we all need to be aware of what is
happening. We also all need to make sure we vote come November 8. And if we know of people who need rides to the
polls and/or need to register to vote, be sure to offer assistance as necessary. More on this next month!
October 14 is the deadline to register to vote in New York State.
We enjoyed and appreciated Jean Chambers’ program on the Third Wave of Feminism at our September meeting the
other evening. She made us aware of how women have transitioned through various stages of feminism. There is still a
long way to go for many women to feel totally equal, so it is a journey for women, and men as well, to discover the
potential that is there in each and every one of us.
Enjoy fall colors and see you on October 15!
Juanita (and Marilynn)
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October Highlights in U.S. Women’s History
October 3, 1904 – Mary McLeod Bethune opens her first school for African-American students in Daytona Beach,
Florida
October 4, 1976 – Barbara Walters becomes the first woman co-anchor of the evening news (at ABC)
October 4, 1993 – Ruth Bader Ginsburg joins the U.S. Supreme Court as its second woman Justice
October 8, 1993 – Toni Morrison becomes the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature
October 10, 1983 – Dr. Barbara McClintock receives the Nobel Prize for Medicine for her discovery in genetics about
mobile genetic elements
October 11, 1984 – Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan is the first U.S. woman astronaut to “walk” in space during Challenger flight
October 15, 1948 – Dr. Frances L. Willoughby is the first woman doctor in the regular U.S. Navy
October 16, 1916 – Margaret Sanger opens the U.S.’s first birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York
October 23, 1910 – Blanche Stuart Scott is the first American woman pilot to make a public flight
October 24, 1956 – Reverend Margaret Towner is the first woman ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church
October 28, 1958 – Mary Roebling is the first woman director of a stock exchange (American Stock Exchange)
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October Birthdays
October 1, 1921 (1998) – Margaret Hillis, founded the Tanglewood Alumni Chorus (1950) and the Chicago Symphony
Chorus, replaced Conductor Solti in directing Mahler’s Eighth Symphony (1977)
October 1, 1935 – Dame Julie Andrews, versatile film and stage actress, won an academy award for “Mary Poppins”
(1954)
October 2, 1895 (1990) – Ruth Streeter, when Marines recruited women she became a colonel in the U.S. Marine
Corps Reserve (1943), recruited men and women for active service
October 2, 1912 (1980) – Alice Bourneuf, economist, worked on the Marshall Plan to help Europe after World War II,
taught economics at Boston College (1959-77)
October 2, 1919 (1997) – Shirley Clarke, filmmaker, produced avant-garde films in 1950s and 60s including “Robert
Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel with the World,” which won an academy award for best feature documentary
October 3, 1897 (1982) – Ruth Bronson, Bureau of Indian Affairs official who got loans for Indian students, National
Congress of American Indians forced authorities to honor treaties (1944), wrote Indians are People, Too
October 4, 1908 (1995) – Eleanor Flexner, influential author and historian, wrote Century of Struggle: The Women’s
Rights Movement in the United States (1950) and Mary Wollstonecraft: A Biography (1972)
October 5, 1959 – Maya Lin, artist and architect of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. (1980-82) and other
public sculptures, author of Boundaries (2000)
October 6, 1905 (1998) – Helen Wills Moody, dominated American women’s tennis in the 1920s and 30s with 8
Wimbledon titles and 7 U.S. singles titles
October 6, 1914 (1997) – Mary Louise Smith, Republican Party committeewoman and chair (1974-77), supporter of
ERA and pro-choice
October 6, 1917 (1977) – Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights leader and voting rights crusader, helped organize the
Mississippi Freedom Summer (1964) October 7, 1913 (2005) – Elizabeth Janeway, social analyst of 20th century women’s
equality drive, wrote Man’s World, Women’s Place (1971) and Powers of the Weak (1980)
October 7, 1920 (1994) – Kathryn Clarenback, founding member of the National Organization for Women, executive
director of the National Committee on the Observance of International Women’s Year (1977)
October 8, 1881 (1981) – Esther Lape, championed U.S. participation in the Permanent Court of International Justice,
which failed by 7 votes in the Senate (1935), worked for compulsory health insurance, which was supported by Presidents
Truman and Eisenhower but defeated by the AMA
October 9, 1823 (1893) – Mary Shadd Cary, first black woman editor in North America, “Provincial Freeman” (1853) in
Windsor, Canada, helped black freed slaves know their rights
October 9, 1884 (1982) – Helene Deutsch, psychoanalyst, wrote 2-volume The Psychology of Women (1944-45) with
emphasis on motherhood
October 9, 1892 (1992) – Abigail Eliot, founding member of the National Association for Nursery Education (1933),
helped monitor quality and establish standards
October 10, 1888 (1980) – Dorothy Ferebee, finally gained medical internship at Freedman’s Hospital despite rampant
sexism, then built a 47-year association with Howard University hospital and the District of Columbia
October 10, 1900 (1993) – Helen Hayes, actress and “First Lady of the Stage,” began in stock companies, at 17 starred
as Pollyanna, in 1930s starred as Mary Queen of Scotland and Queen Victoria, won first Tony award in 1947
October 11, 1884 (1962) – Eleanor Roosevelt, civil rights advocate, feminist, author, world diplomat, former First Lady
(1933-45)
October 12, 1908 (1997) – Ann Petry, reporter for African-American newspapers in 1930s, wrote The Street, first
African-American novel to sell more than a million copies (1946)
October 12, 1916 (1994) – Alice Childress, actress, “Anna Lacasta” (1944), playwright, “A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But A
Sandwich” (1973)
October 13, c.1754 (1832) – Mary Hays McCauley, “Molly Pitcher” of the Battle of Monmouth (1778), legendary watercarrying heroine of the American Revolution
October 13, 1897 (1979) – Edith Sampson, lawyer, first black American to be appointed as a United Nations delegate,
first to be elected U.S. circuit judge
October 14, 1893 (1993) – Lillian Gish, consummate actress, from one-reelers like “An Unseen Enemy” (1912) to “The
Whales of August” (1987), wrote Lillian Gish, the Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me (1969)
October 15, 1906 (1976) – Victoria Spivey, record producer, blues singer in 1920s, played a featured role in
“Hallelujah”(1920), which had an all-black cast
October 16, 1895 (1989) – Marguerite Rawalt, lawyer, president of the National Federation of Business and
Professional Women (1954-56), supporter of the ERA and entire feminist agenda, particularly including the word “sex” in Title VII
of Civil Rights Act of 1964
October 16, 1925 – Angela Lansbury, actress with an 80-year career in movies from “Gaslight” (1944) to television and
stage
October 17, 1918 (1987) – Rita Hayworth, actress, began movies as dancing partner of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly,
made “Gilda” (1946), became femme fatale name for the atomic bomb on the Bikini atoll
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October 17, 1943 – Vilma Socorro Martinez, lawyer, first female U.S. Ambassador to Argentina (2009), civil rights
crusader, one of first women on the board of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
October 18, 1889 (1968) – Fannie Hurst, author, wrote 17 novels and 9 volumes of short stories over 50 years, left
approximately one million dollars each to Brandeis and Washington Universities for professorships in creative literature
October c.18, 1890 (1986) – Pauline Newman, labor leader who emigrated from Lithuania (1901), aided uprising of the
20,000 in New York, hailed by Coalition of Labor Union Women as a foremother of the liberation movement
October 18, 1898 (1981) – Lotte Lenya, singer and actress, interpreted and promoted Kurt Weill’s music, especially
“The Threepenny Opera”
October 18, 1917 (1983) – Mamie Clark, psychologist, established the Northside Center for Child Development (1946)
with husband, Dr. Kenneth Clark, for the mental hygiene of the whole child
October 18, 1947 (1997) – Laura Nyro, popular singer and songwriter, melded R&B, pop, doo-wop, jazz and Broadway
October 18, 1951 – Terry McMillan, author of 13 novels including her first, Mama (1987), and most popular, Waiting to
Exhale (1992)
October 18, 1956 – Martina Navratilova, tennis champion, 9 time Wimbledon singles winner
October 19, 1891 (1984) – Lois Meek Stolz, first president of Education of Young Children, (1929-31), urged Works
Progress Administration to establish nursery schools
October 22, 1834 (1915) – Abigail Scott Duniway, early western author and Pacific Northwest suffrage leader, (18711915), succeeded in winning woman suffrage in Oregon (1912), wrote Path Breaking (1914)
October 22, 1919 – Doris Lessing, author, born in Iran, Nobel Laureate in 2007
October 23, 1866 (1954) – Ethel Dummer, provided funds to establish the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute in Chicago
(1909) to study juvenile offenders
October 23, 1889 (1957) – Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, major pioneer using therapeutic relationships in treating mental
illness at Chestnut Lodge in Rockville, Maryland (1935-57)
October 23, 1906 (1996) – Miriam Gideon, composer of approximately 70 works including “The Hound of Heaven”
(1945), developed more atonal pieces for voice and instruments after beginning with a more conservative tonal style
October 23, 1906 (2003) – Gertrude Ederle, first woman to swim the English Channel (1926)
October 23, 1911 (1999) – Martha Roundtree, creator and first moderator (1945-54) of televised show of unrehearsed
panel interviews, “Meet the Press”
October 24, 1830 (1917) – Belva Lockwood, attorney, first woman admitted to practice law before Supreme Court
(1879), ran for U.S. President in 1884 and 1888
October 24, 1896 (1994) – Marjorie Joyner, helped develop and manage more than 200 Madam C. J. Walker beauty
schools by 1919, added professional status to the occupation, worked with Eleanor Roosevelt and other leaders in civil rights
struggles
October 24, 1915 (1976) – Letitia Woods Brown, pioneer in researching and teaching African-American history,
completed Ph.D. at Harvard in 1966, primary consultant for the Schlesinger Library’s Black Women Oral History Project, coauthored Washington from Banneker to Douglass 1791-1870
October 24, 1923 (1997) – Denise Levertov, poet, her anti-Vietnam war poems included themes of destruction by
greed, racism, and sexism in the 1970s, her later poetry recovered from despair
October 25, 1894 (1985) – Marjorie Phillips, artist, embraced techniques of Van Gogh and Cezanne, introduced
modern art to the Phillips Gallery as associate director of her husband’s Washington D.C. museum
October 25, 1912 (1996) – Minnie Pearl, Southern vaudeville circuit performer, joined “The Grand Ole Opry” in 1940
and stayed for 50 years
October 26, 1911 (1972) – Mahalia Jackson, internationally acclaimed gospel singer, sang at the 1963 March on
Washington
October 26, 1947 – Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State (2009-13), Senator from New York (2001-09), former First
Lady (1993-2001)
October 27, 1908 (1954) – Lee Krasner, artist, the Works Progress Federal Art Project in 1930s and 40s enabled her to
exhibit her paintings and collages in New York and London, also aided the art and career of her husband, Jackson Pollock
October 27, 1940 – Maxine Hong Kingston, award-winning author of The Woman Warrior, an autobiography about the
Chinese-American female experience
October 28, 1842 (1932) – Anna Dickinson, orator, early champion of the rights of women and blacks, supported
interracial marriage, attacked the double standard of morality
October 28, 1897 (1981) – Edith Head, Hollywood costume designer, first successes were Clara Bow and Mae West,
won academy awards for “The Heiress,” “Delilah,” and “The Sting” (1973)
October 29, 1908 (1996) – Louise Bates Ames, child psychologist, researched and stressed normal steps in
development, wrote popular newspaper advice column in 1960s
October 30, 1864 (1953) – Elizabeth Coolidge, endowed first pension fund for Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1916),
funded Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s Bureau of Educational Experiments, established a foundation at the Library of Congress (1925)
that provided for the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Auditorium because ” music must be brought to life in performance”
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October 30, 1896 (1985) – Ruth Gordon, actor, one of the Lost Boys in “Peter Pan,” with Garson Kanin wrote comedies
for Hepburn and Tracy movies, starred as Dolly Levi in “The Matchmaker” (1954)
October 31, 1860 (1927) – Juliette Low, founder and first president of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.
October 31, 1896 (1977) – Ethel Waters, singer, recorded more than 250 sides after debut (1921), unsurpassed
vocalist and stylist with perfect pitch
October 31, 1896 (1984) – Lutah Riggs, architect of both country estates and modest homes, advocate of preserving
historic buildings
October 31, 1906 (1996) – Louise Talma, composer, first American woman to receive the Sibelius Medal, taught music
theory and musicianship at Hunter College for 51 years
Information provided by the National Women’s History Project
A quote from Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State: “It took me a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I
am not going to be silent.”
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NEW YORK STATE CONVENTION
April 21-23, 2017
Doubletree by Hilton, Syracuse NY
OSWEGO BRANCH OFFICERS 2016-2017
Co-Presidents
Juanita Tschudy
342-5417
[email protected]
Marilynn Smiley
343-4803
[email protected]
Recording Secretary
Emily Oaks
947-5140
[email protected]
Treasurer/Finance Officer
Helen Engel
343-9678
[email protected]
Public Policy
Jean Chambers
342-6169
[email protected]
Communications Editor
Juanita Tschudy
342-5417
Committee Chairs
Diversity
Marilynn Smiley
AAUW Funds
Helen Engel
Legal Advocacy Fund
Ellie Filburn [email protected]
GEMS
Juanita Tschudy and Emily Oaks
Mission Statement
AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy and research.
AAUW Value Promise
By joining AAUW, we belong to a community that breaks through educational and economic barriers so that all women have a fair chance.
Vision Statement
AAUW will be a powerful advocate and visible leader in equity and education through research, philanthropy and measurable change in critical areas
impacting the lives of women and girls.
Diversity Statement
In principle and practice, AAUW values and seeks a diverse membership. There shall be no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis
of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or class.
Have general questions about AAUW? Please contact [email protected] or call800/326-2289 between 10 am and 5 pm Eastern,
Monday through Friday.
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