Smithsonian American Women's History Museum

Join us from 11 a.m. - 2p.m. EDT! https://s.si.edu/3NuAYau

As a result of congressional fellow Emily Card’s efforts, on October 28, 1974, Congress passed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act which made it illegal for banks to discriminate in lending based on sex or marital status. Hear more from Smithsonian curator Rachel Seidman, PhD, and Emily Card, to learn how the ECOA came to be and its impact on women’s lives in “We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence.” https://s.si.edu/4ekBFhL #OnThisDay

We’re launching "We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence," a multi-year oral history and education project that explores the multifaceted meaning of independence to women in their own lives over the past 50 years through the lens of economic power. Timed with today’s 50th anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), which made it illegal for banks to discriminate against women applying for loans based on their sex or marital status, our first set of oral histories commemorate this important historical milestone for women and their economic independence. Learn more about how the ECOA came to be from the woman who helped pass the law, and those who benefitted from its passage. https://s.si.edu/48mNQJe

Born #OnThisDay in 1830, attorney and social justice activist Belva Lockwood was a trailblazer for women's rights. She became the first woman to run for president in 1884. She was also the first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court. A champion for women's suffrage, she ran for president as the Equal Rights Party nominee decades before women won the right to vote in 1920. She ran again in 1888. In this portrait, the artist Nellie Mathes Horne emphasized Lockwood’s intellectual achievements, representing her in the academic robes she received with her honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Syracuse University in 1909. https://s.si.edu/4fh1EHs 🖼️: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the Smithsonian American Art Museum; gift of the Committee for "A Tribute to Mrs. Belva Ann Lockwood" through Mrs. Anna Kelton Wiley, 1917

Suffragist, educator, and politician Nina Otero-Warren was born on #OnThisDay 1881. In 1918, Otero-Warren became superintendent of public schools in Santa Fe County, making her the first woman government official in New Mexico. In 1922, she ran for Congress under the Republican Party of New Mexico but lost to the Democratic candidate by less than 9%. 🪙 In 2022, she was honored with her own U.S. quarter as part of our American Women Quarters™ Program in partnership with United States Mint. Read more: https://s.si.edu/3BSWoeJ 📷: Portrait of Adelina Otero-Warren from the Library of Congress. Glass-plate negative by Bain News Service, [1923]. Prints and Photographs Division; U.S. Mint Photo by Amanda Crastz-Flores

Our first digital exhibition "Becoming Visible: Bringing American Women's History Into Focus" is nominated for an Anthem Award! The Anthem Community Voice Award aims to engage the public in meaningful initiatives and raise awareness of finalists' transformative changes. Revisit the exhibition, which explores the uneven process of women becoming visible in American history through the stories of five remarkable women from the past.

"Queen of Salsa" Celia Cruz was born #OnThisDay in 1925. During a career that lasted more than 60 years, Cruz helped popularize salsa music in the United States. By celebrating her Cuban culture, she also helped Afro-Latino Americans embrace their own heritage. As a lead singer of Cuban orchestra La Sonora Matancera, Cruz performed across Latin America. Cruz arrived in the U.S. in 1961. She became one of few women to succeed in the male-dominated world of salsa music. Cruz performed salsa in Spanish, celebrating her Afro-Latino culture during the U.S. Civil Rights movement. She won five Grammy Awards. 🪙 This year, she was honored with her own U.S. quarter as part of our American Women Quarters™ Program in partnership with United States Mint. https://s.si.edu/4ffGNVb 📷: Celia Cruz was honored with the Smithsonian's James Smithson Bicentennial Medal in 2001.

Join us for a Wikipedia edit-a-thon on women, credit, and financial power to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibited lenders from discriminating against consumers based on their sex or marital status. Learn about Emily Card, a legislative fellow who wrote the 1974 bill. Less than 20% of biographies in English-language Wikipedia are about women. With your help, we are working to change that. New editors are encouraged to attend the introductory session at 11am. This event is presented with support from Wikimedia DC. ➡️ October 28, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. EDT. RSVP: https://s.si.edu/3NuAYau

Come join the team at the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum! We’re working to expand the story of America through the often-untold accounts and accomplishments of women individually and collectively—to better understand our past and inspire our future. We’re looking for dedicated individuals to help us create space for women’s history on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., deepen our nation’s stories, and inspire conversation, connection, and change. We are seeking an Advancement Associate who can provide technical and administrative support and assist with a full range of advancement functions including drafting documents and presentations, conducting donor research, and assisting with donor prospect management, assisting with the national volunteer network, membership program, donor events and meetings, and board meetings; as well as performing data management, gift processing, stewardship, procurement, travel arrangements and other related administrative tasks. Applications for consideration will be accepted through October 30, 2024. Click here to apply: https://s.si.edu/4h5aU3i

✍️ In the early 1900s, science as a profession was largely inaccessible to women. Despite societal constraints, a few pioneering women found a path to contribute through illustration. Drawing was a decidedly “womanly” pastime in the early 20th Century, so illustration became an acceptable avenue for women to document and interpret the natural world despite the gender bias in traditional scientific roles. These are the stories of four women—Violet Dandridge, Aime Motter Awl, Carolyn Bartlett Gast, and Marilyn Schotte—in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Department of Invertebrate Zoology who broke through the gendered barriers of science and made significant contributions to scientific discovery through art. Read more: https://s.si.edu/3YabST8 1️⃣,3️⃣ Illustration of the lateral view of a feather star (Ptilocrinus pinnatus) by Violet Dandridge published in “A Monograph of the Existing Crinoids” by Austin Hobart Clark in 1915. 2️⃣ Image courtesy of Bedinger Family History and Genealogy. 4️⃣ Illustration of a new species of crab, Aegla parana, by Amie Awl featured in a publication by Waldo Schmitt in 1942. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution. 5️⃣ Illustration of a Loriciferan (Pliciloricus enigmaticus) by Carolyn Gast from the publication describing this new species in 1986. Discovering new phyla is rare; Loricifera was only the third new phylum discovered in the 1900s. Image courtesy of Higgins & Kristensen, 1986. 6️⃣ Marilyn Schotte at her retirement party in 2009. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Department of Invertebrate Zoology. 7️⃣ Schotte’s illustration of Malacanthura schotteae featured in Kensley’s original 1982 publication, “Revision of southern African Anthuridea.” Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.