Who started Women’s History Month?
It began here in California!
In 1978, The Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission (California) on the Status of Women brainstormed the idea of a Women’s History Week and hosted a weeklong celebration and a parade in downtown Santa Rosa, California to coincide with March 8 International Women’s Day. Molly Murphy McGregor, a local teacher with other co-founders led the celebrations and presentations highlighting women’s achievements and contributions throughout U.S. history. The festivities included schools throughout Sonoma County. Hundreds of students participated in an essay contest honoring local women.
MacGregor co-founded the National Women's History Project in 1980 with several other women including Mary Ruthsdotter in order to promote awareness about women's history throughout the United States.[i]
Communities across the country followed suit organizing women’s history observances and celebrations.
In 1979, from July 13 until July 29, a momentous women's history conference was held at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. The conference was chaired by historian and women’s history pioneer Gerda Lerner. This summit co-sponsored by the Women’s Action Alliance and the Smithsonian Institution spurred and alliance of historians and women’s activist groups who worked together to organize and petition for a National Women’s History Week.
A flurry of organizing between 1988 and 1994 resulted in the U.S. Congress passing additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the U.S. President to proclaim March of each year as Women's History Month. Subsequently each U.S. President has issued proclamations designating the month of March as Women's History Month.
National Women's History Month is now observed throughout the world. The Library of Congress, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The National Gallery of Art, The National Park Service, The Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and many other organizations join in commemorating and hosting Women’s History Month programs.
[i] https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-womens-history-month-20190317-story.html
Read More at
The National Women’s History Museum https://www.womenshistory.org/