September 6, 1860Birth
of Jane Addams, first American woman to win the Nobel Peace
Prize (in 1931), first president of the Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom, and founder of Hull House in Chicago.
September 11, 1877Birth of Rosika Schwimmer, Hungarian pacifist, suffrage
leader, and a founder of the Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom and Campaign for World Government (1937).
She was denied US citizenship in 1929 because she refused to
pledge to bear arms in defense of the US.
September 12, 1867Birth of Irene Joliot-Curie (Madame Curie), discoverer
of radium and winner of two Nobel Prizes. During World War I
she drove an ambulance in the front lines carrying portable
x-ray equipment to help treat wounded soldiers.
September 14, 1728Birth of Mercy Otis Warren, who thumbed her nose at
the British and wrote much of the history of the Revolutionary
War.
September 14, 1879 Birth of Margaret Sanger, who thumbed her
nose at the Comstock Laws (forbidding distribution of birth
control information), and landed in jail. She founded what is
now Planned Parenthood.
September 25, 1847Birth of Vinnie Ream, who became a prolific sculptor.
She was 17 when she received a $10,000 commission to carve the
exquisite statue of President Lincoln that now stands in the
US Capitol Rotunda. A replica of Vinnie Ream's "Sappho"
stands as a memorial to her in Arlington National Cemetery.
September 30, 1983Sally Ride rode into space -- the first US woman to
do so.
