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Writing Their Way into History
Think about the names that stick out in your memory from history lessons. George Washington, Ben Franklin, Abe Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Neil Armstrong are probably some of the people who come to mind.
Yikes! Those are all men. Important men, yes, but what about the countless women who made so many contributions to the freedom and rights all of us enjoy today?
In honor of this month's CWA National Women's Conference, we're going to tell you about four women you probably haven't learned about in school. All four were journalists at a time when men dominated the field. They opened the door for generations of women and recently the U.S. Post Office honored each of them with a first-class stamp.
Nellie Bly (1864-1922) traveled to Mexico and wrote about poverty and political corruption. Her stories led to a job at The World newspaper in New York City where she uncovered the terrible abuse of women in a mental hospital. She got in by pretending to be insane. Her stories led to badly needed changes.
Bly was also adventurous and traveled around the world in 72 days by ship, train, rickshaw, burro and other means. Later, when her husband died, Bly took over his iron and steel companies. She gave workers health care and built them gymnasiums and libraries.
Marguerite Higgins (1920-1966) was one of the first female war correspondents and the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. She covered World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Higgins persuaded her bosses at the New York Herald Tribune to send her to Europe in 1944. In March 1945, she witnessed Allied forces freeing prisoners from a Nazi concentration camp in Germany.
When war broke out in Korea in 1950, Higgins was one of the first reporters on the spot, but that didn't impress the U.S. military commander who confronted her. He told her that women didn't belong at the front. But she wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
Her newspaper appealed to General Douglas MacArthur, who
reversed the orders. It was a major breakthrough for all female war correspondents.
Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), known as the first lady of the black press, reported on the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1972, she became the first female African-American commentator employed by a national network.
Payne's career as a journalist began while she was working as a hostess at an Army Special Services club in Japan. She allowed a reporter from her hometown, Chicago, to read her journal, which told of her own experiences and those of African-American soldiers. Impressed, the reporter took the journal back to Chicago and soon Payne's observations were being turned into front-page stories in the Defender, an African-American newspaper with a national readership.
In the early 1950s, Payne went to work full-time for the Defender, and covered the civil rights struggle in the South. She had a reputation for asking tough questions. She once asked President Eisenhower when he planned to ban segregation in interstate travel - which involved forcing blacks to stay in separate areas on buses and bus stations. The president responded angrily that he refused to support "special interests," a comment that made headlines and helped move the civil rights debate forward.
Ida M. Tarbell (1857-1944) might feel right at home today, a time of many corporate scandals. Tarbell was a teacher and writer who began a long investigation in the 1890s into the Standard Oil Company run by John D. Rockefeller Sr. The company's many illegal activities gave it control over the oil industry in Pennsylvania and throughout the country, hurting many other businesses.
Tarbell wrote many magazine articles about the corrupt company, later turning her work into a book. Her efforts led to changes in the law that forced Standard Oil to break up into smaller companies, allowing other businesses to compete in the industry.
Yikes! Those are all men. Important men, yes, but what about the countless women who made so many contributions to the freedom and rights all of us enjoy today?
In honor of this month's CWA National Women's Conference, we're going to tell you about four women you probably haven't learned about in school. All four were journalists at a time when men dominated the field. They opened the door for generations of women and recently the U.S. Post Office honored each of them with a first-class stamp.
Nellie Bly (1864-1922) traveled to Mexico and wrote about poverty and political corruption. Her stories led to a job at The World newspaper in New York City where she uncovered the terrible abuse of women in a mental hospital. She got in by pretending to be insane. Her stories led to badly needed changes.
Bly was also adventurous and traveled around the world in 72 days by ship, train, rickshaw, burro and other means. Later, when her husband died, Bly took over his iron and steel companies. She gave workers health care and built them gymnasiums and libraries.
Marguerite Higgins (1920-1966) was one of the first female war correspondents and the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. She covered World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Higgins persuaded her bosses at the New York Herald Tribune to send her to Europe in 1944. In March 1945, she witnessed Allied forces freeing prisoners from a Nazi concentration camp in Germany.
When war broke out in Korea in 1950, Higgins was one of the first reporters on the spot, but that didn't impress the U.S. military commander who confronted her. He told her that women didn't belong at the front. But she wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
Her newspaper appealed to General Douglas MacArthur, who
reversed the orders. It was a major breakthrough for all female war correspondents.
Ethel L. Payne (1911-1991), known as the first lady of the black press, reported on the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1972, she became the first female African-American commentator employed by a national network.
Payne's career as a journalist began while she was working as a hostess at an Army Special Services club in Japan. She allowed a reporter from her hometown, Chicago, to read her journal, which told of her own experiences and those of African-American soldiers. Impressed, the reporter took the journal back to Chicago and soon Payne's observations were being turned into front-page stories in the Defender, an African-American newspaper with a national readership.
In the early 1950s, Payne went to work full-time for the Defender, and covered the civil rights struggle in the South. She had a reputation for asking tough questions. She once asked President Eisenhower when he planned to ban segregation in interstate travel - which involved forcing blacks to stay in separate areas on buses and bus stations. The president responded angrily that he refused to support "special interests," a comment that made headlines and helped move the civil rights debate forward.
Ida M. Tarbell (1857-1944) might feel right at home today, a time of many corporate scandals. Tarbell was a teacher and writer who began a long investigation in the 1890s into the Standard Oil Company run by John D. Rockefeller Sr. The company's many illegal activities gave it control over the oil industry in Pennsylvania and throughout the country, hurting many other businesses.
Tarbell wrote many magazine articles about the corrupt company, later turning her work into a book. Her efforts led to changes in the law that forced Standard Oil to break up into smaller companies, allowing other businesses to compete in the industry.