Below includes special announcements of events and activities of interest to women and girls, as well as important women’s issues.

New Hours of Operation

The Maryland Women's Heritage Center is now open to the public Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (closed Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday). The Center is also available for special events and rentals.

Contact us if you have any questions or would like more information.

Volunteers and Docents Needed!

We are in need of volunteers to serve in a variety of roles with the Maryland Women's Heritage Center, including as docents to staff the Maryland Women's Heritage Center during our operating hours, Wednesday - Saturday from 10 am - 4 pm. We are looking for docents to be able to at least staff the Center one day a month.

One day training sessions will take place Thursdays and Fridays from 10:30 a.m. - noon, beginning July 29. Docent manuals will be provided.

Contact us if you are interested in donating your time!

Dominique Dawes named to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutritition

Congratulations to Maryland Women's Heritage Center Honorary Board Member Dominique Dawes for being appointed the co-chair of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition!

Dominique Dawes is an Olympic gymnast who competed in three Olympic Games and has a permanent place in the U.S. Olympic Committee Hall of Fame. She was a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where she also won a bronze medal in the floor exercise, becoming the first female African-American gymnast to win an individual medal. Now retired after dedicating 18 years to the sport, she commits her time to motivational speaking, hosting gymnastics clinics, and serving as a spokesperson for several organizations that support the physical and emotional health of youth and women. She is an accomplished motivational speaker, speaking to audiences on topics focusing on leadership, teamwork, physical and emotional health, fitness and overcoming obstacles.

Maryland Women's Heritage Center Opening

The Maryland Women’s Heritage Center, the first comprehensive state-based center and museum of its kind in the United States, is set to open its initial home in Baltimore at 39 West Lexington Street.

Established to preserve the past, understand the present, and shape the future by recognizing, respecting, and transmitting the experiences and contributions of Maryland women and girls of diverse backgrounds and regions, the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center honors Maryland’s historical and contemporary renowned women and girls who have been inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, as well as the Unsung Heroines who have shaped their families and communities.

The Center serves as a resource clearinghouse for information about Maryland women and a gathering place to hold workshops, forums, and other special events, including a forum to address issues impacting girls, women, and their families. In conjunction with the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center’s “Pauline Menes Public Service Leadership Fund,” created in memory of Pauline Menes, a pioneer in the role of women in politics and the longest continuously serving state delegate in Maryland, the Center expects to help in developing leadership by girls and women.

Admission to the Center is free, and hours of operation are Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., beginning on Saturday, June 19.

Congratulations to the University of Maryland's Women's Lacrosse Team

On Sunday, May 30, the University of Maryland's women's lacrosse team won the NCAA women's lacrosse championship bringing the title back to College Park for the first time since 2001.

The Maryland women's lacrosse team defeated No. 2 Northwestern, 13-11, for its first NCAA Championship since 2001 and nation-leading 10th overall in front of a record-breaking crowd of 9,782 at Towson University's Unitas Stadium.

Strengthening Title IX

Vice President Joe Biden has issued a "Dear Colleague" letter that withdraws a 2005 interpretation of Title IX policy making it stronger.

The White House

Office of the Vice President
For Immediate Release
April 20, 2010

Vice President Biden Announces Strengthening of Title IX
On April 20, 2010, Vice President Biden announced that the Administration has issued a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter that withdraws a 2005 interpretation of Title IX policy. Enacted in 1972, Title IX mandates that any educational institution receiving federal funding for programs and activities cannot discriminate on the basis of sex. The 2005 policy issued compliance standards that were widely criticized for being inadequate and inconsistent with Title IX's nondiscrimination goals. Today’s announcement reverses this interpretation, and returns to a more thorough test for assessing compliance with Title IX. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, joined the Vice President at George Washington University for this announcement.

“Making Title IX as strong as possible is a no-brainer,” said Vice President Biden. “What we’re doing here today will better ensure equal opportunity in athletics, and allow women to realize their potential - so this nation can realize its potential.”

“There is no doubt that Title IX has dramatically increased athletic, academic, and employment opportunities for women and girls, and educational institutions have made big strides in providing equal opportunities in sports,” said Secretary Duncan. “Yet discrimination continues to exist in college athletic programs--and we should be vigilant in enforcing the law and protecting this important civil right.”

For more than three decades, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has provided three options to determine whether athletic programs at colleges, universities and secondary schools provide equal opportunities for athletic participation. Under one of these three options, OCR policy evaluated multiple indicators to determine the athletic interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex at educational institutions. The new ‘Dear Colleague’ letter clarifies that OCR does not consider survey results alone to be sufficient evidence of a lack of student interest or ability in sports.

Today’s event at George Washington University also provided sports activities for youth.

“Title IX has helped women to compete at all levels in athletics, which today’s event showcased,” said Valerie Jarrett. “By working through the agencies, the White House Council on Women and Girls will continue to support laws such as Title IX that provide opportunities for young girls to get ahead in life.”

Today’s ‘Dear Colleague’ letter also provides recommendations for effective procedures for collecting, maintaining, and evaluating information on students’ interests and abilities, including technical assistance on the nondiscriminatory design and implementation of surveys as one indicator among others of student interests and abilities.

For more information about Title IX, or to review the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter, please visit:
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/publications.html#TitleIX-Docs

Your Support is Needed

Please consider becoming involved in the creation of the Maryland Women's Heritage Center in some way. The Maryland Women's Heritage Center is for everyone in Maryland --- and for those who visit our marvelous
state. We can use your support in a number of ways from monetary and in-kind donations to volunteering.

• Donate Funds NOW - If you send $1, $5, or $1,000, each dollar will make a difference.  Since State funds are so scarce this year, we particularly need the financial help of every Marylander.
• Volunteer to Help - We need people now to get the Center ready for opening. When we open our doors this spring, we will need people in a variety of roles.  A special training session will be conducted for those who would like to serve as docents or in other volunteer positions. E-mail us if you want to be notified about the training. We also need IT people, archivists, artists and researchers, handywomen or men, and you!
• Add Your Organization to the List of Supporting Organizations - No financial obligation is required, just the group's support for the importance of creating the Maryland Women's Heritage Center as a national model for inclusion, diversity, history and action.  We want to document the tremendous support for creating this "herstoric" Center! E-mail us if your company or organization would like to be involved.
• Tell Us About The Unsung Heroines in Your Life -  We want to hear the stories of your mothers, grandmothers, spouses, partners, daughters, sisters, teachers, nurses, crossing guards, or other girls and women who have played significant roles in your lives, your communities, or your workplaces.  She may be living or deceased, but her story is important and we want to preserve it for posterity.  Please share these women and girls with us along with a photo, video, etc., if you have one.

"Women and Work in the 19th and 20th Centuries" Workshop

On January 9, 2010, a workshop was held on teaching American History for Baltimore City teachers focusing on “Women and Work in the 19th and 20th Centuries.” As a follow-up to this program, teachers developed instructional materials related to women’s history to use in their classrooms. The workshop was hosted by the Baltimore City Public School System, the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, and the University of Maryland School of Nursing Museum. Linda Shevitz, Program Chair for the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center, presented the keynote overview of women and work as part of the interactive workshop. 

The samples above, developed by a Baltimore City elementary school educator, Claudia Wiseman, consists of an interactive bulletin board for students to learn more about women’s roles in the workforce.

Rita R. Colwell, a renowned scientist and educator, as well as Maryland Women's Heritage Center Board Member, has been named the "2010 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate." Dr. Colwell’s pioneering research on the prevention of waterborne infectious diseases has helped protect the health and lives of millions.

Dr. Colwell is a distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is widely recognized as one of this century’s most influential voices in science, technology, and policy associated with water and health.

She has made exceptional contributions to control the spread of cholera, a waterborne pathogen that infects 3 to 5 million people and leads to an estimated 120,000 deaths each year. Through her groundbreaking research, innovations and decades of scientific leadership, she has defined our current understanding of the ecology of infectious diseases and developed the use of advanced technologies to halt their spread. Her work has established the basis for environmental and infectious disease risk assessment used around the world.

About the Stockholm Water Prize:

H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who is the patron of the Prize, will formally present Dr Colwell with the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize at a Royal Award Ceremony in Stockholm City Hall on September 9 during the 2010 World Water Week in Stockholm. The Stockholm Water Prize is a global award founded in 1990 and presented annually by the Stockholm International Water Institute to an individual, organisation or institution for outstanding water-related activities. The Stockholm Water Prize Laureate receives USD 150,000 and a crystal sculpture specially designed and created by Orrefors. 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the Stockholm Water Prize and the World Water Week in Stockholm.

Founders of the Stockholm Water Prize are Swedish and international companies in cooperation with the City of Stockholm. They are: Bacardi, Borealis & Borouge, DuPont, Europeiska Insurance, Fujitsu, General Motors, Grundfos Management, Hewlett Packard, ITT Water & Wastewater, Kemira Water, KPMG Sweden, Läckeby Water, P&G, Ragn-Sells, Scandic, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Siemens AG, SJ (Swedish Railways), Snecma, Uponor, Water Environment Federation and Ålandsbanken Sverige.

"Maryland Women Making History"

In honor of Women's History Month, The Baltimore Sun has posted a photo gallery of renowned Maryland women from the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame. Information and photos were supplied by the Maryland Women's Heritage Center.

Senator Benjamin L. Cardin Recognizes Maryland Women who have Influenced History

From The Daily Times (March 16, 2010):

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin: Maryland woman have influenced history

By Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin
March 16, 2010

March is officially Women's History Month. This
gives us an opportunity to remember and pay
special tribute to the many contributions women
have made to our state and to our nation. From civil
rights leaders to medical pioneers, from American
patriots to religious leaders and environmentalists,
Maryland women have made enormous
contributions to our nation's history, progress and
knowledge.

As we approach the bicentennial celebration of the
War of 1812, it's fitting to remember the
contribution of Mary Young Pickersgill, who made
the famous banner that was hoisted over Fort
McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore. Her flag was
immortalized by Francis Scott Key's words: "Whose
broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous
fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly
streaming ... Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the
home of the brave."

Maryland also has a canonized saint. St. Elizabeth
Ann Seton became the first native born American
woman to be canonized by the Catholic Church in
1975. In the early part of the 19th Century, she
established in Baltimore the first free Catholic
school in America. She also established two
orphanages and founded the American Daughters of
Charity, the first female religious order native to the
United States.

During the Civil War, Barbara Frietchie of Frederick,
at age 90, waved a Union flag in the middle of the
street to block Stonewall Jackson's troops as they
passed through Frederick in the Maryland
Campaign. John Greenleaf Whittier immortalized the
event in an 1864 poem entitled: Barbara Frietchie.

We also pay special tribute to Harriet Ross Tubman,
who was born into slavery in Dorchester County but
escaped to become a leader of the anti-slavery
resistance network know as the Underground
Railroad.

Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig was a 20th Century
medical pioneer. She is credited with being the
founder of the subspecialty pediatric cardiology. In
1944, as a Johns Hopkins Hospital pediatric
cardiologist, she developed a special shunt to treat
"blue baby" syndrome, a life-threatening congenital
heart defect.

Montgomery County's Rachel Carson is credited with
founding the modern environmental movement. Her
1962 book, Silent Spring, detailed how synthetic
chemicals accumulated in water, soil, fish and
animals, and her findings led to the domestic ban
on the sale of DDT in 1972, an action that many
credit with saving the bald eagle from extinction.

Finally, Bea Gaddy was known as the Mother Teresa
of Baltimore for her work with the homeless. In the
1970s, she distributed food and clothing from her
home. She went on to found the Bea Gaddy Family
Center, a homeless shelter. Every Thanksgiving, she
and her volunteers fed thousands of Marylanders.
She died in 2001, but was inducted into the
Maryland Hall of Fame in 2006.

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin is Maryland's junior
senator. His Web address is www.cardin.
senate.gov. He also can be found at www.You
Tube.com/SenatorCardin.

Women's History Month 2010 Proclamations

• President Barack Obama issued a proclamation in honor of Women’s History Month 2010 (March 2, 2010).

• The Baltimore City Council issued a resolution in celebration of Women's History Month (March 8, 2010). 

You're Important. Be Counted!

National Census Day is April 1, 2010. In mid-March, census forms will be delivered to those residing in the United States and Puerto Rico. It is important for everyone to take the time to answer the 10 short questions and mail the form back by April 1.

It is crucial for women and families, especially those in the lower income bracket, to be counted by the Census.
In the past, women and families were not always fully and accurately counted by the Census leading to underfunding of critical services and infrastructure and under-representation in government.

How is Census Data Used? (from Nonprofits Count)

The data collected by the Census will be used to determine a host of issues critical to the nonprofits community, including but not limited to:

Decisions about what community services to provide, and how to distribute over $300 billion in federal funds to local, state and tribal governments each year for the next 10 years!  Examples include spending on:

-Title 1 grants to educational agencies (school districts across the nation)

-Head Start programs

-Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) (food grants)

-Public transportation

-Road rehabilitation and construction

-Programs for the elderly

-Emergency food and shelter

-Empowerment zone

-The drawing of Congressional, State House and State Senate district lines

-Distribution of Congressional seats to states

These are just a few examples of the ways in which Census data will be used in the next decade.

For more information, go to www.census.gov. In addition to the 2010 Census link, women and their families and the organizations that work on their behalf can get detailed socio-economic data about their local communities on The American Fact Finder and the American Community Survey links.

Maryland Women's Heritage Center Board member Juanita Tamayo Lott joined the U.S. Census Bureau in 1997 as special assistant to the Director in preparation for the 2000 Census and subsequently directed the 2010 Census Planning Unit. She was special assistant to Dr. Martha Farnesworth Riche, only the second woman director of the Census Bureau since the first census was conducted by Thomas Jefferson in 1790 (the first was Barbara Everitt Bryant for the 1990 Census).

As Juanita Tamayo Lott mentioned, "I really believe that a critical component of effective, long term community organizing and civic engagement is statistical and financial literacy for women and girls."

In addition, The New York Times included an article on March 3, 2010, about how women in the work force saved Social Security. The article, "How Women Saved Social Security," was written by Casey B. Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago.

Wage Disparities: Men vs. Women

The Baltimore Sun:  Though wage data show women slowly catching up to the median weekly wages their male counterparts receive in the same job, the women's-to-men's earning ratio peaked at 81 percent in 2005 and 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, women earned about 80 cents per dollar men took home in 2008. The earliest comparable earnings data, from 1979, showed women that year earned about 62 percent as much as men.

The information in these slides comes from a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report of wage data released last year.

In Memory:  Lucille Clifton, Maryland Poet Laureate and Heritage Center Honorary Board Member

The Maryland Women's Heritage Center is sad to announce the passing of former Maryland Poet Laureate and Member of our Heritage Center Honorary Board, Lucille Clifton.

An accomplished and nationally-recognized poet and author, Lucille was recently honored along with two of her daughters at the Maryland Women's Heritage Center's "We Are Our Mothers' Daughters" luncheon with Cokie Roberts on April 29, 2009.
 
Lucille Clifton has been an inspiration to us, through her magnificent writings and her meaningful life. She has been a strong advocate for human rights and justice. We use this passage from one of her poems as a guiding motto as we create the Maryland Women's Heritage Center:

I need to know their names
                 those women I would have walked with...
                   all those women who could have known me.
          Where in the world are their names?

The Maryland Women's Heritage Center will work to assure that the name of Lucille Clifton, and the rich legacy that she leaves, is preserved and transmitted to current and future generations.

Her daughter has given permission for us to establish a fund in her memory at the Maryland Women's Heritage Center. The Lucille Clifton Fund will honor Women in the Arts, with particular emphasis on girls and women of color and those working for social justice. If you would like to donate to this fund in her honor, please click here or send your donation to:

Maryland Women's Heritage Center
Attn:  The Lucille Clifton Fund
P.O. Box 719
Brooklandville, MD 21022-0719

We would also welcome your notes, photos and memories about Lucille Clifton to post and preserve as part of our honoring her and the legacy that she has left to inspire all of us. Please e-mail these to Jill Moss Greenberg or send to the Maryland Women's Heritage Center at the above address.   
 
Sympathy cards and letters may be sent directly to the Clifton family at:

7441 Swan Point Way
Columbia, MD 21045

University of Maryland's Debbie Yow and MWHC Board Member in The Baltimore Sun

Debbie Yow, University of Maryland’s Athletic Director and Board Member of the Maryland Women's Heritage Center, was featured in an article in The Baltimore Sun ("UM's Yow thrives in '24/7' caldron of college athletics") on February 15, 2010. Yow will become the school’s longest tenured Athletic Director on September 1.

University of Maryland's Tara Heiss Named to the Atlantic Coast Conference's Women's Basketball Legends

From The Baltimore Sun (February 3, 2010):  Former Maryland women's basketball player Tara Heiss was one of 12 players named to the Atlantic Coast Conference's sixth annual class of Women's Basketball Legends to be honored at the ACC tournament March 4-7 in Greensboro, N.C. Heiss played for the Terps from 1974 to 1978. Her 504 career assists rank third all-time at Maryland, and her scoring average of 14.2 points ranks eighth. Heiss also set a school single-game record, which has since been broken, by scoring 34 points against Delaware in 1976. As a junior and senior, Heiss led the Terps in both scoring and assists. In her senior season, Maryland won its first ACC tournament. Heiss was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. After her college career, Heiss played in the World University Games in 1979 and was named to the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.

WomanTalk Live, a supporter of the Maryland Women's Heritage Center, is accepting submissions for the "2010 Girls Gone Great Scholarship Essay Competition" through December 31, 2009.

Female high school juniors and seniors from throughout Maryland are invited to submit an essay describing how they are making a difference in their community, why making a difference is important to them, and how their actions support their vision for the future.   

The "2010 Girl Gone Great" will win a $1,000 scholarship donated by WCBM-AM, will be interviewed on WomanTalk Live, and have a write-up, photo and her winning essay in On Purpose Woman Magazine. For more information about the contest and to submit a "Girl Gone Great," click here.

Baltimore County Fire Department Honors First Female Firefighter

The Baltimore County Fire Department honored its first female firefighter, Division Chief Danelle England-Dansicker, by naming a room at Fire Department headquarters in Towson in her honor on December 16, 2009. She passed away in April 2009 at the age of 52. Read the press release about the honor.

About Fire Department Division Chief Danelle England-Dansicker:

Fire Department Division Chief Danelle England-Dansicker was the first female member of the career service (as well as a lifelong volunteer at Pikesville VFC) and the Department's highest-ranking female member.

She joined the career department in 1978. England-Dansicker was an apparatus driver, a cardiac rescue technician and a member of the high-rise evacuation aerial team, a precursor to today’s Advanced Tactical Rescue team. She moved up through the ranks and became the first female battalion chief in 1995 and the first female division chief in 2001. She retired in 2005, and died on April 21, 2009, at age 52 of complications from an autoimmune disease.

The Baltimore County Commission for Women is accepting nominations for its annual "Woman of the Year" and "Young Woman of the Year" awards. The award honors female residents of Baltimore County who serve as role models for other women. Deadline for nominations is Friday, January 15, 2010. Visit the Baltimore County Commission for Women Website for a nomination form and more information.

Jean Cryor: 1938-2009  

The Maryland Women's Heritage Center is sad to announce the passing of former Maryland State Delegate and Commissioner of the Montgomery County Planning Board, Jean Cryor. Jean was a wonderful public servant, as well as a Board Member of the Maryland Women's Heritage Center. She was also a commissioner on the Maryland Commission for Women.
 
Condolences can be sent to:

11700 Ambleside Drive
Potomac, MD 20854

Linda Shevitz, Executive Board Member of the Maryland Women's Heritage Center, gave a presentation about the Center at a Delta Kappa Gamma meeting on Saturday, November 7, in Ashton, MD.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) recently announced the release of "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything," a study by CAP and Maria Shriver, the first lady of California and a former NBC News correspondent.
 
The Shriver Report is an in-depth study of the American worker, who today is just as likely to be a woman as a man---a definite change from the past.
 
The Report is the beginning of a national conversation about how America adapts to the way American families live and work today; how can government, business, media, and faith leaders modernize their institutions to catch up with the permanent new reality of American life? 
 
For more information and to read the Shriver Report, click here.

Congratulations to Carol Greider for Winning the Nobel Prize

The Maryland Women's Heritage Center congratulates Carol Greider for winning the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine along with colleagues Elizabeth Blackburn and Jack Szostak. Greider is a molecular biologist at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
 
This year, a record of five women won Nobel Prizes. In the past, only 35 women have been awarded Nobel Prizes.  Furthermore, Greider and Blackburn were the first women to simultaneously win the prize in medicine.

The three other 2009 female winners include Ada Yonath, who is sharing the Nobel Prize in chemistry; Herta Mueller, who won the prize in literature; and Elinor Ostrom, who is sharing the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Ostrom is the first woman to win the economics prize.

Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame

The Maryland Commission for Women and the Women Legislators of Maryland are seeking recommendations for outstanding Maryland women for induction into the 2010 Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame. The Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame was established in 1985 and honors Maryland women who have made unique and lasting contributions to the economic, political, cultural and social life of the state, and who provide role models for tomorrow’s female leaders. These women are honored in March during Women’s History Month. The Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame will be housed at the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center.

To receive an official nomination form or for more information, contact the Maryland Commission for Women at 410-767-3049 or mcw@dhr.state.md.us.

The Maryland Women's Heritage Center has been working with School Girls Unite and its visionary sponsor, Wendy Lesko, almost since its formation. The members of the initial group were Maryland middle school students. As they continued their education, they maintained their commitment to School Girls Unite - and to action for all girls. They have now come out with a marvelous handbook that is useful for girls throughout the world - and informative to those of us well past our girlhoods!

More than a dozen teenagers with School Girls Unite in the United States and students in Mali, West Africa, have authored "GIRLS GONE ACTIVIST! How to Change the World through Education." In poor countries, the majority of girls do not even finish elementary school and many become child brides. This action guide-written by youth for youth-describes how to become a global activist and why educating girls is crucial to building a smarter, healthier and more peaceful world. These inspiring stories and successful advocacy strategies, such as clever video petitions and street theater, will convince anyone age 12 and older to get active in solving this human rights catastrophe and achieving gender equality. Written in English and French with over 100 pictures, this 120-page paperback is available for $12, or can be downloaded, without charge, as an eBook on the School Girls Unite Website. For more information, call 1-800-KID-POWER or e-mail info@schoolgirlsunite.org.        

“The Future of the World depends on an educated society---especially girls---because we know the crucial role of women in eradicating poverty.”

-Bintou Soumaoro, 19, President of Les Filles Unies pour L’Education Mali

“Educating girls will save the world by creating more scientists to solve global warming, lawyers to make the world fairer, and leaders to resolve conflicts without war.”

-Joanne Conelley, 17, Founding Member of School Girls Unite USA  

Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet

The National Women’s History Project (NWHP) and the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center are honoring Maryland women who have taken the lead in the environmental or “green” movement throughout 2009. Click here for more information about Maryland women who are taking the lead to save our planet. Sign this Environment Pledge developed by the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center.

Pauline Menes Memorial Fund

The Maryland Women's Heritage Center is sad to announce the passing of former Maryland State Delegate, Pauline Menes. A pioneer in the role of women's politics, she served in the Maryland legislature for 40 years making her the longest continuously serving delegate in Maryland. She was also one of the 15 founding members of the Women Legislators of Maryland, the first state women's legislative caucus in the United States, and was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 2008. Her daughters, Sandra, Robin, and Bambi, in conjunction with many of her colleagues in the legislature, have begun a fund in Pauline's name in order to develop a program in her name at the Maryland Women's Heritage Center. The Menes family is asking that donations in Pauline Menes' name be made to this fund. Donate online or mail check to: 

The Pauline Menes Fund
Maryland Women's Heritage Center
P.O. Box 719
Brooklandville, MD 21022

Women’s Equality Day

Women's Equality Day is August 26. First instituted in 1971, Women's Equality Day commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which grants women the right to vote. It is also a day to celebrate women's continuing efforts toward full equality. For more information about Women’s Equality Day, visit the National Women’s History Project Website. Although women did not fully gain the right to vote until 1920, Margaret Brent of St. Mary's City, MD, was the first colonial woman to ask for the right to vote in 1648.

Three members of the Maryland Women's Heritage Center have recently released new books.

Susan Shaffer, an Executive Board Member of the Maryland Women's Heritage Center, has co-authored, Too Close for Comfort: Questioning the Intimacy of Today's Mother Daughter Relationships, with psychologist Linda Perlman Gordon. The book explores how it can be unhealthy for mothers and daughters to act as best friends and shows mothers and daughters how to develop rewarding, rather than agonizing relationships.

Ginny Gong, a member of the Advisory Board of the Maryland Women's Heritage Center, has published, From Ironing Board to Corporate Board: My Chinese Laundry Experience in America, which chronicles her life as a Chinese immigrant growing up in America since age six.

Maryland Women's Heritage Center Board Member Juanita Tamayo Lott has written Filipinos in Washington, D.C., with Rita M. Cacas. This book tells the stories of the founders of the Filipino communities in Washington, D.C.