September Highlights in US Women's History

Celebrate Anniversary of the Signing of the Constitution – Constitution Day September 17th 

Celebrating Women & Democracy Kit 

September Highlights in US Women’s History

• September 12, 1910 – Alice Stebbins Wells, a former social worker, becomes the first woman police officer with arrest powers in the U.S. (Los Angeles, CA)

• September 14, 1964 – Helen Keller receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom along with 4 other women: Dr. Lena Edwards, Lynn Fontainne, Dr. Helen Taussig, and Leontyne Price

• September 14, 1975 – Elizabeth Ann Seton is canonized and becomes the first American-born saint, founded the first U.S. Order of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph

• September 20, 1973 – Billie Jean King defeats Bobby “No-Broad-Can-Beat-Me” Riggs in the battle of the sexes tennis match

• September 25, 1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in as the first woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice

• September 26, 1971 – Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-New York) announces she will enter the Democratic presidential primaries

• September 26, 1973 – Capt. Lorraine Potter, an American Baptist minister, becomes the first woman U.S. Air Force chaplain

• September 29, 1988 – Stacy Allison becomes first American woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest