Michigan Women's Historical Center call for artists

The Michigan Women’s Historical Center is accepting applications from Michigan women artists and women's groups for art exhibits to be displayed in the Belen Gallery in 2012.

To be considered for selection, an artist must submit an art exhibit application form, resume, at least six examples of her work, and a list of works to be displayed in the proposed exhibit with dimensions. The form can be downloaded at the Historical Center's website.

From the applications, the Art Exhibit Committee will select four individual artists or artist groups to exhibit in the gallery each year. Only the works of Michigan women will be accepted for display. Additional selection considerations are described in the Art Exhibit Policies document attached to the application. To learn more, contact Emily Fijol, 517-484-1880 x202 or efijol@michiganwomen.org.

The mission of the Michigan Women's Historical Center is to inspire and engage adults and children by celebrating Michigan women’s history, promoting educational opportunities, and honoring the accomplishments of Michigan women. The Center is open Wednesday-Saturday 12 p.m.-4 p.m. and the first Sunday of every month 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $2.50 adults, $2 seniors, and $1 students. Children ages 5 and under are free.

GVSU plans Women's Equality Day event

The Progressive Women's Alliance joins the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council (GGRWHC) to observe Women's Equality Day on Thursday, August 25, 2011, 7 p.m., at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, 303 Pearl St. NW in Grand Rapids.

GGRWHC is partnering with the Ford Museum to sponsor an evening with Sara Fitzgerald, author of a new biography on Michigan political icon, Elly Peterson: Mother of the Moderates.

According to the PWA website, "Peterson was a key leader in two of the most important political campaigns then under way: Gerald R. Ford’s contest for the presidency and the campaign to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Fitzgerald will highlight the roles Peterson played in these battles which capped her long political career. Peterson ran for a U.S. Senate seat from Michigan in 1964, twice served as assistant chair of the Republican National Committee, and became the first woman to chair a state committee when she assumed that role in Michigan in 1965."

Fitzgerald has worked for the Washington Post, National Journal magazine, the St. Petersburg Times, the Miami Herald, and the Akron Beacon Journal. She was the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of The Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan’s student newspaper.

She will sign copies of the book, which will be for sale in the Ford gift shop.

This event is open to the public.

Eight inducted into Michigan Women's Hall of Fame

A world ranked wrestler, a Hispanic community leader, and a Michigan Supreme Court
Justice are among the 8 notable women selected by independent juries for induction into the 2011 class of the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. The women will be honored at a benefit dinner on Thursday, October 27 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing.

The 2011 Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame honorees in the Contemporary category are:

• Dr. Lois A. Bader of Lansing is dedicated to combating poverty by providing the gift of literacy and language to people in need. She is the executive director of the Capitol Area Literacy Coalition, a literacy Professor at Michigan State University, and author of several books and articles including the Bader Reading and Language Inventory and Read To Succeed.

• Jumana Judeh of Dearborn Heights works as an advocate for Arab American professional women. She started the Women’s Committee under the Arab American Chamber of Commerce, which later became the Arab American Women’s Business Council. Judeh mentors, creates, and supports networks for women in the Arab American community.

• Justice Marilyn Kelly of Bloomfield Hills is a Michigan Supreme Court Justice. She began her career as a French teacher and was elected to the State Board of Education at age 25—later becoming its president. Justice Kelly worked as a courtroom attorney for over 17 years. She was elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals and to the Michigan Supreme Court twice, serving as Chief Justice from 2009-2011.

• Edelmira “Delma” Lopez of Lansing created venues for the Latino community to celebrate and share their heritage and Hispanic culture. Lopez helped found Cristo Rey Church and Community Center in Lansing, was the first Latina on the City of Lansing Housing Commission, and worked for the United Farm Workers.

• Kary Moss of Ann Arbor is the first female executive director of the ACLU of Michigan. During her tenure, Moss has initiated reforms and lawsuits championing women’s rights. As a practicing civil rights attorney, Moss litigated many cases dealing with sex discrimination and women’s rights.

• Rose Mary C. Robinson of Detroit was one of the first women elected to the Wayne County Commission. Her work on the Labor Committee of the Wayne County Commission opened doors for women, disabled residents, and minorities. Robinson is a criminal defense trial lawyer and appellate lawyer, often representing poor and indigent clients pro-bono.

• Tricia McNaughton Saunders, born in Ann Arbor, is the most decorated female wrestler in America. She was the first female to win a Michigan state wrestling title and the first female regional champion. She was the first U.S. woman to win a world wrestling title and has won more than any other American—male or female. Named a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Saunders was the first woman ever accorded this honor.

The Hall of Fame honoree in the Historical category is Valeria Lipczynski of Grand Rapids emigrated from Poland and dedicated her life to serving the Polish American community. Lipczynski grew the Grand Rapids Polish immigrant community and organized social, political, religious, and cultural groups. She was the first woman elected to the Board of Directors of the Polish National Alliance in 1907 and she received the Golden Cross of Merit from the Polish government in 1927.

The Philip A. Hart Award is presented annually to male citizens who have demonstrated a unique understanding and support of women's issues and concerns and have contributed to the advancement of women's rights and interests. This year’s recipient is Scott Burgess, Community Relations & Advertising Specialist for the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America.

The site of the 2011 induction ceremony and dinner, the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, is located at 55 South Harrison Avenue, East Lansing. A reception will begin at 5:00 p.m., with dinner at 6:00 p.m. and the ceremony at 7:00 p.m. Event reservations ($125/person) and information about sponsorships and advertisements will be available at michiganwomenshalloffame.org or by calling 517-484-1880, extension 203.

The Hall of Fame, established in 1983, was created by the Michigan Women’s Studies Association (MWSA). Its mission is to inspire and engage adults and children by celebrating Michigan women’s history, promoting educational opportunities, and honoring the accomplishments of Michigan women.

The Michigan Women’s Historical Center is home to the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, changing history exhibits, the Belen Art Gallery featuring Michigan women artists, and a unique and sassy gift shop.

New exhibit at the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame

Portrait of "Tall Annie" Clemenc

 A new art exhibit called "Selected Works from the Michigan Women’s Historical Center Art Collection” opens Sunday, August 7 in the Belen Gallery of the Michigan Women's Historical Center and Hall of Fame (MWHOF) and features works from the Museum’s permanent collection. 

Portrait of Helen W. Milliken, by Patricia Hill Burnett

Admission is free and light refreshments will be provided for an opening reception on Sunday, August 7, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. in the gallery. The exhibit continues through Saturday, October 29, 2011. 

A View of the Red Cedar” by Frances Farrand Dodge

The MWHOF art collection began in 1980 with a commissioned portrait of “Tall Annie” Clemenc. Since then the collection has continued to grow. This exhibit will feature the Museum’s recent summer acquisition, an oil painting by Frances Farrand Dodge of Lansing, a prominent artist from the early twentieth century. 

Other works on display include portraits of Hall of Fame inductees, several by fellow honoree Patricia Hill Burnett; art books by inductee Gwen Frostic; landscapes; still lifes; and more created by or are images of Michigan women.

A little Michigan women's history

At today's Women's Equality Day reception for candidates and supporters of The White House Project, Fabius Township resident Dennis Bradley shared a piece of women's history that fit the occasion like a glove. While rustling through some old books stored at Fabius Township Hall, Bradley found a registry of women who trudged through the February snows to sign up to vote.

In 1919.

Before the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.

Take a look:

Educator works to give women inventors more recognition

Back before women got the vote and began to stand up for themselves, women inventors often went unrecognized. Historian and educator Amy Clarke is trying to change all that, by seeing those women now get credit for their work.

Clarke is education director of Inventerrific™, a company devoted to sharing history through patents taken out by American inventors. At a presentation given during the Local History Conference held March 19 in Dearborn, Clarke revealed a group of little known women inventors, including some from Michigan, and shared some surprising information.

She started with Catherine Littlefield Greene, inventor of the cotton gin, and not the name most associate with that machine. In history books, Eli Whitney gets the credit.

"Her husband was an aide to George Washington," Clarke said. "When he died, he left her with a plantation to run and four kids to raise. She hired Eli Whitney to tutor her children."

The HerStories Project

The HerStories Project celebrates Women’s History Month in March at the Everybody Reads Bookstore, 2019 East Michigan Avenue, Lansing.

The free program on Saturday afternoons showcases stories about women. The public is invited to join events without registration, except for participation in workshops and the Open Mike.

On March 20 author Andrea King Collier (Still With Me: A Daughter’s Journey of Love and Loss; A Black Woman’s Guide to Black Men’s Health) gives a reading at 1 pm with workshops to follow: “Writing about Women” at 2:30 pm by Marilyn Mayer Culpepper (Never Will We Forget: Oral Histories of World War II) and “Making Your Creative Nonfiction Sizzle” at 3:45 pm by Virginia Law Burns (Bold Women in Michigan History).

The final event on March 27 at 4 pm is the HerStories Benefit Show and Open Mike, featuring an ensemble of performers. Donations are welcome for the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing, Requests to perform at the Open Mike may be emailed to herstories.project@gmail.com. 

Raffle with trip, cash prizes benefits Michigan Women's Historical Center

The Michigan Women's Historical Center & Michigan Women's Hall of Fame has launched a raffle to support and celebrate the accomplishments of Michigan women.

Tickets are on sale now, at a cost of $20 each or six for $100. Participants are eligible to win a grand prize of $2,000 cash or one of three vacation getaways: a Royal Carribean 3-4 night cruise to the Bahamas, three nights in Las Vegas at the Venetian or Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino with tickets to Cirque Du Soleil and Canyon Ranch Spa; or four nights at Hyatt Regency Miami, one of Miami's luxury resorts, with round-trip airfare for two.

Second prize is two tickets to a matinee performance of Phantom of the Opera at Wharton Center for the Performing Arts in East Lansing; third prize is two tickets to the MSU vs. Notre Dame football game on September 18 in East Lansing.

A drawing will be held at the Suffragist Tea, celebrating the 90th anniversary of women's right to vote, on Sunday, March 21, 2-4 p.m., at the Michigan Women's Historical Center, 213 W. Main Street, Lansing. You need not be present to win.

To purchase tickets on-line or learn more about the prize packages, visit www.michiganwomenshalloffame.org

Sponsors are Nancy L. Lukey, Attorney at Law; Hyundai of Lansing; and ChurchWyble PC Attorneys at Law.

National Women's History Museum bill passes House

WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) today hailed committee passage of her bill, H.R. 1700, which establishes a National Women's History Museum on the Mall in Washington, DC to honor the role that women have played in American History. It passed the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure by a voice vote.


"Less than five percent of the 2,400 national historic landmarks chronicle women's achievement and of the 211 statues here in the U.S. Capitol, only ten are of female leaders," Rep. Maloney said. "The museums and memorials in Washington are one measure of what our society values. We already have museums for stamps and spies. This bill would provide women, comprising 53% of our population, a long overdue home to honor their many contributions to building our country."


"From Susan B. Anthony to Oprah Winfrey, from Hattie Caraway--the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate--to Julie Taymor--the first woman to win a Tony Award for Directing--the story of what women have contributed to the American way of life is a story long overdue for the telling," she continued. "This museum will do just that, and I'm grateful for the leadership of Chairman Oberstar and Ranking Member Mica in moving H.R. 1700 through the Committee, and for the extraordinary support of District Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton. Now, it's on to the House floor!"


"Women are indispensable to the functioning of society, but absent from the Mall and other prominent monument sites in Washington. We are overdue in giving women their due," Rep. Norton said. Norton also said she is particularly proud of the women who have raised funds and have persisted with the effort to build a museum for women in the nation's capital. Norton has been a strong proponent of the museum, not only because of its importance to women, but also because of its significant potential to bring to D.C., a major tourist town, new visitors and to encourage others to stay longer.


"Women will finally have a front row seat on the National Mall. We are very appreciative of Representative Maloney's leadership on this. She's really been our champion and Chairwoman Norton, whose efforts moved the bill, has been extremely supportive," said Joan Wages, President and CEO of the National Women's History Museum.


The bill directs the General Services Administration (GSA) to sell its old Cotton Annex property on the Mall at 12th and Independence to the museum at fair-market rates. The museum would be built and maintained with private funds.


Senator Susan Collins (ME) is working on introducing the companion bill in the Senate.

Michigan Women's Hall of Fame celebrates 26 years, 10 inductees

Lansing, MI –A Pulitzer Prize winner, an actress with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and an American Indian activist of international note are among the 10 notable women selected by independent juries for induction into the 2009 class of the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. The women will be honored at a benefit dinner to be held Wednesday, October 21 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing.

Among the 2009 Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame Contemporary honorees are:

● Grace Lee Boggs (lives in Detroit, MI)
A long-time advocate for civil rights, labor, and women’s issues, Boggs also helped to establish co-ops, community gardens, and youth programs in her adopted city. Detroit’s Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership bears her esteemed name.
● Glenda Lappan and Elizabeth Phillips (live in East Lansing, MI)
This team of educators from Michigan State University created a comprehensive middle school mathematics curriculum used in all 50 states and donated the royalties from their work back to the university to support further mathematics education research.
● Kay Givens McGowan (lives in Grosse Ile, MI)
This professor of anthropology also serves as a dedicated activist on behalf of American Indians; in 2005, she represented the U.S. at an international gathering that crafted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
● Jessica Rickert (lives in Interlochen, MI)
Rickert was the first female American Indian dentist in the country, helped establish dental clinics for two tribes in Michigan, and writes a dental column that is read in native newspapers from coast to coast.
● Betty Tableman (lives in Lansing, MI)
This former director of the Michigan Department of Mental Health Prevention Services unit helped thousands of young children and their parents move toward the development of healthy, nurturing connections.
● Marlo Thomas (born in Deerfield, MI)
Creator and star of the ’60s TV show “That Girl” with four Emmys to her credit, Thomas is also famous as a supporter of feminist causes and for continuing her father’s work on behalf of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The Hall of Fame honorees in the Historical category include:

● Margaret Chandler (born in Muskegon, MI)
Decades of her hard work resulted in federal recognition for the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians in 1994 and in the preservation of hunting and fishing rights asserted by the 1836 Treaty of Washington.
● Ruth Ellis (associated with Detroit, MI)
This African-American entrepreneur opened her home and her heart to Detroit’s gay and lesbian community. Her life inspired two documentaries and the creation of the Ruth Ellis Center, which provides services for runaway, homeless, and at-risk LGBT youth.
● Edna Ferber (born in Kalamazoo, MI)
Widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of her day, Ferber—the first Pulitzer Prize winner in the Hall of Fame—penned 13 novels including “Cimarron” and “Giant” and Broadway hits such as “Stage Door” and “Showboat.”

Also honored on the evening of October 21 will be Gerald Beckwith, the posthumous recipient of the Philip A. Hart Award for his work in helping to establish the Michigan Women’s Studies Association and the Hall of Fame.

The site of the 2009 induction ceremony and dinner, the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, is located at 55 South Harrison Avenue, East Lansing. A reception will begin at 5:00 p.m., with dinner at 6:00 p.m. and the ceremony at 7:00 p.m.

Tickets for the event, which are priced at $125, may be reserved by visiting http://www.michiganwomenshalloffame.org/ or by calling (517) 484-1880, extension 203.

The Hall of Fame, established in 1983, was the brainchild of the Michigan Women’s Studies Association (MWSA), a professional organization of academicians concerned with what is thought and taught about women in the state’s schools, colleges, and universities. “It was a natural extension of our work in the classroom,” explained MWSA President Gladys Beckwith, “and another means of disseminating information about Michigan women, past and present.”

Patterned after the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, the Michigan Hall was the first of its kind to recognize high-achieving women of an individual state.

Over the years, nearly 250 women have been named to this esteemed body. Some are ‘firsts’ or ‘founders’; that is, they were the first females to assume a particular role of leadership, such as Michigan’s first female U.S. senator Debbie Stabenow, or the founders of new entities like Bina West Miller, who established the first life insurance company for women. Another category of women are considered experts in their fields: for instance, Catherine Carter Blackwell is a recognized authority on African history and culture. And many inductees are Michigan’s proud representatives on a national stage. An example of this is Lily Tomlin, whose creative abilities have earned her two Tonys, six Emmys, a Grammy, two Peabody Awards, and an Academy Award nomination.

Biographical information, photographs, and lesson plans relating to the inductees may be found at http://www.michiganwomenshalloffame.org/, and a commemorative plaque for each woman hangs in the Michigan Women’s Historical Center in Lansing. This center houses a museum dedicated to Michigan women’s history and art, a library of women’s history materials, and public meeting spaces.

Herstories - Flint Women's Emergency Brigade

"So that’s when I said,“There are women down here, mothers of children, and I beg of you to come down here and stand with your husband, your loved ones,” you know, “your brothers, and even your sweethearts,” because we had a lot of couples going together, and I’d get their girlfriends." --Genora Johnson Dollinger, interview with Sherna Gluck, posted at http://historymatters.gmu.edu

The Flint Sit Down Strike, one of the most compelling stories in Michigan history, changed the face of labor relations during the heyday of the automobile industry. And without a group of relentlessly strong Michigan women, this story might have had a very different ending.

In the 1930s, the automobile industry in Michigan was experiencing explosive growth, accompanied by the pressures of labor unrest. As the country moved out of the Great Depression, jobs in the auto industry were more valuable than gold, and in Flint, General Motors virtually owned the town. The company employed the vast majority of the city's work force, controlled city government and the community's only newspaper. Because of the monopoly, workers felt trapped in jobs that were often dangerous and always back-breaking, while the company manipulated their paychecks. Frustrated workers took over two Fisher plants on December 30, 1936 and held on to them through violent conflicts, for 44 days.

Women played a critical role in providing support to the striking workers, by standing as a kind of "first line of defense" and ensuring that the workers inside the plant had food and other necessary items during the long siege. Led by organizer Genora Johnson Dollinger, they rallied to encourage women to support the strike and were considered instrumental in turning the tide of public opinion about the strike, as they stood toe to toe with the Flint Police and auto company "goons" who were trying to end the strike by force.

If you're looking for more information about this Michigan Herstory, check out these resources:
Historical Voices - The Strike
http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/strike.php

Historical Voices - Flint Labor History
http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint/organization.php
Genora Johnson Dollinger, founder of the Women's Emergency Brigade
http://hall.michiganwomenshalloffame.org/honoree.php

History Matters
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/136/
Walter P. Reuther Library Collection photo
http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/node/3127

The historic 1936-37 Flint auto plant strikes
by Vivian M. Baulch and Patricia Zacharias / The Detroit News
http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=115