On Display at the Library: Women's History Month

"We Can Do It!" proclaims Rosie the Riveter, the now iconic image of American women supporting the home front during World War II. But did you know that Rosie was far from the first American woman to support the country through war?

March is celebrated as Women's History Month, in recognition of the significant contributions women have made to American history. This year, Trexler Library is celebrating with a display titled, "The Roles of America's Women During Times of War."

Women's participation in American wartime spans from our earliest days as a country to modern warfare. For example, Sybil Ludington rode twice as far as Paul Revere to alert militia forces about advances of the British Army in 1777 and Jennie Hodgers posed as a man for three years to serve in the Union Army.

To learn more about these women and the many more who have served since then, visit our display in the Trexler Library lobby until the end of March.

To view the resources used in the display and others in celebration of Women's History Month, check out our Women's History Library Guide here »

Women's History Month began as an effort in the 1970s to revise school curriculum in California to better reflect the role women played throughout US history. This lead to a Women's History Week in 1978, correlating with March 8, International Women's Day. In 1980, the National Women's History Project along with other advocacy groups and historians successfully lobbied for national recognition. Due to these efforts, President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8, 1980 as National Women's History Week by Presidential Proclamation. In 1987, Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as Women's History Month.