WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

Women’s History Month

By Nana Fordjour

In 1981, Congress passed the Pub. L. 97-28, which authorized and requested that the President proclaim the week of March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week.” For five years, Congress passed joint resolutions designating a week in March as “Women’s History Week.” In 1987, the National Women’s History Project petitioned Congress to pass Pub. L. 100-9, which designated the month of March as “Women’s History Month.” Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to officially make every year in March Women’s History Month between 1988 and 1994. Since 1995, every President has officially recognized Women’s History Month in March.

Women’s History Month is observe every year during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, corresponding with International Women’s Day on March 8 and in Canada, during October to celebrate the contributions and achievements women made throughout history. To celebrate Women’s History Month we are spotlighting six iconic women from the past and their present heir-apparents.

FRIDA KAHLO & JILL GREENBERG

Jill Greenberg's Torture

Frida Kahlo self-portrait

Frida Kahlo was a painter who used surrealism, realism and traditional Mexican elements in her paintings. She is best known for her self-portraits and is considered a feminist icon. She created over 140 paintings, with 55 of them being self-portraits. In 1938, Frida Kahlo had an exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York City where she sold half of her 25 paintings there. In 1939, she travelled to Paris where they had an exhibition of her paintings.  The Louvre, brought the painting, The Frame, which was the first time they brought a painting from a Mexican artist. During this time, she painted one of her most famous works, The Two Fridas, which depicts to two versions of herself, with both of their hearts exposed.

Frida Kahlo is considered one of Mexico’s greatest artists.

 

Jill Greenberg is a photographer and artist. She has won several awards and is known for her portraits, including feminism in her work, and fine arts work that features anthropomorphized animals that have been digitally manipulated with painterly effects. She has worked on commercial campaigns for Microsoft, Sony Pictures, MTV, and Disney, etc. and did many celebrity portraits. She specializes in portraiture and uses painterly effects in her work. Jill Greenberg is considered a pioneer in commercial photography for her creative and innovative style that has influenced other photographers.

CONNIE CHUNG & LISA LING

Connie Chung was the first woman to co-anchor CBS Evening News and the first Asian and the second woman to anchor one of America’s major network newscasts. She was a reporter and anchor at CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN. Some of her well-known interviews were Claus von Bülow and U.S. Representative Gary Condit and basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Connie Chung has won Emmy and Peabody awards as a journalist.

News anchor Connie Chung

Journalist & writer Lisa Ling

Lisa Ling is a journalist and writer. When she was sixteen she hosted a national student news magazine and by twenty-five she was a war correspondent, traveling to more than two dozen countries. In 1999, she was the co-host on The View and in 2006 she was a host of National Geographic Explorer, a reporter on Channel One News, and in 2011 she hosted Our America with Lisa Ling on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. Lisa Ling is currently the host of This is Life with Lisa Ling on CNN.

FATEN HAMAMA & GEHAN RATEB

Faten Hamama was an actress and producer. She is known as “The Lady of the Arabic Screen”and is the most important actress of Egyptian and Arabic cinema and the most honored actress in the Middle East. In 1940, she appeared in her first film, Yawm Said (Happy Day) and has appeared in over hundred films. She has helped improved the cinema industry in Egypt and emphasized the importance of women in cinema and Egyptian society. Faten Hamama was selected as the Star of the Century by the Egyptian Writers and Critics organization in 2000.

Gehan Rateb is an actress, singer, and composer. She worked in more than twenty projects for film, television, and theater. In 2008, she released her first album Malak, which was very successful and paved the way for her to receive collaboration requests from many artists. Gehan Rateb is considered one of the most famous Middle Eastern artists of her time and became an idol to female artists in Egypt.

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