Tuesday, February 28, 2023
March is Women’s History Month, and a great time to make a concerted effort to suffuse your classroom, district, and your practice with more about Wisconsin's amazing women of history. While some great Wisconsin women may be household names -- Tammy Baldwin, Vel Phillips, Mildred Fish-Harnack -- many other Wisconsin women's exciting lives have been overlooked. It's time to shine a spotlight on some of the lesser-known women of Wisconsin whose stories and lives changed who we are and how we live today in the Badger State.
Tell us: What is your favorite tidbit of Wisconsin women's history? Who is your favorite Wisconsin woman to spotlight during Women's History Month? Email us and let us know!
- This article from the Wisconsin Historical Society highlights the contributions of 10 Wisconsin Women Overlooked by History. They include members of the Ho-Chunk Nation, the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, the Menominee Nation, in addition to a daughter of sharecroppers, a woman who was born to a migrant farm worker family, and a Laotian immigrant. Their stories open our eyes to the great multitude of Wisconsin women's stories beyond our traditional lenses.
- The Historical Society also has a treasure trove of photographs of Wisconsin women which can serve as an interesting opportunity for students to follow their curiosity. Browsing through the photos, students may elect to find out more about a woman or an image that stands out to them, and write something up to share with the rest of their class. Each image tells a story of a Wisconsin woman or Wisconsin women at a moment in time.
- Have students and staff browse through the Wisconsin Women Making History project, which was directed by UW-Madison assistant professor of interdisciplinary creativity and famed author, illustrator, and artist Lynda Barry. The website features an exhaustive list of easy-to-digest biographies of great Wisconsin women, as well as a fabulous resource page for educators with links to women's history sites around the web.
- Don't forget that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s BadgerLink Online Library has a variety of resources to learn, commemorate, and celebrate the impact women have had in American history.
- The History Reference Center: Search thousands of historical documents, biographies, multimedia, historical photos and maps within this resource.
- Poetry and Short Story Reference Center: Read thousands of poetry and short stories, many written by women, in this resource.
- Britannica School and Britannic Library: Search encyclopedia articles with images, maps, games, and other learning materials by all learning and reading levels.
- NoveList and NoveList K8: Find your next read by a woman author by searching genres, readalikes, and award winners in this resource.
Additionally, the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum joined together to provide various resources. This includes resources specific for teachers available here, events throughout the month, and much more. Visit WomensHistoryMonth.gov for more information.