It’s March, the month that marks the beginning of spring and the return of Daylight Savings. But most importantly, it’s Women’s History Month! Every year, March is dedicated to celebrating important contributions and achievements by women throughout history. This year’s theme for Women’s History Month commemorates “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.” According to the Women’s History Alliance, this theme aims to recognize women who are committed to bringing equity and justice indiscriminately. So in honor of this year’s theme, this article is dedicated to two female activists in American history that played a crucial role in reforming their community and leaving a lasting legacy.
To begin with, a commemorable female activist is the woman behind Women’s History Month: Laura X. Born in 1940, Laura Rand Orthwein, Jr., or Laura X, is not only a women’s rights advocate but also an anti-war and anti-Semitism activist. In rejection of men’s legal possession of women, Laura X changed her last name in 1969 to symbolize both her distaste for the patriarchal norms embedded in society and the overall under-recognition of women’s history. After attending Vassar College for three years, Laura X graduated and attended New York University. There, she rose to Picket Captain in the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1968, she founded the Women’s History Research Center. On International Women’s Day in 1969, Laura X organized a march in Berkeley, California and successfully petitioned for the creation of National Women’s History Day in March, 1987. Along with her successful march and acclaimed organization, Laura X also led a successful campaign to criminalize marital rape in California. Up until 2020, Laura X participated and documented 21 campaigns and is still alive at the age of 84.
Coretta Scott King, born on April 27th, 1927, was a leader for the civil rights movement in the 1960s after the death of her husband, Martin Luther King Jr. She was also a singer and often incorporated music into her activism work. King was born in Heiberger, Alabama to a family of six. She eventually moved to Boston and studied music at the New England Conservatory of Music where she met Martin Luther King Jr. King. She played a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement after her husband’s assassination, when she took on the struggle for racial equality and became active in the Women’s Movement. King founded the King Center and succeeded in making her late husband’s birthday a national holiday, when Ronald Reagan signed legislation establishing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on November 2nd, 1983. After her death in 2005, she was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and was the first African American to lie in state at the Georgia State Capitol. In her honor, King has been referred to as “First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement.”
Coretta Scott King and Laura X both have one thing in common; in the face of adversity, they persevered for equity and justice for their community. They both fit this year’s theme for Women’s History Month perfectly, as women who “Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.”
This article also appears in our March 2024 print edition.
