Articles

Do you know who was the first woman appointed to a president’s cabinet? That distinction goes to Frances Perkins who was appointed Secretary of Labor on March 4, 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1911 in New York City, she had witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire which left one hundred twenty-six mostly immigrant women, dead. As a sociologist and workers-rights advocate, this tragedy motivated her to improve working conditions for all workers. Secretary Perkins was a respected and effective member of FDR’s cabinet, helping with the development of his New Deal initiatives and Social Security. Secretary Perkins held her […]

March is Women’s History Month which began more than thirty-five years ago in Santa Rosa, California, as the National Women’s History Project. Five female colleagues were dismayed that women’s achievements were rarely mentioned in the school’s history books and that girls had limited role models. So they set out to change that and their grassroots’ efforts paid off. In March 1980, they convinced Congress and the White House to create the National Women’s History Week. Then seven years later it was expanded to the entire month and became known as National Women’s History Month. Thanks to their vision and persistence, […]

Recently I was in our guest room, which we affectionately call the Tennessee room as it is filled with family memorabilia, furniture and quilts from East Tennessee. There on my grandfather’s antique oak nightstand was a book that caught my eye,

Hermine Santrouschitz Gies was born in Vienna Austria-Hungry.