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This Day In History

Activism

1884 American suffragist Susan B. Anthony appeared before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives to argue for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote, 16 years after legislators had first introduced a federal woman’s suffrage amendment. It wasn't until June 4, 1919, that Congress approved what was nicknamed the “Anthony Amendment” in honor of the leader who had died in 1906.

1914 International Women's Day is held. After the 1914 celebration and push for equality, the day has become an annual staple for global awareness around women’s issues.

1917 Women in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), Russia, staged a strike to protest food shortages, poor living conditions, and World War I. This strike for “bread and peace” helped give rise to the Russian Revolution of 1917, which led to the abdication of Nicholas II on March 15.

1924 He Xiangning organized China's first rally for International Women's Day.

2018 The first Aurat March (social/political demonstration) was held being International Women's Day in Karachi, Pakistan, since then annually held across Pakistan and feminist slogan Mera Jism Meri Marzi (My body, my choice), in demand for women's right to bodily autonomy and against gender-based violence became popular in Pakistan.

2021 International Women's Day marches in Mexico become violent with 62 police officers and 19 civilians injured in Mexico City alone.

Aviation and Aeronautics

1910 Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first licensed female pilot in France and the world.

Law

1948 The United States Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education, struck down voluntary religious education classes in Champaign, Illinois, public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state. The case was brought by Vashti McCollum, the mother of a student enrolled in the Champaign public school district.

2018 Mississippi lawmakers passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, making the procedure illegal in most cases after 15 weeks of pregnancy; a federal judge later struck down the law as unconstitutional.

Politics

1702 England’s Queen Anne acceded to the throne upon the death of King William III.

Science

1879 Aletta Jacobs became the first woman to attend a Dutch university, as well as the first Dutch woman to receive a medical degree in the country, and the first to obtain a medical doctorate.

Sports

2018 Serena Williams beat Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan, 7-5, 6-3, in the first round of a tournament in Indian Wells, California; it was Williams’ first match following a 14-month leave for the birth of her daughter.