Because of how influential the United States is, November is best known for Thanksgiving. But even for people who don’t acknowledge this holiday (or even respect it for that matter,) November still gave us many reasons to be thankful.
In this month, we remember the women who fought for liberty, equality and progress even at great cost. We honor their legacy by learning from them or capitalizing on the results of their deeds.
There is much to be thankful for in November and it’s because of the women that came before us.
November 6, 2018 – Peggy Flanagan became the first female Native American elected lieutenant governor of Minnesota
During the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Native American politician Peggy Flanagan said that she is a citizen of White Earth Nation and that her family is the Wolf Clan. “And the role of our clan,” she said, “is to ensure that we never leave anyone behind.” Her political career appears to be dedicated to this mission.
Born in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Flanagan’s work in public service has been shaped by her attempts to look after the interests of minorities and push for social justice. As a legislator, she sought to defend the rights of indigenous people as exemplified by her decision to sponsor the creation of a task force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Later on, she also sponsored a mandate for tribal consultation in state affairs. She is also a supporter of transgender rights, and expanded childcare support.
From an outsiders perspective, it seemed that she was raised to be this way. Born to a grandmother, mother and aunt who were Irish social justice Catholics, Flanagan was taught the value of civic engagement at a young age. And now that she is a mother, looks to be continuing their legacy especially since November 6, 2018—a day when her commitment to her clan’s role led her to become a first female Native American elected as lieutenant governor of Minnesota.
November 7, 1916: Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected in the United States congress
Even before the right to vote was extended to all women in the United States, there was already a woman in the institution meant to grant it.
On November 7, 1916, Jeannette Rankin of Montana won her seat in the United States Congress and she’s been something of a standout ever since.
In her position, she was openly anti-war (an unpopular sentiment at that time.) She also fought for better conditions for laborers and pushed for unrestricted universal enfranchisement.
Rankin was among the key figures in the fight for women’s right to vote in the US. She was involved in the creation of the Committee on Woman Suffrage and was eventually one of its founding members. Soon enough, the efforts of women like her led to the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This granted nationwide voting rights of women and ultimately expanded their involvement in politics.
November 8, 1910 – Washington passes a constitutional amendment to guarantee woman suffrage
The road to equality had many milestones and among them happened on November 8, 1910. On this day, the male electorate of Washington State ratified Amendment 6 to the state constitution granting women the right to vote.
52,299 voted “yes” while 29,676 voted “no.” With these results, Washington became the fifth state to enfranchise women.
According to HistoryLink.org, The crusade which led to this was spearheaded by two women: Emma Smith DeVoe of Tacoma and May Arkwright Hutton of Spokane. DeVoe represented the National American Woman Suffrage Association as its paid organizer. She was also president of the Washington Equal Suffrage Association. Meanwhile Hutton was a philanthropist and a mine owner. wealthy mine owner and philanthropist. She led the push to for this in Eastern Washington and was seen as among the most influential suffrage leaders on the state level.
According to the same website, the enactment of woman suffrage in Washington opened the floodgates for other Western states, which soon enfranchise women.
November 8, 1984 – Dr. Anna Lee Fisher becomes the first American mother to fly into space
Even until now, there are many out there who believe that mothers belong only in the household but even in years gone by, there were those who have proven that they are #BeyondCapable of finding a place elsewhere—even outer space.
Dr. Anna Lee Fisher is among the people who proved that. On November 8, 1984, Fisher, a physician on Space Shuttle Discovery went where no American mom had gone before and became first of her kind to go into space. She was also the third American woman to achieve this feat.
Born in Albany, New York, Fisher graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles. There she earned a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She then moved to the UCLA School of Medicine, where she received her Doctorate in Medicine in 1976.
In January 1978, she was selected as an astronaut candidate with NASA Astronaut Group 8 and eventually made history about six years later. On the STS-510A mission, she used the Canadarm to retrieve two satellites that were placed in incorrect orbits and characterized the other heights women can reach if they want to go beyond their household.
November 14, 1889 – Nellie Bly begins her journey around the world she’ll complete in 72 days
Even during an age where they faced much discrimination and inequality, women were still #beyondcapable of getting far.
In the case of journalist Elizabeth Cochran—she who is also known as Nellie Bly—the distance was about 25,000 miles. The time span, 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds.
In 1888, Bly—who was working at New York World—proposed that she be allowed to take a trip around the world. At that time, there was a novel by French writer Jules Verne called Around the World in Eighty Days. In it, the protagonist Phileas Fogg made the journey and Bly wanted to try and make it a reality.
About a year later, at 9:40 a.m. on November 14, Bly boarded the Augusta Victoria streamer and began her journey. She went through England, met Verne in France, went to Brindisi, the Suez Canal, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements of Penang and Singapore, then off to Hong Kong and then Japan. She was back in New York about 72 days later after mostly traveling alone.
For a time, the speed by which she circumnavigated the globe was a world record. But while it was broken months later by George Francis Train who completed the journey in 67 days, its impact remains to this day and its most physical representation comes in the form of a book: Around the World in Seventy-Two Days.
November 16, 1988 – Benazir Bhutto became the first woman prime minister of Pakistan
On November 16, 1988, Benazir Bhutto was elected as the first woman to lead a Muslim country in modern history.
The Pakistani people elected her as their prime minister and this is a post she held from 1988 to 1990. She took the seat again from 1993 to 1996.
As a daughter of a former prime minister, Bhutto was familiar with the dangers of that post. Her father was deposed by a military coup, charged of masterminding the killing of a political rival and, after a trial that would be deemed unfair many years later by the Pakistani Supreme Court, he was executed.
Bhutto was exiled into the United Kingdom. From there, she rallied support for her father’s party. In 1985, martial law in Pakistan was ended and Bhutto managed to return and rally about a million people. Eventually, she would lead her father’s party and secure her spot as a prime minister.
Her rule was met with numerous controversies such as allegations of corruption. But there were also those who saw her as a champion of secularism and modernization. This made her a target of fundamentalists and an icon to many longing for significant change including education activist Malala Yousafzai.
Bhutto was assassinated on 2007 but her memory as a notable woman of Pakistan lives on.
November 18, 1872 – Susan B. Anthony got arrested for voting
On November 18, 1872, Susan B. Anthony—one of the most important figures of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States—was arrested for voting.
As an abolitionist and a teacher unhappy with the idea that her male colleagues take home significantly higher pay what women get, Anthony was a dedicated champion of equality.
She was militant. She encouraged women during the presidential campaign in 1872 to challenge the status quo which only allowed men to vote. She urged women to register in every state of the Union and push for their rights to suffrage based on the 14th and 15th amendments to the American constitution.
According to the National Women’s History Museum, Anthony–during the campaign period–registered to vote along with her sisters, a friend and eleven other women. She voted on the 5th and on the 18th, she got arrested at her home in Rochester, New York. She was found guilty and was ordered to pay a $100 fine. She refused to do so. Meanwhile, the judge denied her prison time so that she wouldn’t have the legal grounds to appeal her case at the Supreme Court.
Her vote on the 5th was the only one she gave as far as US elections are concerned and she died in 1906—14 years before women were granted the right to vote through the 19th amendment. But up to this day, she is considered to be one of the women responsible for the right to suffrage now enjoyed by many.
November 25, 1960 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
Like a lot of dictators, Rafael Trujillo—“El Jefe” of the Dominican Republic—went too far and his reign came to a halt because of it.
There are historians who believe that this happened on November 25, 1960. His men kidnapped and killed three women known for being openly critical of his rule and that emboldened the growing resistance against him. The women were the Mirabal sisters: Minerva, María Teresa and Patria—three middle class women who are now collectively known as Las Mariposas (the butterflies in English.)
Of the sisters, Minerva was said to have been the most open in defying Trujillo. At 22 years old, she rejected his sexual advances at a party and it led to her getting sent to jail. It also delayed her plans to study law for years. After she finally managed to return to school, she graduated with the highest honors from the National Autonomous University of the Dominican Republic. Meanwhile Trujillo’s reign became increasingly more oppressive, violent and corrupt. He took over the economy, funneled earnings to family & friends and forcefully silenced dissent.
Minerva was radicalized by these. Her other sisters joined her soon after. Maria Teresa looked up to Minerva and followed in her footsteps. Patria, meanwhile, joined later after she witnessed Trujillo’s men committing a massacre during a religious retreat. All three women knew how dangerous the dictator was. But they stood against him anyway, supporting various measures to overthrow his government. Eventually, they were killed for it.
On November 25, their car was intercepted by Trujillo’s men. The sisters were then taken, strangled and clubbed to death.
Their deaths sent a ripple across the Dominican Republic and, eventually, the world. It galvanized resistance against Trujillo, eroded his international reputation and his hold on power and it eventually led to his assassination in 1961.
In 1999, the United Nations designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. This was done to urge the world to protect women and prevent them from suffering the fate experienced by “the butterflies.”
November 27, 1968 – Penny Ann Early became the first woman to compete in a professional men’s basketball league
Penny Ann Early was 5’3″ and she wasn’t experienced in playing basketball but she became the first woman to play in a professional men’s basketball league.
It happened in November 27, 1968 and it was one controversy that stemmed from another.
Early became one of the first women to become a licensed jockey in the United States but when she tried to compete at Churchill Downs, male jockeys were so against it that they boycotted the races she was set to compete in.
In the midst of this controversy, the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association took interest in her and signed her to a one-day contract. She played long enough to receive an inbounds pass. During the game, she wore a sweater that had the number 3 in it to represent the number of times the male jockeys boycotted her races in protest.
November 27, 1999 – Helen Clark became the first woman to hold the office of prime minister in New Zealand immediately after an election
There are people who set out to be great politicians and there are those who set out to be successful ones.
This, at least is according to political scientist Bryce Edwards and these are distinctions he apparently brought up to discuss the career of Helen Clark.
As the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand, Clark wasn’t known for having a colorful character while pursuing grand, showy projects but she is remembered for her time at the helm. Political commentators have praised her for being a good manager, someone capable of maintaining stability in her country while pursuing incremental changes.
She tackled controversial issues, had a diverse cabinet, showed her capacity to advocate for nuclear disbarment and was a supporter of public health policies. Her competence and contributions to society were such that she became the first prime minister in New Zealand to be elected for three consecutive terms and this all started on November 27, 1999—the day she became the first woman in New Zealand to obtain hold office of prime minister immediately after an election.
November 28, 1967 – Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered the first radio pulsars.
Pulsars are celestial bodies that emit electromagnetic radiation and scientists have been using them for years to understand the Universe better.
Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity has been tested using them. They’ve also been tapped to test gravitational waves (which they can also detect) and calculate the distances of cosmic objects.
Pulsars have been instrumental to the advancement of science and Jocelyn Bell Burnell was the first person to ever observe them.
On November 28 1967, while she was a postgraduate student at Cambridge, Bell Burnell detected something unusual on her chart-recorder papers. This signal was supposedly pulsing with great regularity and was later identified as a neutron star rapidly rotating. The term pulsars came later on. And after that, the other scientific advancements to happen because of them.
