03-20/21-95 Women of Achievement and Herstory

      The weekend double entry ...

      E. 03-21-1943, over Texas near Loredo, separate groups - men pilots
and women pilots of the quasi-military Ferrying Command - are ferrying
planes to a flight training field.  One of the men decides to have fun with
the girls and pulls out of formation and goes over to buzz the women's
formation.  He flies straight at a plane piloted by Carnelia Fort and rolls
around her to frighten her even more. She continues to fly in formation
and doesn't deviate from her course.  He isn't the pilot he thinks he is
and his wing cuts through Fort's cockpit canopy and strikes her.  She
dies almost instantly...but lives long enough to reach out and turn off the
ignition switch.  Crashing, she will not be consumed by flames.
      Cornelia Fort is the first American pilot to die on active duty.
      The Air Force reacts swiftly.  It restricts women pilots to lighter,
less powerful planes and to fly in different directions than the men.  They
are also NEVER to co-pilot with a male.  No record is made of what
happened to the male pilot who all but murdered Cornelia Fort with his
irresponsible flying. By the way, Fort must be sent home and buried with
funds from her family and friends.  The Army Air Force provides $10,000
insurance for the men and none for the women who find out they can't
buy insurance as military-style pilots for any price. 

03-02 anniversaries ...............................................

      B. 03-20-1896, Dr. Hazel Katherine Stiebling, chief of the Bureau of
Human Nutrition and Home Economics of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
who did some basic research that showed Vitamin D was necessary for the
body to assimilate calcium and phosphorus. 

      Executed 03-20-1899, Martha M. Place, for murdering her
stepdaughter. Place was the first woman electrocuted in the United States.

      Event 03-20-1985, Libby Riddles, becomes the first woman to win the
Alaskan Iditarod Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, dogsled event that lasts almost
18 days.  The first prize is $50,000.

      Event 03-20-1991, in an unusual 9-0 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in *Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls* that excluding women
from jobs in which toxic substances exposure could injure a fetus was
unconstitutional. (Medical tests show that men's sperm is extremely fragile
and more likely to be deformed by chemical exposure.)

03-21 Anniversaries ...............................................

      Event 03-21-1934, Babe Didrikson, pitches a full inning against the
Brooklyn Dodgers while wearing the uniform of the Philadelphia Athletics.

      Event 03-21-1973, Corrine C. (Lindy) Boggs, elected to fill the
vacancy in the U.S. House of Representatives caused by the presumed
death of her husband Hale who was missing over Alaska.  Ms. Bogg became
a staunch supporter of women's rights.  Her daughter is Cokie Roberts,
noted TV journalist.

      Event 03-21-1986, Debi Thomas, becomes the first black woman to win
the gold medal in a world skating competition.

Quotes du jour ...............................................

      "The liberation of women is above all based on their capacity to
think their own problems through and to link them to the total progress
of the society and the world in which they live, to their capacity to
develop a political and cultural consciousness."
      -- Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian feminist. 


(C) 1995 Irene Stuber, PO Box 6185, Hot Springs National Park, AR 71902,
irenestuber@delphi.com. Distribute verbatim copies freely with copyright
notice for non-profit use. Don't let anyone tell you there weren't notable
and effective women throughout history.  They were always there, but
historians failed to note them in our histories so that each generation of
women has had to reinvent themselves.