March is Women’s History month, a time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of American women, and to recognize the role that women still play as history-makers. Like many heritage months, Women’s History Month began as a week-long celebration that grew from the efforts of local organizations and historians. In 1987, congress expanded the celebration to the entire month of March. It coincides with International Women’s Day on March 8th.

The contributions that women have made to American society can be found in many of the databases available to UTA students, faculty, and staff. Below are just a few examples. If you need assistance finding resources about women’s history, or any other topic, reach out to a librarian.

Sabin Americana, 1500-1926

This database includes primary materials about the early United States from all over the world. Many of the once famous American figures featured in this database have faded in the public eye, despite their groundbreaking contributions.

Elizabeth Oakes Smith began her public career as a popular sentimental poet and writer. After attending the 1850 National Women’s Rights Convention, she shifted to writing more non-fiction articles and books advocating for women to be treated as equals in education, marriage, and legal matters. Her most famous work, Woman and Her Needs, details her position on a woman’s role in society, ideas that the she would later expand upon as the first regular woman lecturer on the influential Lyceum circuit. In addition to this book, her earlier poetry and writing can also be found in Sabin Americana.

In Woman and Her Needs, Oakes Smith writes “I wish to show that while [woman] has been created as one part of human intelligence, she has not only a right to be heard and felt in human affairs, not by tolerance merely, but as a welcome and needed element of human thought; and that, when she is thus recognized, the world will be the better for it…”

Race Relations in America

This database includes reports, surveys, speeches, and other materials produced by the Race Relations Department based at Fisk University from 1943-1970. The organization was founded by the American Missionary Association to investigate problem areas in race relations and develop methods for educating communities and preventing conflict. 

Sara Southall worked on implementing fair labor policy as a personnel manager for multiple locations of the International Harvester Company. She gave several speeches about her work which are included in this database in both text and audio form. Many other documents in this collection refer to her pioneering work.

In 1951, she wrote the book Industry’s Unfinished Business about her 28 years working with International Harvester. She took a pragmatic approach to fair hiring and argued that if managers could not be convinced by moral arguments to integrate their workforce, then they might be convinced by economic arguments. Lester B. Granger wrote in his review of her work, that Southall logically lays out industry’s obligation “…to work out procedures that will eliminate racial, religious, and similar discrimination from employment methods and make more efficient use of our vast labor resources. Only thus, the author maintains, can members of so-called ‘minority groups’ make their full contribution to the economic life of this county, and only when they can do so can this nation achieve an economic or social democracy.”

Academic Video Online

This database includes thousands of video resources from short interview clips to full documentaries. For Women’s History Month check out Dolores, a 2017 documentary that documents the work of Dolores Huerta who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association alongside Cesar Chavez and Gilbert Padilla. 

Huerta’s lifetime of work advocating for the rights of farm workers, women, immigrants, and many others cannot be summed up in just a few sentences. Huerta was 85 at the time of filming, and she speaks about how her work expanded over decades to include everyone who experiences discrimination. In her words, “all that a person has is his or her story. Who they are, what they’ve gone through, what their families have gone through. This is their story. And when you’re trying to deny them their story, you’re taking away their power.” 

Other Resources

Many other databases are available to help researchers discover the contributions of women throughout American history. A few examples that specifically focus on women include:

North American Women’s Letters and Diaries

Women & Social Movements in the United States: 1600-2000

Gender Identity & Social Change

Gale OneFile: Contemporary Women’s Issues

The UTA Libraries Display Committee works to curate library materials that highlight/showcase resources that students can check out to learn more about each month’s theme. Check out our display of books and movies on the 2nd floor of UTA Central Library! 

The banner image includes four photos from the UTA Libraries Digital Galleries. From left to right they are: 

Women’s Air Corps Corp. Lirl Treuter returned Wednesday from 14 months duty with the Far East Air Force with her cat Sayrah Haba-Haba Feaf who was picked up as a kitten in New Guinea. Corp. Treuter is wearing her Air Corps uniform, and the cat is wearing a vest. Photo taken in 1945. The Fort Worth Star Telegram Collection. 

Portrait of Marla Ratliff who was chosen as the female athlete of the year by the American Athletic Association of the Deaf. She is surrounded by equipment from the wide range of sports that she enjoys. At the time she was a resident of Roanoke, Texas. Photo taken in 1990. Fort Worth Star Telegram Collection.

Dorothy Brown, a 24-year-old physical therapist at Peter Smith Hospital and Texas Woman's University graduate, became the first Miss Black Fort Worth after competing for the title on Saturday, March 13, 1976. She is seen here, wearing a crown, holding a bouquet of roses and a trophy. Fort Worth Star Telegram Collection.

UTA alumni Kalpana Chawla presenting at UTA's Fort Worth Riverbend Campus on her first space voyage in 1997 and the inspiration she had from the Orion constellation. Chawla is wearing a blue NASA astronaut flight suit with a Group XV 1995 patch on her right arm. Photo taken in 1999. The Shorthorn Photograph Collection.