- Sun, 2012-01-15 18:04
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NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH & OUR ANNUAL HONOREES
2013 "WOMAN IN HISTORY" Honoree
To Be Announced
Each year The Miami Beach Women’s Conference recognizes a woman of extraordinary achievement as our annual “Woman In History” honoree and we make a contribution in the memory of these amazing pioneer woman and extraordinary American role models.
The 2012 WOMAN IN HISTORY Honoree was Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998). She was a Miami Herald journalist, author, feminist, activist and environmentalist known best for her staunch defense of the Florida Everglades. She authored articles on civil rights, suffrage and women in leadership. She was a Charter Member of the 1st ever ACLU in the South and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who lent her support to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), speaking to legislature in Tallahassee and urging them to ratify it. Women's Exhibit, The City of Miami Beach and The 2012 Miami Beach Women's Conference are honored to salute her and her many achievements. This year's Miami Beach Women's Conference Panelist Commissioner Katy Sorenson recieved the first "Marjory Stoneman Douglas Environmental Award" by Friends of the Everglades. More about Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
The 2011 "Woman in History" Honoree was Mary Brickell, who with her husband William joined Julia DeForest Tuttle as co-founders of the city of Miami, moving from Cleveland, Ohio in 1871. They opened a trading post and post office on the south bank of the Miami River. After her husband's death, Mary was known as a tough business woman and real estate developer. An original portrait of her was painted by local artist and committee member Winsome Bolt which WE donated to the Mary Brickell Village Welcome Center in Miami.
The 2010 "Woman in History" Honoree was Barbara Baer Capitman, Founder of the Miami Beach Historic Art Deco District; the only Twentieth Century Historic District. Capitman was spearheaded The Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL). A portion of the proceeds from the 2010 Women's Conference were donated to The Barbara Capitman Archives.
The 2009 "Woman in History" Honoree Julia DeForest Tutttle was "The Mother of Miami". Miami is the only major U.S. city to have been founded by a woman. A portion of the 2009 Women's Conference proceeds were donated toward the maintenance of a statue erected in her honor.
The public celebration of women’s history in America began in 1978 with “Women’s History Week” in Sonoma County, California. In 1981, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Representative Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) co-sponsored a joint Congressional resolution proclaiming a national Women’s History Week. In 1987 Congress expanded the celebration to a month and March was declared Women’s History Month.
Before 1970, women’s history was rarely the subject of serious study and no formal training was available on the subject anywhere in the country. Today almost every college offers women’s history courses and most major graduate programs offer doctoral degrees in the field. The woman’s movement of the sixties caused women to question their invisibility in traditional American history texts. The movement raised both women’s aspirations and their opportunities and transformed the study of history in the United States.
