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We read a lot about how leaders–especially women leaders–need to look forward, to hustle, to keep our feet constantly moving to gain greater equality, more success in the future.
Today I’m in-couraging you to stop and look back, and to make it a habit to look back frequently. The reason? There are literally hundreds, likely tens of thousands, of extraordinary women leaders in U.S. (and all nations) past. Unfortunately, women weren’t included in our textbooks.
The National Women’s History Museum can help. Borrowing from the tagline for the U.S. National Women’s History Project , the NWHM Facebook page is “Writing Women Back into History” every single day by highlighting women you’ve probably never heard of, women leaders who are certain to inspire you to be bolder, more courageous, as you take your next steps forward and support other women to advance too.
Did you know that…
On August 14, 1922, Lizzie Murphy played first base for the American All-Star game in Boston, becoming the first woman to play in a major-league game.
Aviator and nuclear physicist Maggie Gee , born in 1923, was one of only two Chinese-American women in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) and she helped train male pilots for service during WWII since women were not allowed to fly in service.
Maria Mitchell , born in 1818, was the first professional female American astronomer, the first woman to be elected to the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the discoverer of a comet. Mitchell demanded a raise at Vassar College when she found out she was being paid a lower salary than her less-experienced male professor colleagues.
In 1952, Charlotta Spears Bass became the first African-American woman nominated for U.S. Vice President. Spears Bass was the managing editor of the California Eagle newspaper from 1912-1951.
Sandra Day O’Connor graduated among the top in her class from Stanford Law School in 1952. She called at least 40 law firms and was denied even an interview. She got her foot in the door of a law firm by offering to work for free to start. In 1981, President Reagan appointed O’Connor the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Finally, from my tiny hometown (Ord, Nebraska: pop. 2o78), comes Evelyn Sharp , pictured above.
Nation’s Youngest Commercial Pilot: “Sharpie”
Evelyn Sharp was sixteen when Jack Jefford rented a room from her parents and opened a flying school in Ord, Nebraska. Unable to make his rent, Jefford offered to teach Evelyn how to fly instead. After 25 lessons over the course of 13 months, Evelyn soloed on March 4, 1936; at 18 she received her commercial pilot’s license. Sharp acquired her first airplane with the help of local businessmen and she quickly repaid
them with the money earned from “barnstorming.”
At 20, Sharp became one of just 10 female flight instructors in the U.S.: over 350 men learned to fly under her instruction.
“Sharpie,” as her friends called her, is cited in government records as being was the youngest person to obtain her commercial pilot’s license. In WWII, Sharp was one of the original Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) pilots with over 3,000 flight hours logged when she joined.
On April 3, 1944, Evelyn died at the age of 24 when her plane lost an engine on takeoff and crashed in Pennsylvania. At the time of her death she was a squadron commander, the highest certificate then available to women.
Evelyn Sharp is buried in my hometown’s only cemetery, where my father is buried too. Ord’s public airfield, Evelyn Sharp Field, is named in her honor. In 1992, Ms. Sharp was inducted into Nebraska’s Aviation Hall of Fame.
Women Who Soared Quotes
Your happiness is a choice. “I’ve learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.” —Martha Washington
Be excellent company. “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” – Zora Neale Hurston
Be with uplifting people. “No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. ” – Alice Walker
Believe in YOU. “You are on the eve of a complete victory. You can’t go wrong. The world is behind you.” – Josephine Baker
Keep dreaming. “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us .” – Wilma Rudolph
The potential for greatness lives in each of us. Grow your greatness by making the time to look back. I suspect that looking back will indeed help us–women and men–lead forward with increased strength, character and courage.
Featured Image via the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics .
Great sources for learning more about Evelyn Sharp include Author Diane Bartels .
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