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#WHM
Katharine Hepburn, Movie Star!
In an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Katharine Hepburn set the bar for smart, sophisticated roles that seemed to echo the woman that she was— and, in doing so,…
How many First Ladies were in The Junior League first?
Five. Which is quite a few, when you consider that there have only been 20 First Ladies since Mary Harriman founded The Junior League in 1901. Eleanor Roosevelt had her…
Who was the first woman elected to Congress from New York?
For the record, it was Ruth Sears Baker Pratt. And she was a Junior Leaguer. We realize that the shock and awe of having a woman as a member of…
Who was Helen Wills Moody?
She was an international superstar, one of the first women to be able to make that claim in American sports. How big a superstar? At the age of 15, she…
Did you know the “Wicked Witch” was a member of The Junior League?
Although she had a 50-year career as a character actress in films, on the stage and on television, you almost certainly know her best as the Wicked Witch of the…
Who was Dorothy Whitney Straight?
That’s an interesting question to ask during Women’s History Month because women’s history in this country is more than just a list of famous names and “women’s first” events. So…
Who was Eudora Welty?
Long before she won a Pulitzer Prize, or was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, or had her home in Jackson, Mississippi designated as a National Historic Landmark and opened…
How much do you know about Shirley Temple Black?
Child actress. Diplomat. And member of the Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid-Peninsula. In life, unlike her many movie roles, Shirley Temple played against type. Born in 1928, in Santa Monica,…
Oveta Culp Hobby – trailblazer
At a time when women “do” many things, it’s easy to forget the trailblazers who were unusual precisely because they were women who reached high positions despite their gender at…
The Junior League Remembers: Cornelia Fort, Pilot
Cornelia Fort was an unlikely candidate to be the first American woman to die on active military duty. Born into a wealthy family in Nashville, the oldest of five children. A debutante. Sarah Lawrence graduate. Member of the Junior League of Nashville. Destined for a quiet life.
But Cornelia Fort wanted to fly, and fly she did. She took her first flying lesson in 1940, shortly after her father died. She soon became first female flight instructor in Nashville.