On this day in women’s history…
| February 27th, 2004February 27
1865: (Birthday) Mary Frances Isom born in Nashville, Tennessee. Isom was a remarkable librarian who helped make library service a reality for the people of Portland, Oregon and the surrounding area. During World War I she organized libraries for various military areas as well as in France.
As an interesting side note, today Portland has the highest library circulation rate in the country. That, along with having the most number of book stores per capita in the country, seems to signal that Portland is a very well-read city.
1869: Congress passes the Fifteenth Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote to all citizens, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude — but not to women.
1936: (Birthday) Sonia Johnson born. Johnson was excommunicated from the Mormon Church for supporting the Equal Rights Amendment for women and become a social activist for women’s rights and a writer of feminist literature. Her books include From Housewife to Heretic (1981), Telling the Truth (1987), Wildfire: Igniting the She/Volution (1990), Going Out of Our Minds: The Metaphysics of Liberation (1991), The Ship that Sailed Into the Living Room: Sex and Intimacy Reconsidered (1991), and Out of This World: A Fictionalized True-Life Adventure (1994)
