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GIRAFFE OF THE MONTH
What Were the Women Doing?
Molly Murphy MacGregor and Mary RuthsdotterInside the word "history" is the word "story." And that's what history is-the story of what has happened in the world, going far back in time, and right up till yesterday. Most history has been written down by men and taught by men; very few women wrote or taught history until recent times. Molly Murphy MacGregor became a history teacher in 1977. She loves history and loved teaching high school students about all the amazing things that have happened in the world. But something concerned her. The history books were almost totally about men and what they've done. She wanted to know what women have done too.
She asked another teacher why there were no stories about women in the book they were using in their classrooms. "Well," he asked her, "what have women ever done, anyway?" She was shocked. This man was teaching history to kids, but he didn't seem to care that he was leaving out half the world's stories.
Ms. MacGregor realized that when she was a student, most of the history lessons she learned were about men. She was concerned that girls often get bored in history class because, "When there's nobody like you anywhere in the things you're learning, it's hard to get interested. And when women are left out of history lessons, girls and boys begin to think that women are not as important as men."
She wanted students to know that women have done important things. So she started finding women's stories that had been left out of most history books. That's where Mary Ruthsdotter comes into this Giraffe story. Ms. MacGregor made a slide show that she used to tell stories about women in history. Mary Ruthsdotter came to one of those slide shows. She decided she wanted to help find more stories of women who've done important things in the world as scientists, artists, athletes, or doctors.
Ms. MacGregor was happy to have some help. They found that they worked well together and agreed on many things. They both wanted to be sure to include women all over the world and in all times. That meant they had to find a lot of stories! It took them lots of time and energy to find the stories in libraries, museums and historical records all over the country, and to put them all together.
They both gave up their jobs to work day and night on the project. They spent all their savings and had to borrow money to pay for the materials they needed, and for a place to keep all the books. Some people laughed at them and told them they could never change the way history is taught. But they thought about all the girls and boys who needed to know these stories, and they kept going.
For all these years, Ms. MacGregor and Ms. Ruthsdotter have kept on working. They now have thousands of books, posters, photographs, and videos about the interesting lives and stories of women throughout history. They call it the National Women's History Project. They provide these materials to teachers, libraries, newspapers, magazines, and anyone else who wants information about what women have done. They also give speeches, train teachers, and plan special events to celebrate women in history. One of their special events became National Women's History Month. It all began with a celebration-a party-that they planned for their city, Santa Rosa, California. The celebration was a chance for people to hear stories, see photographs and hear songs about women who've done important things. The event was so successful that people in many other cities heard about it and decided to have their own women's history celebrations.
Ms. MacGregor and Ms. Ruthsdotter asked the United States Congress in Washington DC to make the month of March Women's History Month for the whole country. And Congress voted yes. So thanks to two Giraffes named Molly and Mary, people all over the country are learning the history of all the people who have been important in the world, not just half of them.
Visit the Giraffe website to learn about The Giraffe Program, a K-12 curriculum that teaches kids about real heroes and gets them going on lives of courage, caring and responsibility, and the Giraffe Partners Trunk--everything a business or club needs to help a classroom full of kids to stand tall.
Copyright © 1999 The Giraffe Project, all rights reserved.Posted with permission by New Horizons for Learning
http://www.newhorizons.org
E-mail: info@newhorizons.org