LibGuides: Pensacola: Fortis Pensacola Celebrates Women's History Month

Online Sources

National Women's History Alliance
The 2025 theme is "Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations."
National Women's History Museum
The origin of Women's History Month
National Women’s Hall of Fame
The National Women’s Hall of Fame is the nation’s first and oldest nonprofit organization and museum dedicated to honoring and celebrating the achievements of distinguished American women.
Women's History Month
Women’s History Month highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society.
Women's History Month from the National Park Service
Every March during Women's History Month and throughout the year, the National Park Service and our partners commemorate the role of women in American history.
Women During the Holocaust
Online exhibition by the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Women’s History from the National Archives
from the National Archives

Video

Videos on History of Nursing
Films on Demand through LIRN (login to LIRN to view)

Women in History

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
Harriet Martineau is considered to be one of the earliest sociologists, a self-taught expert in political economic theory who wrote prolifically throughout her career about the relationship between politics, economics, morals, and social life.
Elizabeth Blackwell, MD (1821 – 1910)
The first women to receive a Medical Degree in the United States.
Clara Barton (1821 – 1912)
Founded the American Red Cross.
Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845 - 1926)
Mary Eliza Mahoney is the first African American women to become a licensed nurse. In 1878 at age 33, Ms. Mahoney was admitted to the New England Hospital for Women and Children. Out of a class of 42, she was one of four to graduate the following year from the program. After graduation, she pursued a career as a private nurse. A champion of women’s rights, she was among the first women who registered to vote after the 19th Amendment was ratified. In 1936, the National Association for Colored Graduate Nurses founded the Mary Mahoney Award in honor of her achievements. This award, given biennially, recognizes nurses or groups of nurses who promote integration within their field. It continues to be awarded today by the American Nurses Association.
Jane Addams (1860 – 1935)
Jane Addams was an activist, community organizer, international peace advocate and a social philosopher in the United States during the late 19th century and early 20th century. She is the first American women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
Ida B. Wells (1862 – 1931)
Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a prominent journalist, activist, and researcher, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In her lifetime, she battled sexism, racism, and violence. As a skilled writer, Wells-Barnett also used her skills as a journalist to shed light on the conditions of African Americans throughout the South.
Nellie Bly (1864 – 1922)
Nellie Bly, a pseudonym used by Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, was an American investigative journalist. She famously went on an undercover assignment for the New York World to investigate the reports of abuse and neglect at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. Her work has made her a pioneer in immersion journalism.
Susan La Flesche Picotte, MD (1865 – 1915)
Susan La Flesche Picotte was a Native American physician and social reformer in the late 19th century. She was the first person to receive federal aid for professional education, and she is widely acknowledged as the first Indigenous woman to earn a Medical Degree in the United States.
Ida Gray Nelson Rollins (1867 - 1953)
Ida Gray Nelson Rollins was the first African American women to become a dentist in the United States after graduating from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 1890 with a Doctor of Dental Surgery. She opened practices in Cincinnati and Chicago, becoming the first African American women to open a dental practice in either city.
Madam C.J. Walker (1867 - 1919)
Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America. Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair products for black women through her business, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. The company was considered the most widely known and financially successful African American owned business of the early 20th century.
Alice H. Parker (1895 - 1920)
Alice H. Parker was an African American inventor who is best known for patenting the central heating system that uses natural gas. This served as the basis for the development of modern heating systems used today.
Estée Lauder (1908 – 2004)
Estée Lauder (born Josephine Esther Mentzer) was an American businesswoman and co-founder of the Estée Lauder Companies. In addition to the Estée Lauder Companies, Ms. Lauder oversaw the creation of five additional brands—Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Lab Series, and Origins.
Eunice Walker Johnson (1916 - 2010)
Eunice Walker Johnson was an American businesswoman, co-founder of the Johnson Publishing Company, and creator of the Ebony Fashion Fair. In 1942, she co-founded Johnson Publishing Company with her husband, John H. Johnson.
Marie Van Brittan Brown (1922 – 1999)
Marie Van Brittan Brown was an American nurse and innovator. In 1966, she invented the video home security system along with her husband Albert, an electronics technician.
June Almeida, DSc (1930 – 2007)
June Almeida was a Scottish virologist, and a pioneer of immune-electron microscopy. Through her work, she was the first to visualize the rubella virus, and she provided invaluable research on HIV and Hepatitis B. She was also the first person to identify the human coronavirus in the 1960s.
Antonia Novello, MD (1944 - )
Antoni Novello is physician and public health administrator. She made history as the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993.
Bernadine M. Anderson
Bernadine Anderson is the first African American and African American female makeup artist to work in the film industry. Ms. Anderson’s work has appeared in countless films, including The China Syndrome (1979), 9 to 5 (1980), Coming to America (1988), Boomerang (1992), and What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993).
Dr. Mae C. Jemison (b. 1956)
Dr. Mae C. Jemison is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first African American woman to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program and first African American woman in space as a member of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. She holds several honorary doctorates and has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the International Space Hall of Fame.

Books from the Catalog

On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Call Number: BF798 Ku 1969
ISBN: 9780684842233
Publication Date: 1997
One of the most famous psychological studies of the late twentieth century, On Death and Dying grew out of an interdisciplinary seminar on death, originated and conducted by Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. In On Death and Dying, Dr. Kübler-Ross first introduced and explored the now-famous idea of the five stages of dealing with death: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. With sample interviews and conversations, she gives the reader a better understanding of how imminent death affects the patient, the professionals who serve the patient, and the patient's family, bringing hope, solace, and peace of mind to all involved.
The Second Shift by Arlie Russell Hochschild; Anne Machung
Call Number: HQ536 Ho 2003
ISBN: 9780142002926
Publication Date: 2003
Fifteen years after its first publication, The Second Shift remains just as important and relevant today as it did then. As the majority of women entered the workforce, sociologist and Berkeley professor Arlie Hochschild was one of the first to talk about what really happens in dual-career households. Many people were amazed to find that women still did the majority of childcare and housework even though they also worked outside the home. Now, in this updated edition with a new introduction from the author, we discover how much things have, or have not, changed for women today.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Call Number: PR4034 Au 2005
ISBN: 9781593083243
Publication Date: 2004
Set in England in the early 19th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet's five unmarried daughters after the rich and eligible Mr Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr Darcy, have moved into their neighbourhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with the second-eldest Bennet daughter, Elizabeth.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Call Number: PR4167 .J3 2003
ISBN: 9781593081638
Publication Date: 2004
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is an extraordinary coming-of-age story featuring one of the most independent and strong-willed female protagonists in all of literature. Poor and plain, Jane Eyre begins life as a lonely orphan in the household of her hateful aunt. Despite the oppression she endures at home, and the later torture of boarding school, Jane manages to emerge with her spirit and integrity unbroken. She becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she finds herself falling in love with her employer the dark, impassioned Mr. Rochester. But an explosive secret tears apart their relationship, forcing Jane to face poverty and isolation once again. One of the world’s most beloved novels, Jane Eyre is a startlingly modern blend of passion, romance, mystery, and suspense.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Call Number: PR4172 Br 2005
ISBN: 9781593083618
Publication Date: 2005
Wuthering Heights remains one of literature's most disturbing explorations into the dark side of romantic passion. Heathcliff and Cathy believe they're destined to love each other forever, but when cruelty and snobbery separate them, their untamed emotions literally consume them. Set amid the wild and stormy Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights, an unpolished and devastating epic of childhood playmates who grow into soul mates, is widely regarded as the most original tale of thwarted desire and heartbreak in the English language.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Call Number: PR5397 F7 2003
ISBN: 9781593081614
Publication Date: 2004
Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises rofound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever.
Little Women by Louisa Alcott
Call Number: PS1017 L72 2004
ISBN: 9781593083663
Publication Date: 2005
Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott's most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Call Number: PS2954 U5 2004
ISBN: 9781593081812
Publication Date: 2004
Selling more than 300,000 copies the first year it was published, Stowe's powerful abolitionist novel fueled the fire of the human rights debate in 1852. Denouncing the institution of slavery in dramatic terms, the incendiary novel quickly draws the reader into the world of slaves and their masters.
Stowe's characters are powerfully and humanly realized in Uncle Tom, a majestic and heroic slave whose faith and dignity are never corrupted; Eliza and her husband, George, who elude slave catchers and eventually flee a country that condones slavery; Simon Legree, a brutal plantation owner; Little Eva, who suffers emotionally and physically from the suffering of slaves; and fun-loving Topsy, Eva's slave playmate.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Call Number: QH545 Ca 1962
ISBN: 9780618253050
Publication Date: 2002
Rarely does a single book alter the course of history, but Rachel Carson's Silent Spring did exactly that. The outrcry that followed its publication in 1962 forced the banning of DDT and spurred the revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson's passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully throughout the world, and her eloquent book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement. I tis without question one of the landmark books of the twentieth century.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Call Number: RC265.6.L24 S55 2009
ISBN: 9781400052189
Publication Date: 2011
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
Nightingale's Legacy by Sue Johnson
Call Number: RT34 Jo 2016
ISBN: 9781558106277
Publication Date: 2016
The book examines the pivotal historical achievements of 20 prominent nurse leaders from Florence Nightingales time to the present. Included in this must-have text are lessons on patient-centered care, legislative advocacy, innovation, record-keeping, cultural diversity, and education. Nightingales Legacy: The Evolution of American Nurse Leaders dissects the crucial challenges that nurses have faced and conquered over the span of 155 years. More importantly, the book showcases how you can best use these achievements in your own practice.
A History of American Nursing by Deborah Judd; Kathleen Sitzman; G. Megan Davis
Call Number: WY11 Ju 2010
ISBN: 9780763759513
Publication Date: 2009
It provides a historical overview essential to developing a complete understanding of the nursing profession. For each key era of U.S. history, nursing is examined in the context of the sociopolitical climate of the day, the image of nurses, nursing education, advances in practice, war and its effect on nursing, licensure and regulation, and nursing research and its implications.

Pensacola: Fortis Pensacola Celebrates Women's History Month

Fortis Institute Pensacola Celebrates Women's History Month!

Online Sources

Video

Women in History

Books from the Catalog