Category: Herstory

January 28, 1917: A regular schedule of force-feedings is being drawn up by Workhouse authorities for Ethel Byrne, now serving a 30-day sentence for giving out information on contraception last October at what had briefly been the nation’s first birth control clinic.

January 27, 1964: It hasn’t happened since 1888, has never happened before in a major political party, and it almost didn’t happen today—but a woman is now making a serious, full-fledged run for the Presidency.

January 26, 1917: Ethel Byrne’s condition continued to weaken this morning as she passed the 96-hour mark of her fast.

January 25, 1972: What up until now has been a traditional “Old White Boys Club” of candidates seeking this year’s Presidential nomination had to make room for a Black woman member today as Representative Shirley Chisholm (D-NY), the first Black women ever elected to Congress, officially announced that she was running for the Democratic nomination for President.

January 24, 1917: Tonight, Ethel Byrne is in Cell 139, next to the prison hospital in the Workhouse on Blackwell’s Island, New York—and she gave out information on family planning to two fellow prisoners on the ferry boat to the island this morning.

January 23, 1917: Ethel Byrne, imprisoned birth control advocate, is fully resisting jailhouse authorities today, just as she vowed to do yesterday when sentenced to 30 days for distributing contraceptive information.

January 22, 1917: It’s 30 days in the Workhouse for Ethel Byrne, sentenced today for her work at what was the nation’s first and only birth control clinic until it was raided and shut down by authorities.

January 21, 1972: Women at the center of two national events occurring next week are here vigorously promoting their upcoming ventures. Representative Shirley Chisholm is in town to talk about her Presidential campaign, and Gloria Steinem is here generating publicity for the first stand-alone issue of Ms. magazine.

January 20, 1910: Alice Paul returned to her family’s home in New Jersey today after an extended stay in Great Britain.

January 19, 1944: As women become an ever-greater part of America’s war effort, the need for day care centers for their children becomes even more critical—but, though the Government is calling for more day care centers, it appears that lobbying by concerned citizens must be a part of the battle to actually establish them.