March 2007:
Women's History Month

CSS Celebrates Women Who Made a Difference

• Bella Abzug
• Shirley Chisholm
• Geraldine Ferraro
• Judith S. Kaye
• Constance Baker Motley
• Christine Quinn
• Gloria Steinem
• Nydia Velázquez

Bella Abzug

Bella Abzug (July 24, 1920 - March 31, 1998) was a well-known American political figure and a leader of the women's movement. She graduated from Walton High School in New York City, went on to Hunter College of the City University of New York, and earned a LL.B. from Columbia University. She then went on to do further post-graduate work at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

She was admitted to the New York Bar in 1947, and started practicing in New York City, particularly active in matters of labor law. She became an attorney in the 1940s, a time when very few women did so, and took on civil rights cases in the South.

Abzug was a founder and member of the National and State New Democratic Coalition and an initiator and national legislative representative of Women Strike for Peace. She was an outspoken advocate of liberal causes, including support for the Equal Rights Amendment, and opposition to the Vietnam War. This landed her on the master list of President Nixon’s political opponents.

She served in the United States House of Representatives, representing her district of Manhattan, from 1971 to 1977. She was one of the first members of Congress to support gay rights. In 1976, she ran for the U.S. Senate, but was narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary by Daniel Patrick Moynihan. She was also unsuccessful in a bid to be the Mayor of New York City in 1977. She remained active in politics even after she had ceased to be a candidate. She was co-chair of the National Advisory Committee for Women, 1978-1979.

In 1990, she co-founded the Women's Environment & Development Organization to mobilize women's participation in international conferences, particularly those run by the United Nations.

She had been battling breast cancer for a number of years when she developed heart disease and died in 1998 at the age of 77.

Back to top

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bella Abzug."

Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm (November 30, 1924 - January 1, 2005) was a politician, educator, and author. In 1968, she became the first African American woman elected to Congress, representing New York's 12th District for seven terms. In 1972, she became the first African American to make a bid to be President of the United States.

Born in Brooklyn, of a Barbadian mother and a Guyanese father, she spent part of her childhood in Barbados with her grandmother, and received an education in the British-run school system. She later attended Brooklyn College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1946. While working as a teacher, Chisholm earned a master's degree in elementary education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

In 1964, Chisholm was elected to the New York State Legislature. Four years later, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Chisholm joined the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969 as one of its founding members. In 1972, Chisholm made a bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, receiving 152 delegate votes at the national nominating convention.

Throughout her tenure in Congress, Chisholm worked to improve opportunities for inner-city residents. She supported spending increases for education, health care and other social services, and reductions in military spending. After leaving Congress, Chisholm was named to the Purington Chair at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she taught for four years.

Chisholm authored two books, Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973). In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Chisholm died on January 1, 2005. In February 2005, Shirley Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed, a documentary film chronicling Chisholm's 1972 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, was aired on U.S. public television. In 2006, the film won the Peabody Award.

Back to top

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Shirley Chisholm."

Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro (born August 26, 1935) is a Democratic politician and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives.  She is best known as the first, and only, woman to date to represent a major U.S. political party as a candidate for Vice President. Ferraro and running mate Walter Mondale were defeated by incumbent President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush in the 1984 election.

Ferraro was born in Newburgh, New York.  Her father, an Italian immigrant, died when she was eight; her mother was a seamstress.  Ferraro received her undergraduate degree from Marymount Manhattan College, and a J.D. degree from Fordham University School of Law, going to classes at night while working as a second-grade teacher in public schools during the day.  Ferraro graduated from law school in 1960, one of only two women in her graduating class.

She is married to real estate agent John Zaccaro.  She raised three children before joining the Queens County district attorney's office. There she started the Special Victims Bureau.
Ferraro was elected to the House of Representatives from New York's Ninth Congressional District in Queens in 1978 and served three two-year terms, compiling a generally liberal voting record on social and economic issues. While in Congress she served on the Public Works Committee, the Budget Committee, and the Post Office Committee. She also served a term as the Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus. She was the Chairwoman of the Platform Committee for the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

Former Vice President Walter Mondale selected Ferraro as his running mate after interviewing several candidates, including Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, and San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein.  In her acceptance speech upon being chosen Mondale's running mate, Ferraro said, "The daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been chosen to run for vice president in the new land my father came to love." As a Catholic, Ferraro came under fire from the Roman Catholic Church for being pro-choice on abortion, a position in conflict with Catholic moral doctrine.

In 1993, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to represent the United States at the United Nations. She served with the rank of ambassador and handled social issues during her time at the U.N.  From 1996–1998, she was cohost on Crossfire, a political commentary show on the cable television network CNN. She continues to provide political commentary as a frequent guest on national television news programs.

Ferraro served as president of G&L Strategies, a management consulting firm, and is now a senior managing director of the Global Consulting Group, a corporate public relations firm. In 1998, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, the second-most common form of blood cancer after leukemia. She has become an avid supporter of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. She is an honorary board member of the National Organization of Italian American Women.

In an issue of Newsweek Magazine (12/25/06 - 1/1/07) she announced her support for presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the article, entitled What We Learned the Hard Way, she thanked Mondale for taking the "Men Only" sign from the White House. She compared his selecting her as a running mate to Roman Catholic Al Smith's running for president in 1928 and opening the door for John F. Kennedy to be elected president in 1960.

Back to top

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Geraldine Ferraro."

Judith S. Kaye

Judith S. Kaye (born August 4, 1938), Chief Judge of New York, was born in Monticello, New York.  She was appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo on February 22, 1993, confirmed by the State Senate on March 17, and sworn in on March 23, 1993 as the first woman to occupy the State Judiciary's highest office, the Court of Appeals.

Kaye holds a B.A. from Barnard College (1958) and a LL.B. from New York University School of Law (1962).  She was admitted to the New York State Bar, 1963. Chief Judge Kaye engaged in private practice in New York City until her appointment to the Court of Appeals.

Her current posts also include Chair of the Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children; Founding Member and Honorary Chair, Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (JALBCA); Member of the Board of Editors, New York State Bar Journal; and Trustee, The William Nelson Cromwell Foundation. She served as President of the Conference of Chief Justices and Chair of the Board of Directors, National Center for State Courts (2002-03). She is the author of numerous publications--particularly articles dealing with legal process, state constitutional law, women in law, professional ethics and problem-solving courts.

Among other awards, Kaye is the recipient of the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession’s Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, the National Center for State Courts’ William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, and New York University Law School's Vanderbilt Medal.

Kaye was chief judge for the decision in People v. LaValle, the case which ruled that the state's death penalty statute was unconstitutional, in which she voted with the majority.
On July 6, 2006, Judith Kaye authored an impassioned dissent in an omnibus appeal of four same-sex marriage disputes (including Hernandez v. Robles) in which the majority ruled that the state constitution "does not compel recognition of marriages between members of the same sex."  Kaye's dissent departed from the dry language of the majority and admonished that while New York state has a tradition of upholding equal rights, "the court today retreats from that proud tradition."

She is the widow of Stephen Rackow Kaye, who practiced law in New York City; they have three children.

Back to top

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Judith Kaye."

This article also uses material from
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/ctapps/jkaye.htm

Constance Baker Motley

Constance Baker Motley (September 14, 1921 – September 28, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, and state senator.

She was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the ninth of twelve children.  Her parents had emigrated from Nevis, in the Caribbean; her mother was the founder of the New Haven chapter of the NAACP.  She graduated from New York University in 1943 and Columbia Law School in 1946.  Her legal career began as a law clerk in the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where she worked with Thurgood Marshall.

In 1950 she wrote the original complaint in the case of Brown v. Board of Education.  The first African-American woman ever to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, in Meredith v. Fair she successfully won James Meredith's effort to be the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi.  She was a key legal strategist in the civil rights movement, helping to desegregate Southern schools, buses, and lunch counters.

In 1964, Motley became the first African American woman elected to the New York State Senate.  In 1965, she was chosen Manhattan Borough President—the first woman in that position.  In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson named her a federal court judge—the first African American woman so named.  She served until her death as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In 1993, she was inducted into National Women's Hall of Fame.  In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal.  The NAACP awarded her the Spingarn Medal, the organization's highest honor, in 2003.

Back to top

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Constance Baker Motley."

Christine Quinn

Christine Quinn (born 1966) is the third speaker of the City Council, which is considered the second most powerful position in city government after the Mayor. Quinn is the first woman and first openly gay person to be elected speaker. She has been rated one of the fifty most powerful women in New York City by the New York Post and one of the "Forty Under Forty" by Gotham Magazine.

Quinn grew up in Glen Cove, New York, and attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She served as head of the Housing Justice Campaign for the Association of Neighborhood and Housing Development.

Quinn entered politics to manage the City Council campaign of Thomas Duane in 1991, who became the city's first openly gay councilmember. Quinn was Duane's Chief of Staff for five years, after which she became the Executive Director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. While in that position, Mayor Rudy Giuliani appointed her to be a member of the NYC Police/Community Relations Task Force.

Before becoming Speaker, Quinn served as chair of the Health Committee, during which she successfully sponsored the Health Care Security Act.  The Act ensures health care for grocery workers.  She also served on the committees on Finance, General Welfare, Governmental Operations, Land Use, Lower Manhattan Redevelopment, and Rules, Privileges & Elections, as well as the Zoning & Franchises subcommittee. Quinn led the Council's opposition to Bloomberg's ultimately unsuccessful West Side Stadium plan.

Quinn announced in March 2007 that she will be marching in the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17th upon the personal invitation of officials in Dublin. This is due to the policy of the New York parades' organisers, The Ancient Order of Hibernians, in denying permission to openly gay and lesbian people to march under their banner. She tried to broker a deal with the organisers in 2006 after taking office that would have allowed her to wear a gay pride pin, button or sash but talks failed and instead she boycotted the New York Parade as she has done since becoming a council member.

Quinn is expected to be a candidate for mayor in 2009.

Back to top

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Christine C. Quinn."

Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem (b. March 25, 1934) is an American feminist icon, journalist, and women's rights advocate.  She is the founder and original publisher of Ms. magazine.

Gloria Steinem was born in Toledo, Ohio.  The family split in 1944 and Gloria lived with her mother in Toledo. As a child, she cared for her ill mother and helped support the family.

Steinem entered Smith College on scholarship in 1952, majoring in government studies and becoming politically active in Adlai Stevenson's presidential campaign.  She studied in India for two years. 

In 1960, she became assistant editor of Help! magazine and a freelance writer, and in 1963, started freelancing full-time with the publication of her controversial undercover article, A Bunny's Tale: "Show's" First Exposé for Intelligent People. Also in the mid-'60s she was a contributor to NBC-TV's groundbreaking satirical program, That Was the Week That Was (TW3), where she wrote a recurring segment called "Surrealism in Everyday Life."

After conducting a series of celebrity interviews, Steinem eventually got a political assignment covering George McGovern's presidential campaign. Her 1962 article in Esquire magazine about the way in which women are forced to choose between a career and marriage preceded Betty Friedan's book "The Feminine Mystique" by one year. She became politically active in the feminist movement. Steinem brought other notable feminists to the fore and, in 1971, co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus as well as the Women's Action Alliance.

In 1972, she helped start the feminist Ms. magazine and wrote for the magazine until it was sold in 1987. The magazine was bought by the Feminist Majority Foundation in 2001, and Steinem remains on the masthead as one of six founding editors and serves on the advisory board.

Steinem co-founded the Coalition of Labor Union Women in 1974, and participated in the National Conference of Women in Houston, Texas, in 1977.  She became Ms. magazine's consulting editor when it was revived in 1991, and she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.

Back to top

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Gloria Steinem."

Nydia Velázquez

Nydia Velázquez (born March 28, 1953, in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico) became the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Velázquez, whose father worked the sugar cane fields, was one of nine siblings.  She was raised with the influence of political dinner table conversations.  Her father was a local political activist and, from a young age, she would accompany her father to political rallies. Her father would focus on the rights of sugar cane workers and denounce the abuse perpetrated by wealthy farmers.

After skipping grades, she entered high school when she was 13. In high school she organized her classmates on a protest and the school was closed down. Their protest against the dangerous and unsanitary conditions of the school caused the necessary renovations to be made.

In 1969, when she was only 16, she enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico.  In 1974 she graduated magna cum laude and became the first one in her family to receive a college diploma. She then went to New York where she attended and studied political science, on a scholarship, at New York University.  In 1976 she received her Master's degree.

Velázquez was a university professor for many years, first in the University of Puerto Rico's Humacao branch (1976-81) and then at New York's Hunter College (1981-83).
In 1983, she was appointed Special Assistant to U.S. Representative Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn). In 1984, she became the first Latina appointed to serve as a member of the New York City Council.

In 1986, she served as the Director of the Department of Puerto Rican Community Affairs of the U.S. During that time, she initiated a successful Latino empowerment program called "Muevete" (Move on).

In 1992, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York's 12th District,and became the first Puerto Rican woman member of Congress.  She serves on the House Small Business Committee.  She also serves on the House Financial Services Committee.

On April 3, 2003, Velázquez was named "Hispanic Business Woman of the Year" by Hispanic Business magazine, becoming the first women to be named as such, in recognition of her national influence in both the political and business sectors.

Most recently, in 2006, she was named Chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee, making her the first Latina to ever chair a full congressional committee.  The Committee oversees federal programs and contracts totaling $200 billion annually. Congresswoman Velázquez has been a vocal advocate of American small business and entrepreneurship. She has established numerous small business legislative priorities, encompassing the areas of tax regulations, access to capital, federal contracting opportunities, trade, technology, health care and pension reform, among others.

Back to top

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nydia Velázquez."

This article also uses material from
http://www.house.gov/velazquez/biography.htm