Q: Who was the first female member of the U.S. Supreme Court?

A: Appointed to the Supreme Court by Ronald Reagan in 1981, Sandra Day O’Conner served on the high court for more than two decades before retiring in 2006.

Q: Which prolific poet and book author said: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”?

A: Dr. Maya Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.  A young, single mother, Dr. Angelou held a variety of jobs before her passion for the arts led her to dance, record an album and then write her first novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which was published in 1970.

Q: Who was the first black woman elected to Congress?

A: Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress in 1968.  She served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1969-1982.  In 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

A native New Yorker, Chisholm began a career in elementary education before being elected to the New York State Legislature in 1964.  In 1968 she was elected to the  U.S. House, representing New York’s 12th District congressional seat.  All of the staffers she hired for her officer were women and half of them were black.

During her presidential campaign, she survived three assassination attempts.  During the Democratic National Convention, she received 152 first-ballot votes for the nomination.

During her tenure in the U.S. House, Chisholm championed several issues including education, civil rights, aid for the poor and women’s rights.  She retired from Congress in 1982 and went back into education, teaching politics and women’s studies.

Q: Who was the first American First Lady to run for public office?

A: Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first U.S. First Lady to run for office when she ran for U.S. Senate in 2000.

Q: Which celebrated singer began performing at such a young age that she was nicknamed “The Baby Contralto?”  One of her most famous performances was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939.

A: Marian Anderson’s musical career began quite early, at Union Baptist Church in South Philadelphia.  She joined the  choir at age six.  Before long, she was nicknamed “The Baby Contralto.”  When she was eight, her father bought a piano from his brother, but they could not afford any lessons so Marian taught herself.  In 1939, Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Anderson to sing before an integrated audience at Constitution Hall in DC.  President and First Lady Roosevelt and Walter White of the NAACP persuaded the Secretary of the Interior to allow Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial instead.  An integrated audience of 75,000 attended the concert and millions more listened on the radio.

Q: Who is the German Marxist credited with organizing the very first International Women’s Day?

A: Clara Zetkin fought for women’s rights and was active in politics throughout her life.  101 years ago, she organized the first International Women’s Day.

Q: Who is the suffragist who wrote the first equal rights amendment presented to the U.S. Congress in 1923?

A: Alice Paul spent her life advocating for women’s rights.  She faced incarceration, went on hunger strikes and participated in non-violent civil disobedience campaigns.  She was the author of the original Equal Rights Amendment which was finally passed by both houses of Congress in 1972.  However, the ERA expired in 1982 because it failed to meet the required number of state ratifications.  Paul’s legacy is seen in ERAs adopted into many states’ constitutions and the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.  Paul is scheduled to appear later this year on a U.S. half-ounce $10 gold coin.

Q: Which Russian-born writer is credited for developing the philosophical system known as “objectivism?”  It was the subject of one of her two best-selling novels.

A: Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, screenwriter and playwright best known for her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  The latter novel was Rand’s final work of fiction and the start of her role as a philosopher.  She created Objectivism, a philosophy grounded in reality and aimed at defining human nature and the world in which we live, according to Wikipedia.com.  Rand died on this date in 1982.

Back by popular demand: the Women’s History Month Q&A of the Day.  Check us out every weekday morning during Women’s History Month for a new question.  The answer will be posted in the afternoon.  Leave your guess in the comments section (no Googling!).

Q: This healthcare professional and statistician was nicknamed “The Lady With the Lamp” because she made her rounds at night.  Who was this pioneer who saved wounded soldiers through nursing and advocacy?

A: Florence Nightingale believed her career in nursing was God’s calling.  Known as “The Lady With the Lamp” because she tended wounded soldiers at night during the Crimean War, Nightingale laid the foundation for professional nursing.

Back by popular demand: the Women’s History Month Q&A of the Day.  Check us out every weekday morning during Women’s History Month for a new question.  The answer will be posted in the afternoon.  Leave your guess in the comments section (no Googling!).

Q: This healthcare professional and statistician was nicknamed “The Lady With the Lamp” because she made her rounds at night.  Who was this pioneer who saved wounded soldiers through nursing and advocacy?