Honoring Women’s History Month with Residents

The origins of Women’s History Month began in 1911, during the first International Women’s Day. Celebrated on March 8, International Women’s Day is an annual celebration that recognizes the accomplishments of women, while also highlighting the continued obstacles that face women. Sixty seven years later, in 1978, “Women’s History Week” was celebrated in Sonoma County, California. The celebration was championed by Gerda Lerner, a historian, who was one of the founders of the academic field of Women’s History.

Women’s History Week was designated to be the week of March 8, culminating in 1979, where a 15 day conference about Women’s History was held at Sarah Lawrence College from July 13 through July 29. The event was chaired by Gerda Lerner. The conference would lead to similar celebrations like the one in Sonoma, California, and an effort to secure a “National Women’s History Week.”

President Jimmy Carter would issue the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980 as National Women’s History Week. Seven years later, Congress officially declared March as Women’s History Month, with a special Presidential Proclamation being issued every year. Today, 36 years later, we continue to celebrate the legacy of women throughout the United States.

PPH has many inspirational women living on cam - pus. One of our personal care residents, Alma Crocker, recently celebrated a huge accomplishment in her life, as she was recently made a Diamond soror in the Alpha Sorority, Inc. after 75 years of being a member.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA) is an international service organization that was founded in 1908 at Howard University. It is recognized as the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. Today, the sorority has over 300,000 members in 1,024 chapters in the United States and several other countries.

There are special membership designations in Alpha Kappa Alpha, including Silver, Golden and

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