March is Women’s History Month! The first celebration took place in Santa Rosa, California in 1978 and was known as Women’s History Week. Following this, the National Women’s History Project (now the National Women’s History Alliance) lobbied President Jimmy Carter to recognize the week in 1980. In 1987 the celebration moved from a week to a month. In the first message designating National Women’s History Week, President Carter acknowledged that, “Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”
Each year, the National Women’s History Alliance establishes a theme to guide the celebrations of the month. The 2025 Women’s History Month Theme is Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations. The theme encourages us to think about all the ways women have played essential roles in information sharing both in and out of the classroom. The theme also celebrates the ways in which education is essential to our democracy.
In honor of this theme, the Michigan School of Psychology is highlighting a few of the many women pioneers in education.
Harriette Cooke
Harriette Cooke was hired by Cornell College in 1871 to be a full professor. Cooke had previously been working at the institution as a preceptress (an instructor). This change in her title not only granted Cooke more status but made her the first female collegiate instructor to receive the same pay as her male colleges.
Mary McLeod Bethune
The first person in her family born free, Mary McLeod Bethune had the rare opportunity to pursue a formal education during the reconstruction era. Bethunes would go on to become a teacher in the southern United States, eventually opening her own boarding school for Black girls in Daytona Beach, FL. Her school would eventually merge with a boys school to become the Bethune-Cookman College in 1929. In addition to her work as an education, Bethune has a long and decorated career in political advocacy, including being the only woman of color to attend the founding conference for the UN in 1945.
Margaret Bancroft
In 1883, Margaret Bancroft founded what is believed to be the first private school for intellectually and developmentally disabled students. As a special education pioneer, Bancroft believed that everyone had the ability to learn when given the proper, specialized care. Bancroft’s school is still operating, serving children in NJ, DE, and PA.
Laura Eisenhuth
When Laura Eisenhuth was elected North Dakota’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, she became the first woman elected to a statewide office in the US. As an established teacher herself, Eisenhuth had previously served as a county superintendent and felt that given the abundance of women in the field of education they should be present in administrative roles too. Eisenhuth’s tenure as Superintendent of Public Instruction left a lasting impact on the entire education system.
Catherine Brewer Benson
Catherine Brewer, as she was known at the time of her graduation, became the first women to receive a bachelor’s degree in the United States. Brewer was alphabetically the first of her class at Georgia Female College (now Wesleyan College) in 1840. In 1888 she would return to campus to speak with the graduating class and remained an active member for the alumnae association.
Mary Jane Patterson
Born the to a formerly enslaved father, Mary Jane Patterson would become the first Black woman to earn a 4-year degree when she graduated from Oberlin College in 1862. Graduating with high honors, Patterson would go on to pursue a career in education herself, largely working at prep schools for Black youth.
