Noteworthy Moments in Women's History 2011

Kitty Van Bortel

Kitty Van Bortel presents a series of vignettes that highlight a few of the many remarkable women in American History.

WXXI celebrates Women’s History Month with a series of vignettes that highlight a few of the many remarkable women in American History. Noteworthy Moments in Women’s History features Antoinette Brown, the first ordained woman minister; Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman to run for President; entrepreneur and beauty expert Martha Matilda Harper; geneticist Barbara McClintock; and JoAnn Falletta, Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic.

Written in collaboration with the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Rochester, the series of vignettes are presented by Kitty van Bortel, President of Van Bortel Automotive Group and a well-recognized role model for businesswomen in the greater Rochester area and throughout the nation. She is the recipient of the Women's Council of the Rochester Business Alliance 2011 ATHENA Award, and a past chair of WXXI’s annual Speaking of Women’s Health Conference.

Noteworthy Moments in Women’s History begins on Tuesday, March 8, and will air throughout the month at varying times of day on WXXI-AM 1370, WXXI-FM 91.5, WXXI-HD, WXXY-FM 90.3 and WRUR-FM 88.5.

Listen to the series:

Women’s History Month
The United Nations gave March 8 official recognition as International Women’s Day in 1975, the first Year of the Woman.

Dr. Virginia Apgar
Newborn babies are tested after birth for: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration, using the test devised by Virginia Apgar.

Martha Matilda Harper
Women once took care of their beauty needs at home, but Ms. Harper changed that with the first salon in Rochester, New York.

Frances Perkins
Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Frances Perkins his Secretary of Labor, the first woman to hold any cabinet position.

Barbara McClintock
Scientist Barbara McClintock discovered the jumping gene and received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her work.

Antoinette Brown
Born in Henrietta, New York, Antoinette Brown was the first ordained woman minister in America.

Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange took the most famous image of the Great Depression, the picture of a downtrodden woman known as “Migrant Mother.”

Shirley Chisholm
The first African-American politician to seek the Democratic nomination for president was not an African-American man, it was Shirley Chisholm.

JoAnn Falletta
The New York Times calls her one of the finest conductors of her generation, and she serves as director of two professional orchestras, including the Buffalo Philharmonic.

Susan B. Anthony
She spent almost her entire life fighting for women’s right to vote; the last words she spoke in public were, “Failure is Impossible!”