March
in History
Compiled
by Chris Rohan
March
was named after Mars – the Roman god of productivity and protection
of the state. It was the first month on the Roman calendar until
Julius Caesar decided to base the calendar on the solar year,
dividing the year into 12 months instead of 10. (Julius Caesar
was assassinated on March 15th 44 B.C.)
St.
Patrick’s Day
On March 17,
493 AD, Patrick, Second Bishop of Ireland died in Saul, Ireland.
He was later canonized as St. Patrick. On March 17, 1766, New
York City held its first official St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Firsts
In Women’s History
On March 4,
1933, Francis Perkins became the first female cabinet member when
she was sworn in as Secretary of Labor in the administration of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
On March 6, 1934, Babe Didrickson became the first female athlete
to play on a major league baseball team when she pitched a full
inning for the Philadelphia Athletics against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Other
Events in Women’s History
On March 13,
1906, Susan B. Anthony died. She was the leader of the women’s
movement for full citizenship rights, including suffrage (the
right to vote).
On March 22, 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment was passed by the
U.S. Congress and sent to the states for ratification.
Labor
History
On March 25,
1911, 125 workers, mostly young women, were killed in the Triangle
Shirt Waist Factory Fire. The fire led to the passage of city,
state and federal legislation to compensate workers for occupational
injuries and to promote safer working conditions. (The last survivor,
Rose Freedman, died on February 15, 2001. After escaping the fire,
Freedman became a life long advocate for better working conditions,
and she lived an active life until her death at age 107).
On
March First…
In 1872, an
act of Congress designated Yellowstone as a national park – the
first area in the world to be designated as a national park. Most
of Yellowstone is in Wyoming, the remaining sections are in Idaho
and Montana.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps.
Our
Bloodiest War (the Civil War)
On March 9,
1862, two ironclad ships engaged in battle at Hampton Roads off
the coast of Virginia. They were the U.S.S. Monitor, the
Union ship, against the Merrimack (a Union ship stolen
by the Confederates, given iron siding and renamed the Virginia).
The battle ended in a stalemate.
Corrections
Last month’s
printed edition of February in History gave an incorrect date
of birth for W.E.B. Dubois, a founder of The National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and author of Souls
of Black Folk. He was born February 23, 1868.
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