Rosie's Daughters: The "First Woman To" Generation Tells Its Story

Rosie's Daughters: The "First Woman To" Generation Tells Its Story is a book by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett. It tells how how the women of the WWII era were the role models for the next generation and an important influence on the US women's rights movement of the 60s and 70s. 


Butler believes that growing up as a teenager In Oklahoma in the 1960's helped shaped her interest in this topic. She told The Oklahoman reporter Yvette Walker that it was in Oklahoma that she first felt a sense of freedom as a woman. 


Source. Walker, Yvette. "Matilda Butler: Oklahoma girl grows up to be ‘Rosie’s Daughter," The Oklahoman, 4-24-2011 

Oklahoma's Women Supreme Court Judges

Did you know that women in Oklahoma were not allowed to serve on juries in Oklahoma until 1951? Only three women have ever been appointed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court - Alma Wilson, Yvonne Kauger and, most recently, Noma Gurich.

Oklahoma's "Five Indian Ballerinas"

There is a lovely article in The Oklahoman on Sunday, Nov 28, 2010 entitled "State's 5 Indian ballerinas turn out graceful heritage." There is good information about all five of these remarkable women - Moscelyne Larkin, Marjorie Tallchief, Maria Tallchief, Rosella Hightower and Yvonne Chouteau - in the article but EVEN BETTER is the additional pictures and video at The Oklahoman's archival webpage. Check it out at ndepth.newsok.com/five-indian-ballerinas.
These five Oklahomans are depicted in the State Capitol *(see image of mural above) and were declared "Oklahoma's Treasures" by former Governor Frank Keating in 1997.

OCU Grads Angela Monson, Martha Peixotto-Smith, Ekaterina Marsakova Zoubkova Honored

Oklahoma City University's Alumni Association will honor several special alum this weekend including Angela Monson, Martha Pelxotto-Smith, Ekaterina Marsakova Zoubkova. Here is what OCU says about these extraordinary women:

Monson, ’76, was elected chair of the Oklahoma City School Board last year. She has been engaged in activities related to health care policy for 28 years and currently serves as associate provost for the Office of Community Partnerships and Health Policy at the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center. She also serves as an adjunct associate professor in the department of family and preventive medicine. She is a member of the OU Medical Center Board of Trustees and of the Oklahoma City/County Board of Health. Monson was a member of the Oklahoma State Senate from 1993 until November 2005 and of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from November 1990 until her election to the Senate. She was the primary sponsor or co-sponsor for much of the legislation pertaining to health care coverage, financing and delivery systems in Oklahoma and was one of the chief architects of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state’s Medicaid Agency. As a community activist, Monson has worked with elementary schools, churches and other community organizations providing technical support and assistance to many after-school programs and other related initiatives.

Peixotto-Smith, ’06, earned her Masters in Nursing Degree from OCU’s Kramer School of nursing. She is retired as director of emergency services, outpatient services and the transplant program at St. Anthony Hospital. Peixotto-Smith also served on the Governors Council for trauma Legislation and Emergency Preparedness. She continues to serve on the Oklahoma State board of Health Traumatic Brain Injury Council and outreach programs,such as the largest feeding program in Tulsa with trinity Episcopal Parish. Peixotto-Smith teaches part-time for Oklahoma City University. She said herlife has been enriched by attending OCU, not only helping her re-tool from an acute-care nurse to a nurse educator, but also pointing her to serve in the science and art of nursing wherever she is called.

Zoubkova, ’95, learned about OCU through St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. A native of Ulyanovsk, Russia, she transferred to OCU in 1994 and decided to become a pastor. After graduating from OCU, Zoubkova attended the Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City and then returned to Russia to begin serving a church in Pervouralsk, Siberia. Her husband’s job later took her to Tyumen, Siberia, where there was no United Methodist Church so Zoubkova became a social worker and started a local church. Today, she serves as pastor of the Tyumen United Methodist Church of the Salvation and is the only female pastor in the region. Her church is involved in humanitarian aid to former orphans now in prison and to orphans in Usalka and Uspenka. She also conducts a prison ministry prisoners and guards.

Congratulations!

Source. http://www.okcu.edu/news/?id=4721

Oklahoma's Daisy Blackbird at 106 & Kristin Chenoweth

Click HERE to view The Oklahoman's article on Daisy Blackbird who is 106 years old. And click HERE to read their article on how opera bound Oklahoman Kristin Chenoweth's career accidentally got sidetracked - leading her into stardom on Broadway, in movies and on TV!

OSU's Oral History Research Program Interviews Oklahoma's Women Legislators

Oklahoma State University has an oral history program which operates out of the Edmond Lowe Library. One initiative records the voices of the women inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame which is hosted by the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women. Project leader here is Juliana Nykolaiszyn.

Another effort is their "Remembering Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel: Poet and Dust Bowl Emigrant" project. Here prreservation of materials, historical documents and oral memories focus on Oklahoma poet Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel. Project leader on this effort is Karen Neurohr.

Not surprisingly, the project I get most excited about is OSU's oral history of the "Women of the Oklahoma Legislature." Here OSU is chronicling the lives of the women who served in the Oklahoma House and Senate. It records their memories plus holds historical documents of these extraordinary women past and present. This project is lead by Tanya Finchum.

The image in the post comes out of that effort. Hope they get more information up on the Internet so we can know more on this project (or maybe it is there and I can't find it). :-)

Here is a list of all women who have served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. (Anyone know of a similar list for all women who have served in the Oklahoma State Senate?)