Molly Murphy MacGregor
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Molly Murphy MacGregor | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Sonoma State University |
| Occupations | Women's Rights Activist, Historian |
| Organization | National Women's History Alliance |
Molly Murphy MacGregor is one of the co-founders of the National Women's History Project, now known as the National Women's History Alliance.[1] Her work contributed to the creation of Women's History Month, which is recognized every year in March.[2]
Under MacGregor and other co-founders leadership, in 1978 the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women organized a week long celebration for women's history. MacGregor co-founded the National Women's History Project in 1980 with several other women including Mary Ruthsdotter in order to promote awareness about women's history throughout the United States.[3] Over the last three decades, the NWHP has hosted countless events and historic projects to celebrate women's history. They successfully lobbied Congress to pass a joint resolution recognizing women's history month in 1987.[4] Numerous scholars and historians have worked with the NWHP including historian Robert P. J. Cooney Jr. He is a frequent contributor to NWHP projects and his work is currently cited on the California Secretary of State page.[5] The NWHP had a major push toward the inclusion of women's history at the K-12 level. MacGregor has been quoted as saying, "The validation has been the most surprising and overwhelming success of Women’s History Month. It first started at K-12, we had no idea how much effect it would have on the community and government.”[6] In her 1999 article, "Living the Legacy of the Women's Rights Movement" published in The Public Historian, she wrote extensively about the widespread interest the NWHP has seen from students and teachers.[7] MacGregor has noted the National Park Service has done extensive work to promote the history of the women's rights movement.[7] MacGregor is frequently asked to speak in public about her work with the NWHP. In 2005 served in a keynote session titled “Democracy and Women’s Equal Rights - Mutually Exclusive” which celebrated the 85th anniversary of the 19th amendment at the National Constitution Center.[8]
