Happy 200th birthday to Eunice Foote, hidden climate science pioneer

Inventor and suffragist Eunice Foote held patents for non-squeaking shoes and improved paper mills. She was also the first to explain the concept of global warming. Her experiments in the 1850s demonstrated the thermal effects of carbon-dioxide-rich air when exposed to sunlight. 

 

Although Foote published the results of her experiments, she was not properly credited with this discovery. A male colleague had to present her findings at the 1856 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the society omitted her work in their annual report. No further recognition and no complete report of Foote’s findings appeared until the latter part of the 20th century. Foote shifted her focus to invention and innovation, receiving her two patents in 1860 and 1864. 

 

Learn more about Foote’s work in #climate science from the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

: https://bit.ly/3uwM8A1

Women's History Month Series: Valiant Women of the Vote -- Maggie Lena Walker

The first African American woman to found a bank in the United States, businesswoman and community leader Maggie Lena Walker facilitated success for entrepreneurs in her city of Richmond, Virginia. 

 

In 1889, Walker was elected to a leadership position with the Independent Order of St. Luke, a fraternal association she had been involved with since she was a teenager. Her guidance transformed the Order, which had been on the brink of financial failure, into a powerful benefit society for African Americans that encouraged education, economic growth, and community advancement. To allow for direct communications from the Order to the public, Walker established a newspaper, the St. Luke Herald. And in 1903, she founded St. Luke Penny Savings Bank and served as its first president. The bank employed Black women and allowed the emerging Black middle class in Richmond economic opportunities previously denied to them in the era of Jim Crow. 

 

In addition to raising funds for education and health programs in Richmond, Walker viewed civic participation as key in helping women and African Americans obtain economic and social independence. She served as the vice president of the local chapter of the NAACP, and following the passage of the 19th Amendment, she helped to organize voter registration drives for women in her community. 

 

Learn more about Walker’s life and accomplishments from

Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site

: http://bit.ly/3spSGiU #WomensHistoryMonth #WHM #ValiantWomenOfTheVote

Women's History Month Series: Valiant Women of the Vote -- Harriet Strong

Inventor, entrepreneur, and suffragist Harriet Strong’s efforts to keep her 220-acre farm productive led to advances in agriculture and irrigation for the entire nation. 

 

Following her husband’s death in 1883, Harriet Strong became the sole owner of Rancho del Fuerte, a failing farm in Whittier, California. Determined to turn her family’s fortunes around, Strong threw herself into learning about water, soil, and marketing. She solved her immediate need for income by planting fast-growing Argentine pampas grass, an economical alternative to bird feathers for decorating hats. A creative saleswoman, Strong convinced both the Democratic and Republican national conventions to purchase plumes, dyed red, white, and blue, to wave patriotically on the convention floor. Although her gender barred her from voting in national elections, this suffragist’s crops were on full display during both the 1892 and 1896 conventions.

 

Thinking of her farm’s long-term future, Strong invested in a lucrative walnut crop. To ensure the health of her thirsty walnut trees, Strong invented an elaborate system of water control and irrigation. Los Angeles was prone to flash floods, and she was able to capture the water from these storms and store it for later use. Strong received U.S. patent number 374,378 for her dam and reservoir construction in 1887, and her invention was the basis for transformative national projects, including the Hoover Dam. Building on her success, Strong became an advocate for business training for women.

Learn more about Harriet Strong: http://bit.ly/3khIWE8 #WomensHistoryMonth #WHM #ValiantWomenOfTheVote