Veterans
Revolutionary Women
This month marks 29 years since Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to preside over the court, temporarily sitting in for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Fourteen years earlier, O’Connor had become the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court, ultimately paving the way for Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. From Sandra Day O’Connor to Sally Ride to Kamala Harris, our history holds countless moments when women broke through barriers and into arenas that had previously been exclusively occupied by men. In this week’s Archives Experience, we spotlight a few trailblazing women from America’s history.
Batting Away Jim Crow
The desegregation of sports was a bumpy ride that demonstrates the complexity of race relations throughout the 20th century. Black athletes were welcomed in some sports, but not others; were embraced for their success during a game, but shunned the rest of the time.