March is Women's History Month. Take a look into women's impact on Virginia's past, present, and future.
“Some women, while not included in the pages of a history book, have made contributions no less vital. Civic leader and social reformer Ora E. Brown Stokes from Chesterfield County worked tirelessly for a women’s right to vote and receive an education. Today, women constitute the majority of the student population at Virginia colleges and universities. Through strengthening and enriching society by impacting every field from business to medicine to government to the arts, women continue to nurture the family while fueling innovation, as well as the growth and success of tomorrow’s leaders;”
- Governor Glenn Youngkin
March 20-26, 2022
Women Veterans Week
This week is a time dedicated to honoring the service and sacrifice of women veterans across the Commonwealth. Taking place from March 20-26, 2022, this is the 5th consecutive year that Virginia is devoting the fourth full week in March to recognizing all of the women who have served in the United States armed forces.
Mission: Virginia’s Women Veterans Program (VWVP) provides access to community resources to educate, unify, and empower Virginia’s women veterans, who have served in the military in all eras; by ensuring they receive timely yet appropriate transition and benefits support/ employment and education outreach; health and community advocacy.
With over 109,000 women veterans who call the Commonwealth home, Virginia has the highest percentage of women veterans per population of any state in the nation.
Women veterans are the fastest-growing segment of Virginia’s total veteran population.
In 2018, Virginia was one of the first states to establish a dedicated program for women veterans, which includes an annual Virginia Women Veterans Summit. This year’s event will take place in-person June 15, 2022.
Learn more about women in Virginia history at these locations across the Commonwealth.
These attractions provide great resources for learning more about women's history in Virginia.
Check out the resources below to learn more on women's impact on the history of Virginia.
Throughout the month of March, the spotlight is on influential women of Virginia's past, present, and future.
The Ambassador of Dance and Culture
The joy and beauty of South American dance and culture has become a part of Richmond and Virginia's culture thanks to the work of Ana Ines Barragan King.
One of the Library of Virginia's Women in History honorees, King is a native of Columbia, South America who learned dance from her mother at a young age. She moved to Richmond and VCU after marriage, and in 1997 established the Latin Ballet of Virginia.
She refers to herself and her company as "ambassadors of dance and culture," and has developed educational programs to teach students Spanish and English through dance and use dance as therapy for children with special needs.
The Scholar and Advocate
A member of the Monacan tribe, Karenne Wood spent most of her life working to understand and to share what being one of Virginia's native peoples meant. She began an effort to document and revive the Monacan language, and sat on the Monacan tribal council and served as tribal historian.
Wood edited The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail (2007)'s tribal histories and interpretive site descriptions, and curated the exhibition Beyond Jamestown: Virginia Indians Past and Present, at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Her work included coordinating the return of sacred artifacts to native communities through the Association on American Indian Affairs.
The Civic leader and Social Reformer
Ora Stokes was the daughter of a preacher in Chesterfield County who married another preacher and spent her life working to further the education of women and Black Americans.
A trained teacher by profession and a well-known community activist and suffragist, Stokes attended a segregated public school in Fredericksburg. She graduated from high school at age 13 and obtained her teaching degree from Virginia Normal and Collegiate institute (now Virginia State University).
Shortly after the ratification of the 19th Amendment in August 1920 allowing women to vote, Ora and her friend Maggie L. Walker led a voter registration drive for African American women in Richmond.
To view the entire featured list of noteworthy women of Virginia's history click the button below.
