From the Stacks: Pre-1972 Women’s History Quiz

Can you name 10 women who have made important contributions to American history and development? (No presidents’ wives, writers or singers–and no one living today.)

If this was difficult, try naming 10 men. Easy?

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ve gone back into the archives and found this delightful quiz originally printed in the September 1972 issue of Ms., written by Gerda Lerner.

Try your hand at feminist history with these 18 questions. Whether you know the answers or not, they may be a pleasant surprise.

1. Which one of the following statements is false?

Elizabeth Cady Stanton raised the demand for woman suffrage as early as 1848.
She wrote a Woman's Bible to disprove what she considered distortions and misinterpretations in the Bible.
She married late, was childless, and lived for many years with a younger sister.
She edited a journal called "The Revolution."
She was the leading theorist of the Women's Rights Movement for over 50 years.

2. Name the women's organization about which all the following statements are true:

1. In the 1890s the organization had over 200,000 adult and nearly as many juvenile members organized in 10,000 local groups in all states.
2. It worked for industrial and reform schools for delinquent girls; adult education for working girls; the employment of policewomen; the installation of drinking fountains in public places; and world peace through international arbitration.
3. It was a training ground for female leadership and prepared tens of thousands of women to work actively for woman suffrage.
4. It opposed corrupt politicians, the liquor interests, brothel keepers, and warmongers.

The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
National Organization for Women (NOW)
Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF)

3. Who was the first woman to brave the censure, contempt, and ridicule of her contemporaries by lecturing in public to "mixed audiences?"

Frances Wright
Jane Addams

4. Who developed, produced, and marketed the agricultural product that became the second largest export crop of several Southern colonies before the development of cotton?

Gerda Lerner
Eliza Lucas Pinckney

5. Which one of the statements below is not true?

Dorothea Dix revolutionized the care of the mentally ill, mentally handicapped, and physically handicapped in the U.S.
During the Civil War, she organized and supervised the nursing services for the Union armies, holding the title of Superintendent of Nurses.
She designed an improved lifeboat.
After three years of intensive lobbying, she succeeded in securing passage of a bill to finance out of federal land grants the building of mental institutions in every state.
By the time of her death, she had founded 35 mental hospitals and 15 training schools for the retarded, helped to elevate nursing to a profession, and secured significant improvements in the care of the mentally ill.

6. Name the woman about whom all the statements below are true:

1. As proprietors of a large manorial estate in colonial Maryland, she and her sister held the rights of a "court-baron" -- to conduct business, hold trials, and sign contracts.
2. She acted as attorney for her relatives and neighbors, her name appearing 124 times in the court records between 1642 and 1650.
3. She was named the sole executrix of the will of the deceased Governor of Maryland, Lord Calvert.
4. On January 21, 1648, she appeared before the Assembly of Maryland and demanded the right to cast two votes -- one for herself, one as attorney for Lord Calvert. When this demand was denied, she demanded that all proceedings of that Council be held invalid.

Mary Lyon
Mistress Margaret Brent

7. Which one of the following statements is false?

Women organized and developed the nursing services during the Civil War.
Women staffed most of the nation's elementary schools and introduced and developed the kindergarten system in the United States.
Women organized petition campaigns, involving tens of thousands of volunteer workers, on such issues as abolition of slaver, woman suffrage, an end to child labor, prohibition, and consumer protection laws
To win woman suffrage, women ran 56 referendum campaigns; 804 campaigns in the states; 19 campaigns in 19 consecutive Congresses--an organizational effort carried through for a period of 52 years.
After they won the vote, women organized a bloc of women voters to pass legislation on women's issues.

8. Serving as a scout for the Union Army, this woman was in command of men behind the enemy lines. Her most spectacular exploit was on the Combahee River, when she piloted a scouting party up the river, lifting torpedoes and rescuing 756 slaves. Who was she?

Harriet Tubman
Sojourner Truth
Maya Angelou

9. It is frequently asserted that women control the economy. Which of the following statements is true? (in 1972)

The majority of stockholders are women.
Women control more wealth in this country than men do.
The law requires equal pay for equal work; therefore, the average woman wage earner makes as much as the average man.

10. What institution did Mary Lyon found?

the New York Infirmary for Women
Bethune-Cookman University
Mount Holyoke College
Church of Christ, Scientist

11. Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D. founded which organization?

Bethune-Cookman University
Mount Holyoke College
New York Infirmary for Women
Church of Christ, Scientist

12. Mary McLeod Bethune founded which organization?

Bethune-Cookman University
Church of Christ, Scientist
New York Infirmary for Women
Mount Holyoke College

13. Which organization did Mary Baker Eddy found?

New York Infirmary for Women
Mount Holyoke College
Bethune-Cookman University
Church of Christ, Scientist

14. Who pioneered in the lifesaving operation on "blue babies?"

Maria Mitchell
Dr. Helen Taussig
Lise Meitner
Dr. Alice Hamilton
Jeannette Rankin

15. Who contributed to the development of nuclear fission and the atom bomb?

Maria Mitchell
Dr. Helen Taussig
Lise Meitner
Dr. Alice Hamilton
Jeannette Rankin

16. Who discovered a comet that bears her name and became the first woman member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1850?

Maria Mitchell
Dr. Helen Taussig
Lise Meitner
Dr. Alice Hamilton
Jeannette Rankin

17. Who was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress?

Maria Mitchell
Dr. Helen Taussig
Lise Meitner
Dr. Alice Hamilton
Jeannette Rankin

18. Who pioneered in health protection for workers and became the first woman on the faculty of Harvard University?

Maria Mitchell
Dr. Helen Taussig
Lise Meitner
Dr. Alice Hamilton
Jeannette Rankin

Let’s just say if you get more than 9 right, you’re a feminist genius. Click the thumbnail to the left to see the original answer sheet.

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