The Junior League Celebrates Women’s History Month with 31 Days of Tweets

PRLog (Press Release) - Mar. 4, 2013 - New York  – What did Margaret Hamilton, the character actress who memorably played the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 movie classic The Wizard of Oz, have in common do with Eudora Welty, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and chronicler of the American South? They were both Junior League members.

Susan Danish, Executive Director of The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (http://www.ajli.org/), said, “Over more than 11 decades, Junior League members have included a wide range of remarkable women, many of whom made a difference in public careers as varied as politics, public service, the arts and philanthropy. It is our pleasure to remember the accomplishments of these women during Women's History Month with a ‘Tweet-a-day’ highlighting what our Leagues as well individual members have done.”

Simply follow The Junior League on Twitter (https://twitter.com/juniorleague) and look for tweets that include the official Women’s History Month hashtag, “wmnhist.” And find the full stories behind our Women’s History Month tweets in our online magazine, connected (http://connected.ajli.org/category/blog/).

Here is the full list of AJLI’s Tweets for Women’s History Month:

1.      Add @jlpamp volunteer to child actress, UN delegate & US Ambassador, Shirley Temple Black’s accomplishments

2.      @JuniorLeague volunteer, Margaret Chase Smith, was 1st woman to have served in both the House & Senate

3.      @JLBrooklyn petitions Board of Education to provide free meals in schools, setting model for Nat’l School Lunch Program

4.      1st woman on the US Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor was once President of @juniorleaguephx

5.      Eleanor Roosevelt began her path to humanitarian work as a @JuniorLeague volunteer

6.      What else do Former First Ladies & literacy advocates, Barbara & Laura Bush have in common? @JuniorLeague membership  

7.      1st Commanding Officer of WWII Women’s Army Corps, Oveta Culp Hobby, was also a @JLHoustonInc member

8.      Before winning a Pulitzer Prize, Eudora Welty’s works appeared in @JLJacksonMS volunteer news magazine

9.      Among Congresswoman & @Junior League member, Ruth Baker Pratt’s accomplishments: co-sponsoring Books for the Blind act

10.  Did you know, the @juniorleaguestl was founded to support women’s suffrage?

11.  Before becoming Plano, TX’s longest serving female mayor, Pat Evans was a @JLPlano volunteer

12.  1st woman mayor of Orlando, Glenda Hood, began her road to public service as a @JLGOrlando volunteer

13.  Among members honored by @JLLos Angeles for a lifetime of community service - Former First Lady, Nancy Reagan  

14.  North Carolina Senator, Kay Hagan, credits @JLGreensboro experience for preparing her for politics

15.  Friend of @JuniorLeague founder, Mary Harriman, Dorothy Whitney Straight was the group’s 1st president

16.  The bill establishing a Nat’l Women's History Museum was drafted by Congresswoman & NY @JuniorLeague member, Carolyn Maloney

17.  .@JuniorLeagueMKE ‘s Catherine Cleary was the 1st woman to serve as director of General Motors & AT&T  

18.  Equal Rights Amendment supporter & First Lady, Betty Ford was a @JuniorLeague of Grand Rapids volunteer

19.  Ohio’s first Congresswoman, Frances P. Bolton, was also a @JLCleveland volunteer  

20.  Credit a @JuniorLeague of Toledo documentary with leading to passage of local clean water laws in #Ohio

21.  1st female mayor of Phoenix, Margaret Hance, was also a @juniorleaguephx volunteer & president

22.  Actress Margaret Hamilton, The Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West, got her acting start as a @JLCleveland volunteer

23.  Bet you didn’t know Oscar-winning actress & daughter of a suffragette, Katharine Hepburn, was a @JLofHartford member  

24.  .@JLAustinOrg member, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, was the first woman mayor of #Austin

25.  .@JuniorLeague was among the many women’s groups that lobbied for passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994  

26.  Mary Harriman Rumsey, @JuniorLeague founder, was also chair of 1st consumer rights board in the US

27.  Civic leader, Doris Matsui has served her community as a @ JrLeagueSac volunteer & US Congresswoman

28.  Louisiana State Senator & former 1st woman mayor of Lake Charles, Willie Mount, is a @JuniorLeague member

29.  Before educational TV programs like Sesame Street, #JuniorLeagues created local educational programming

30.  Long before she mastered the art of French cooking, Julia Child worked with kids as an @MyJLP volunteer

31.  .@JLNashville volunteer, Cornelia Fort was the 1st woman to die on active military duty in service to the US

About The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.

Founded in 1901 by New Yorker and social activism pioneer, Mary Harriman, the Junior Leagues are charitable nonprofit organizations of women, developed as civic leaders, creating demonstrable community impact.

Today, The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. (AJLI) is comprised of more than 155,000 women in 293 Junior Leagues throughout Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, they constitute one of the largest, most effective volunteer organizations in the world.

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