This Day…

July 2, 1934 – front-page headlines across the nation, including the Chicago Daily Tribune, carried dramatic accounts of the South Bend bank robbery and John Dillinger’s ruthless escape from pursuing officers. The brazen holdup intensified the nationwide manhunt already underway and placed even greater pressure on the newly empowered Justice Department Bureau of Investigation to capture the man they had declared America’s Public Enemy No. 1.

1880 – Birth of Helen Keller in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She became the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree and spent her life as a fierce advocate for disability rights, women’s suffrage, and labor rights. Her life is commemorated globally on this date as Helen Keller Day.

1916 – Hollywood icon Mary Pickford became the first female film star in history to secure a million-dollar contract.

1917 – Suffragists Lucy Burns and Katherine Morey were arrested in Washington, D.C., marking the first time members of the National Women’s Party were detained while picketing the White House for voting rights.

On June 20, 1921 – Rep. Alice Robertson of Oklahoma made history by becoming the first woman to chair a session of the United States House of Representatives. A fierce advocate for veterans and marginalized groups, she was only the second woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress

1928 – Amelia Earhart embarked on her historic trans-Atlantic flight, landing in Wales after about 21 hours in the air. While pilot Wilmer Stultz handled the flying, Earhart kept the flight logs, paving the way for her solo flight across the Atlantic four years later.

1833 – (Birth of a Spy): Birth of Pauline Cushman, an actress who became a celebrated Union spy during the Civil War.

1920 – 125 National Woman’s Party members surrounded the Chicago Coliseum to picket the Republican National Convention, demanding the 36th state ratification of the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. [1]

1920 – Protesting the GOP: According to ⁠Ms. Magazine, Alice Paul announced plans for National Woman’s Party members to picket the Republican National Convention in Chicago with large banners, continuing their advocacy for the 19th Amendment.

1907 – Birth of Dorothy West: A prominent writer and novelist of the Harlem Renaissance.