by Leigh Ann Gardner (Senior Grants Manager)
March is Women’s History Month, and you can learn more about this here.
March 6: Alice Woodby McKane, the first African American female doctor in Savannah, Georgia and the operator of hospitals in Liberia and Savannah, died on March 6, 1948. Born in 1865 in Bridgewater, Pennsylvania, McKane lost both of her parents by the age of 7. She received her baccalaureate degree from the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, and completed her medical training at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Following her graduation, she moved to Augusta, Georgia, where she was a resident physician and nursing instructor at the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute as well as being the only female African American physician in Georgia. She met Dr. Cornelius McKane, an African American physician from Savannah, and they married in 1893. Following their marriage, they moved to Savannah and opened a nursing training school, the McKane Training School for Nurses. In 1895, the U.S. government appointed Alice McKane as the medical examiner for African American Civil War veterans living in Liberia; however, the stay in Liberia was cut short by illness, and the McKanes returned to Savannah by February 1896. They reopened their nursing school and also established a hospital, the McKane Hospital (later known as Charity Hospital). Following a move to Boston in 1909, Alice McKane was active in the NAACP, worked in the woman’s suffrage movement, and was a published author. You can learn more about her life here and here.
March 8: Josephine Cochrane, inventor of the first commercially successful dishwashing machine, was born on March 8, 1839, in Ohio. She did not receive a formal, scientific education, and married William Cochrane, a successful merchant, in 1858. Following her marriage, she entertained frequently. When some of her dishes were chipped following a party and disliking washing dishes, she decided to design a better way of washing dishes. Soon after she came up with a design, her husband died, and she threw all her energy into her idea. By 1886, she had patented her design and began making her machine, which she called the “Cochrane Dishwasher.” She advertised in local newspapers, and started a company, Cochran’s Crescent Washing Machine Company. In 1893, she won an award at the World’s Fair in Chicago for the design and durability of her dishwasher. Her dishwashers largely sold to businesses, and she focused her marketing to hotels, hospitals, and colleges. Her company eventually became part of KitchenAid, and Cochrane herself died in 1913. You can learn more about her life and invention here.
March 16: Caroline Herschel, the first woman to receive a salary as a scientist in England and noted astronomer, was born on March 16, 1750, in Hanover, Germany. In her early 20s, she moved to Bath, England, where her brother, William Herschel, was an organist. She spent several years working as a soloist. Her brother, William, became increasingly interested in astronomy, eventually ending his musical career after discovering the planet, Uranus, in 1781. In 1782, William became the private astronomer for King George III, and Caroline lived with her brother, acting as his housekeeper and astronomical assistant. She learned how to grind and polish the mirrors for telescopes and also learned how to do the calculations for William’s observations. In 1787, King George III began paying Caroline a salary to act as William’s assistant, making her one of the first paid female scientists. She discovered a comet in 1788 and worked tirelessly cataloging stars and nebula. She published some of her findings with the Royal Society in the 1790s. After the death of her brother in 1822, she returned to Hanover and continued her astronomical work, focusing specifically on updating the catalog of nebulae. In 1828, the Astronomical Society awarded her a gold medal for her research. You can learn more about her life here.
March 27: On March 27, 2020, Tunisia released a banknote with the image of Dr. Tawhida Ben Cheikh, which was the world’s first banknote to feature a female doctor. Born on January 2, 1909, in Tunis, she pursued an education with the full support of her mother, and attended medical school in Paris, France, where she graduated in 1936. Following graduation, she returned to Tunis and opened a medical practice specializing in women’s and children’s healthcare. She worked on advancing reproductive health care and rights for women and became the first director of the National Family Council in 1970. She also established the first family planning clinic in Tunisia and co-founded the Tunisian Family Planning Association. Additionally, became head of maternity department at the Charles-Nicolle Hospital in Tunis in 1955, and also established Leila, the first French-language magazine for women in Tunisia. She died in 2010, and you can learn more about her life here.