By CAITLIN HOFEN, Student Reporter
March 8 is International Women’s Day, and many well-know women throughout history have called Oklahoma home. Here are five women from the Sooner State who left their mark on history and continue to be honored today.
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire was born in McAlester on March 28, 1955, with four children. McEntire’s parents raised her and her siblings on an 8,000-acre ranch in Chockie.
McEntire is an American country singer songwriter, and actress. Her music career began in high school when she and her siblings formed their own group, according to her website. They performed at rodeos, clubs, and dance halls.
During her sophomore year at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, McEntire sang the National Anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. Her performance impressed Red Steagall, a country artist himself. He offered to help her record some demos in Nashville, Tennessee, which led to McEntire signing a record deal.
McEntire finally had a breakthrough in the 1980s when she released two number one singles: “How Blue” and “Somebody Should Leave.” She has since recorded countless one-number hits and albums.
She continues to produce music and even tried her hand at acting in the 1990s and 2000s.
According to her website, McEntire is one of the most successful female recording artists in history. She has sold more than 56 million albums worldwide and is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.
She has won 15 American Music Awards, 13 ACM Awards, nine People’s Choice Awards, seven CMA awards, two Grammy Awards and an ACM Career Achievement Honor. She is one of only four entertainers in history to receive the National Artistic Achievement Award from the U.S. Congress.
Alice Mary Robertson
Alice Mary Robertson was born on Jan. 2, 1854, in the Tullahassee Mission in the Creek Nation Indian Territory, now in Oklahoma. As far back as her grandfather, her family was committed to assisting displaced Cherokee and Creek Native Americans, according to her biography on the website of the history of Congressional members.
Robertson was an American educator, social worker, government official and politician. She became the second woman to serve in the United States Congress and the first to do so from Oklahoma.
Robertson was the first woman to defeat an incumbent congressman. She was known for her strong personality, anti-feminist stance and commitment to Native American issues.
In her campaign for the 2nd District of Oklahoma as a Republican Representative to the 67th Congress, she talked about her reason for running for office.
“There are already more lawyers and bankers in Congress than are needed,” Robertson said. “The farmers need a farmer. I am a farmer. The women need a woman to look after their new responsibilities. The soldier boys need a proven friend. I promise few speeches, but faithful work. You can judge my past performances.”
Robertson narrowly beat the Democratic candidate, who was holding the office, by 228 votes out of nearly 5,000 cast.
In the 67th Congress (1921–1923), Robertson was appointed to the Committee on Indian Affairs. She also received assignments on the Committee on Expenditures in the Interior Department and on the Committee on Woman Suffrage, as she was the only woman in Congress at the time.
Robertson died on July 1, 1931, after devoting her life to missionary work.
Maria Tallchief
Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief was born January 24, 1925, in Fairfax. Her father was a member of the Osage Nation. From a young age, Tallchief loved to dance, which led her to move to New York at the age of 17.
Many companies discriminated against her because of her Native American ancestry, according to information from the National Women’s History Museum.
Rejection did not stop Tallchief, however. She continued working toward her goals and eventually became America’s first prima ballerina. She was the first Native American to hold that title.
As her career began to take off, many tried to persuade Tallchief to change her last name so that dance companies would not discriminate against her. She refused and continued to perform as Maria Tallchief.
In 1947, she became the first American to dance with the Paris Opera. One of Tallchief’s best-known roles was as the sugar plum fairy in “The Nutcracker.” She also performed at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow in 1960, making her the first American to do so.
After she retired from dancing, Tallchief and her sister opened the Chicago City Ballet, a ballet school and dance company.
Never forgetting her Native American ancestry, she spoke out against injustices and discrimination, according to information from the National Women’s History Museum.
As a prima ballerina, Tallchief not only broke barriers for Native Americans, but also became one of the only Americans recognized in European ballet companies.
In December 2012, Tallchief broke her hip. She died on April 11, 2013, from complications of the injury.
Shannon Lucid
Shannon Lucid was born in Shanghai, China. When Lucid was 6, her family decided to leave China because of rising communistic power. They settled in Bethany, Oklahoma, and Lucid graduated from Bethany High School in 1960, according to her biography. She attended the University of Oklahoma, obtaining her bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1963, her master’s degree in biochemistry in 1970 and her Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1973.
She worked with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City until her 1978 selection as one of the first six women to train as astronaut candidates for flights aboard a space shuttle.
Lucid first flew aboard the space shuttle in 1985 on a mission that deployed three communication satellites. She flew on three more space shuttle missions in 1989, 1991 and 1993.
In 1996, Lucid rode the shuttle to the Russian space station Mir, where she spent 188 days, a record for the longest-duration spaceflight by any U.S. astronaut at the time. In all, Lucid spent a total of 223 days in space, a record for the most time spent in space by a woman.
In 2002, Lucid was named chief scientist of NASA, where she was responsible for overseeing the scientific quality of all NASA programs and for external communication of NASA’s research objectives. She held that position until 2003, when she returned to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. She retired from NASA in 2012.
Wilma Mankiller
Wilma Mankiller was born on November 18, 1945, in Tahlequah. The sixth of 11 children, Mankiller’s family relocated to the bay area of California when she was 11.
Mankiller is often remembered as the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Inspired by the social and political movements of the 1960s, Mankiller became involved in the Occupation of Alcatraz and later participated in the land and compensation struggles with the Pit River Tribe, according to the National Women’s History Museum.
Returning to Oklahoma in the fall of 1976, Mankiller was hired by the Cherokee Nation as an economic stimulus coordinator.
With expertise at preparing documentation, she became a successful grant writer, according to the National Women’s History Museum. By the early 1980s, Mankiller was directing the Community Development Department of the Cherokee Nation.
Mankiller became deputy principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1983 because of her reputation as a community leader, according to the National Women’s History Museum. When the principal chief resigned in 1985, Mankiller became the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, the second largest tribe in the United States.
After a lifetime of activism, Mankiller died in 2010 of pancreatic cancer.