What do postal problems and computer science awards have in common?
Women. Read on to hear about these amazing women of history.
Our team was on a creative collaboration call this month, and we ended up teasing CardCraft's Founder and C.E.O. about how CardCraft is his baby. We welcomed Damola into the motherhood club. Damola smiled, laughed, and good-naturedly put up with the team's ribbing while grinning. He then told us a beautiful story about his mother supporting his past and future endeavors. Often, just by being willing to be together.
This story is the perfect beginning for our creative team's meeting for March and Women's History Month. The majority of our team currently is composed of women, and CardCraft is a company that loves celebrating women.
March is Women's History Month, and we wanted to share a few inspiring stories of how women have shaped and changed the path of history. So let's be inspired by a few of those together.
6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (Women's Army Corps)
The women of the "Six Triple Eight" division of Women's Auxiliary Army Corp took on the massive task of dealing with warehouses stacked to the roof with backed-up mail.
While they were living in unheated buildings and rat-infested workspaces, these women tackled creating a system of organization and tracking despite the world's chaos at the time.
They tracked down soldiers that were often on the move, returned mail to the family of deceased soldiers, and within one shift, they could process 65,000 pieces of mail. In addition, the creation of their system enabled the clearing of the "undeliverable mail" warehouses within six months of their arrival.
These women knew that "no mail, low morale" would directly impact the communication and mental health of the world amid the chaos of war.
These amazing women engineered success and efficiently solved the mail delivery problem in the European theater. You can learn more about these amazing women here.
Bessie Coleman (Pilot)
"Queen Bess," as she was nicknamed, skyrocketed to fame on June 15th, 1921, when she became the African American and Native American female pilot. In 1922, she was the first female African American to perform a public flight. However, she refused to stop there; her dream was to purchase a plane and open a flight school.
Along this journey to her dreams, she spoke at many events refusing to speak where any segregation was present. Unfortunately, an airplane-related accident ended her career early. In 1977, the Bessie Coleman Aviators Club was founded in honor of this inspirational historical woman.
Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (Computer Scientist)
After being rejected in her attempts to join the Navy during World War II, Grace received a leave of absence from Vassar and joined W.A.V.E.S. (Women Accepted For Volunteer Emergency Service).
After graduating top of her class from Smith college, Grace was assigned a position in the Bureau of Ships, working on the Computation Project.
After turning down a full scholarship from Vassar to remain on research projects, Grace eventually joined Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation as a senior mathematician.
Upon suggesting creating a computer program made of all English words, Grace was told, "Computers don't know English." However, she persisted, understanding that data processors should write in English, and computers should translate English into symbols. Her pioneering in the world of computer programming still affects us today.
Her persistence paid off. During her lifetime, a college at Yale was renamed in her honor, and she won 40 honor degrees and even the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
We have enjoyed this very brief tour of the women of history. However, we could spend a lifetime studying the lives of courageous women that have lived lives that created stepping stones for our lives today. That’s why we created our International Women's Day collection of cards and postcards.
What are your favorite women in history? Share this post on social media, and tag us with your answers.