Women’s History Month is celebrated in March every year in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia to honor the vital role of women in history. To commemorate this celebration, let’s take a look at the women who have paved the way for today’s generation, inspiring us to fight for equality.

Heroes of HeinOnline

There is not enough space here to highlight all the great women who have sacrificed and impacted our world, but let’s take a look at a select few and how you can research these women in HeinOnline.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

Susan B. Anthony was born into a Quaker family in 1820. Along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she traveled around the country delivering speeches in favor of women’s suffrage. They worked together for more than 50 years fighting for women’s rights and together they formed the National Woman Suffrage Association to push for a constitutional amendment to allow women the right to vote. In 1872, she was arrested for voting and fined $100 for her crime. Although she died prior to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, allowing women to vote, she began the movement and inspired activists to fight for equality. The Nineteenth Amendment has also been referred to as the “Anthony Amendment.”

To research Susan B. Anthony in HeinOnline, simply enter her name into the Full Text tab on the Welcome Page in HeinOnline.

Results include a multitude of documents pertaining to Susan B. Anthony, including articles, speeches, and books. Here are some examples:

• Address of Susan B. Anthony
• Case of Susan B. Anthony
• The Susan B. Anthony Amendment. Effect of Its Ratification on the Rights of the States to Regulate and Control Suffrage and Elections
• Rewriting History: The Trial of Susan B. Anthony

Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

Rosa Parks was born in 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She has been referred to as “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement” by the United States Congress. On December 1, 1955, during a time of racial segregation, Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in the “colored” section to a white passenger, as the “white” section was full. Eventually, two police officers approached the bus and placed Parks into custody. She was later fired from her job as a seamstress in a local department store and received death threats for years afterward. Although she was not the first person to be arrested, Parks’ act of defiance began the Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Martin Luther King Jr. This was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. The protest eventually ended a year later when the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed (352 U.S. 903) a District Court ruling in Browder v. Gayle that the Alabama and Montgomery laws that segregated buses were unconstitutional.

Let’s enter the Law Journal Library and see what has been written about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Using the Full Text tab, enter “Montgomery Bus Boycott” and click the search button. Using Hein’s ScholarCheck, Sort the results by Number of Times Cited by Articles. Relevant articles include:

• Race Consciousness
• Unanimity and Desegregation: Decisionmaking in the Supreme Court, 1948-1958
• Martin Luther King’s Constitution: A Legal History of Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Racism, Rights and the Quest for Equality of Opportunity: A Critical Legal Essay

Another useful ScholarCheck feature is the ability to view cited by articles. For example, let’s view the article Twenty Years of Critical Race Theory: Looking Back to Move Forward. Either from search results or from within the article, users can click on the ScholarCheck statistics. From here, users can view the cited by articles or cases. It also provides users with the number of times the article has been accessed in a rolling 12-month period by other HeinOnline users.

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)

Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York in 1797. She was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. In 1828, she escaped with her infant daughter to freedom, leaving her other children behind. After the New York Anti-Slavery law was passed, Truth learned that her son, Peter, had been sold illegally by her previous owner. In 1828 she took the issue to court and received her son back, becoming the first black women to win a court case against a white male. Deep in her faith, Truth believed God was urging her to make a difference. She began preaching about abolition and equal rights for all and is known for her “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech. Read a portion of the speech here.

Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law is a free database containing essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and English-speaking world. It contains articles, UNC Press Publications, statutes, cases, bibliographies, and much more. Read more about Sojourner Truth’s story, located in the book Unsung Heroes, found in this database.

Women and the Law (Peggy)

Although users can research historical women throughout several databases in HeinOnline, we also have one dedicated to the role of women in society and the law. Women and the Law (Peggy) is a unique collection of materials to assist users in researching the progression of women’s roles and rights in society over the past 200 years. Also included are more than 70 titles from Emory University Law School’s Feminism and Legal Theory Project, which provide a platform to view the effect of law and culture on the female gender.

Featuring:

Check out just a few titles in this database that spotlight notable women throughout history:

• Susan B. Anthony: The Woman Who Changed the Mind of a Nation
• Crusader and Feminist: Letters of Jane Grey Swisshelm
• America’s Twelve Great Women Leaders during the Past Hundred Years as Chosen by the Women of America
• Sarah and Angelina Grimke: The First American Women Advocates of Abolition and Woman’s Rights
• Noted Negro Women: Their Triumps and Activities

This database is dedicated to the memory of two significant women who had a critical role in the development of the library. First, Ilene N. Hein, who cofounded William S. Hein & Co., Inc., alongside her husband. Like most women from her generation, she was not fully recognized for her contributions. She set the highest standards for customer service and values that have become the cornerstone of Hein’s customer service.

Secondly, to Margaret (Peggy) Marmion, the mother of Hein’s CEO and grandmother of the President. She was an avid supporter of women’s rights, although most of her career she raised eight children and unselfishly put her own interests behind the needs of her family. Peggy was an inspiration for this database.

Not subscribed to the Women and the Law (Peggy) database? Contact your sales representative or Marketing at marketing@wshein.com to request a quote or trial.

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