The Week in History, March 1st – 7th

Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.¹

“A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human space flight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women.”²

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“It doesn’t matter what country or what political system you are from. Space brings you together.”²

— Valentina Tereshkova

Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space was born in Russia this week in 1937³

Her father was listed MIA in WWII, leaving her and her two siblings to be raised by their mother. Tereshkova left school at 16 to labor as a textile worker, helping her family to make ends meet while continuing to learn through correspondence courses. ⁴  During this time she became interested in learning to skydive, making her first jump at age 22 and helping to form the Textile Workers Parachute Club. ⁵ Inspired by the flight of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, she wrote to the authorities and volunteered to join the Soviet space program. ⁶

With over 90 parachute jumps to her record she was one of five women who were selected from over 400 applicants to be a part of the program. ⁶

In June of 1963, the 26 year old “Seagull”, as she was known by her radio call-sign, was launched into space. ⁷

She orbited the Earth 48 times in Vostok 6, living nearly 3 days in orbit. Although not trained as a pilot, she became aware that her capsule was in the wrong position as she neared the time of re-entry. She realized that if the retro rockets that were meant to return her to earth fired, she would be launched into a higher orbit and her death. ⁵

She notified ground control of the problem, who at first did not believe her. After double checking their settings, they radioed her the course corrections that she entered manually. The original ground control error was not publicized and was covered up for many years. ⁸

Upon re-entry, as was customary for that time, she had to exit the capsule while it dropped to earth, deploying her parachute for a windy, rough landing that left her bruised.

Since her flight in 1963 she remains the only woman to fly a solo mission into space.

Find out more about her struggles and triumphs by reading the online book, Valentina Tereshkova, which may be checked out from the Clark College Libraries.

“If you can be the best, then why not try to be the best?” 

— Garrett Morgan⁹

Answering a late night call for help, inventor Garrett Morgan and his brother Frank arrived at the scene of what would become known as the 1916 waterworks tunnel disaster. There had been an explosion, due to natural gas that had entered the tunnel from the floor of Lake Erie and somehow ignited. ¹¹  The disaster would eventually claim the lives of 20 men.

Morgan brought with him his recent invention, a safety smoke hood, an early prototype of a gas mask.¹²

The tunnel was full of toxic smoke. Morgan, still in his pajamas, his brother Frank, and two other skeptical volunteers donned their smoke hoods and entered the tunnel. Inside they found and pulled out two survivors who had been overcome by gas fumes from the first rescue attempt.

Morgan went into the tunnel to rescue survivors four times. While the smoke hood functioned well enough to make the rescues, it didn’t completely eliminate the fumes and Morgan’s personal health was effected for years to come.

Although he saved lives, the local press in Cleveland, Ohio would not acknowledge his effort. When word of his invention and it’s successful use was publicized, fire departments across the country placed orders for his product. But they canceled their orders when they discovered he was a Black man.¹³

Garret Morgan was an entrepreneur who invented other products as well. Find out more about him and other black inventors by checking out, Created equal : the lives and ideas of Black American innovators which can be found in Cannell library’s General collection at E185.96 .B835 1993

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”

–William Shakespeare¹⁴

This week in 1887 the first woman to hold the office of Mayor was elected in Argonia, Kansas.

Ms. Salter, the hard working 27 year old mother of five, had not sought the office of Mayor, in fact, until the morning of the election she didn’t even know she had been nominated for the position.

A group of men wanted to sabotage the efforts of the newly formed Temperance Union and so they met in secret to devise a plan to keep women out of local politics.¹⁵

They thought if a woman was on the ballot, she would receive so few votes that it would be a public embarrassment.  Word of the plan got out however, and she received a two-thirds majority vote. Ms. Salter was the only woman eligible for the office at the time, and although she didn’t want the job, she accepted it and performed her duties so well that journalists across the country took notice and began to report about her achievement. Public sentiment about women in office began to shift from negative to positive,¹⁶ as the original plan to embarrass women in politics backfired. Ms. Salter served only one term, but her election, which began as a prank, was historic. She eventually became the mother of nine children and lived to be 101.

Read more about American women in politics by visiting the Cannell Library Reference section where you can find, Women in the American political system : an encyclopedia of women as voters, candidates, and office holders  at HQ1236.5.U6 W664 2019

¹ https://www.flickr.com/photos/98701585@N02/9257521789
² https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/valentina-tereshkova-quotes
³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova
⁴ https://www.biography.com/astronaut/valentina-tereshkova
⁵ http://www.astronautix.com/t/tereshkova.html
⁶ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/74011/first-woman-space-valentina-tereshkova
⁷ https://www.rt.com/news/379550-tereshkova-facts-80-anniversary/
⁸https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_history/50_years_of_humans_in_space/First_woman_in_space_Valentina
⁹ https://www.thoughtco.com/garrett-morgan-profile-1992160
¹⁰ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:African_American-Black_Innovations_…_where_would_we_be_without_them%3F_140211-M-TJ398-001.jpg
¹¹ https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/736
¹² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrett_Morgan
¹³ https://www.thoughtco.com/garrett-morgan-profile-1992160
¹⁴ https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/william_shakespeare_101484
¹⁵ ://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Susanna_Madora_Salter.jpg
¹⁶://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-susanna-madora-salter/13106