The recent movie The Post, which features Meryl Streep as publisher Katharine Graham of The Washington Post, reminds us that women excel in every field of endeavor. Without preparation or experience, Graham was thrust into that role and succeeded. Other women have also succeeded as publishers; a few are profiled in the following paragraphs. Match the woman with her accomplishment:
_____ 1. When named CEO of The Washington Post, she became the first female CEO in the Fortune 500.
_____ 2. She published the first copy of the Declaration of Independence that included the names of all the signers.
_____ 3. The weekly newspaper she and her sister founded primarily supported her run for President in 1872.
_____ 4. Co-founder of Reader’s Digest which grew from a circulation of 5,000 to 30 million over her lifetime.
_____ 5. She published a weekly newspaper starting in 1855 that employed women in every position and paid them the same wages as men.
A. Mary Katherine Goddard
B. Anne Elizabeth McDowell
C. Victoria Woodhull
D. Lila Wallace
E. Katharine Meyer Graham
Printer and newspaper publisher Mary Katherine Goddard was appointed postmaster of Baltimore in 1775, probably the first woman in the colonies to hold such a position. In 1777, she published the first printed copy of the Declaration of Independence that included the names of all of the signers. She later issued an almanac in her own name and operated a bookstore. Goddard held the position of postmaster until 1789 when she was replaced by a man, against her will and against the will of the populace, so that he could do the traveling that by the mores of the time women “could not manage.” Goddard has been inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame.
Anne Elizabeth McDowell published a weekly Philadelphia newspaper, the Women’s Advocate, starting in 1855. The newspaper was wholly operated by woman – where women did every job from typesetting to printing and were paid the same wages as men. This was completely unprecedented for the time. After it went out of business, McDowell became the editor of the women’s department at the Sunday Despatch (also completely unusual for a woman of the time). After eleven years, she became the editor of Philadelphia’s Sunday Republic. Later in her life, she established the McDowell Free Library for the women who worked at Wanamaker’s (department store).
In 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to run for President of the United States. With her sister, she was the first woman to establish a Wall Street brokerage firm and among the first women to found a newspaper in the U.S. Woodhull, Claflin & Company opened on Wall Street in 1870. Also in 1870, the sisters founded Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly which was published for six years primarily to support Woodhull’s presidential candidacy. With a circulation of about 20,000, the newspaper promoted many controversial topics of the time including women’s suffrage and short skirts. Woodhull has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Co-founder and longtime co-chairman of Reader’s Digest, Lila Wallace was a magazine publisher and philanthropist. The first issue of what became an American institution, Reader’s Digest, was published in 1922 with 5,000 copies. At the time of her death in 1984, the magazine was published in 17 languages across 41 editions with a total circulation worldwide of 30 million. Wallace focused her attention on the business and her philanthropy which included multimillion dollar gifts to cultural and arts organizations. In 1972, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon.
When Katharine Meyer Graham’s husband succeeded her father as publisher of The Washington Post, it didn’t occur to her that the mantle should have been transferred to her instead – it was a different era than today. After her husband’s suicide, she did assume that mantle becoming publisher, president, and chairwoman of the board. Upon her ascension to CEO, Graham became the first female CEO in the Fortune 500. Without female role models, but eventually with the momentum from women’s movement, Graham became an advocate for gender equity. Graham has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Learn about more she-roes and celebrate amazing women. These women who were publishers are among the more than 850 women profiled in the book Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America. I am proud to tell women’s stories and write women back into history. I stand on their shoulders.
(Answers: 1-E, 2-A, 3-C, 4-D, 5-B)