JANUARY 21: TODAY'S INSPIRING WOMEN

Agnes Mongan

Agnes Mongan was an American art historian, who served as a curator and director for the Harvard Art Museums. She was the first woman to direct a major art museum in the United States. Agnes was born today in 1905.

Myrlie Evers-Williams

In 2013, Myrlie Evers-Williams became the first woman and first layperson to deliver the invocation (at Barack Obama’s second inauguration).  She is an American civil rights activist of the Civil Rights Movement and journalist who worked for over three decades to seek justice for the murder of her civil rights activist husband Medgar Evers in 1963. She was also chairwoman of the NAACP.

Originally planned as “The Women’s March on Washington,” this march in 2017 quickly became a worldwide protest, calling for legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, especially women’s rights, but also immigration reform, healthcare reform, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, and workers’ rights.

Deeper Dive

Watch Myrlie Evers-WIlliams' invocation at Barack Obama's second inauguration: