1137: King Louis VI of France (Louis the Fat) died, succeeded by his son Louis VII -- making Eleanor of Aquitaine Queen of France just weeks after her marriage and a few months after she became duchess of Aquitaine and countess of Poitou upon her father's death.
1785: Caroline Herschel discovered a comet -- the first woman known to have done so
1818: Maria Mitchell born (astronomer)
1837: Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones) born (she claimed May 1, 1830 as her birthday)
1877: Angela Diller born (musican, educator)
1878: Eva Tanguay born (entertainer)
1886: Evelyn Walsh McLean born (heiress, hostess, owner of the Star of the East and Hope diamonds)
1903: Calamity Jane, sharpshooter and frontierswoman, died in poverty in Deadwood
1911: Harriet Quimby became the first woman in the United States and second woman in the world to obtain a pilot's license
Quote for Today
I saw at once that I had only to rise in my machine, fix my eyes upon the castle, fly over it and speed directly across to the French coast. It seemed so easy that it looked like a cross-country flight. I am glad I thought so and felt so, otherwise I might have had more hesitation about flying in the fog with an untried compass, in a new and untried machine, knowing that the treacherous North Sea stood ready to receive me if I drifted only five miles too far out of my course. -- Harriet Quimby
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This Day in Women's History Calendar © 1999-2007 Jone Johnson Lewis.
