This month, America celebrates girl power.

Politics aside, while there is still plenty of progress to be made, I think we can all agree that there has never been a better time to be a woman in this country. Since this country was founded, millions of strong, independent women have worked for equality and empowerment, and their hard work has steadily paid off. As March is Women’s History Month, this month we commemorate those efforts and use them as fuel to continue moving forward.

As we celebrate women making history today, it is important to reflect on women who came before us, who blazed the trails and laid the foundation that we walk on today, so that we could build on their momentum and continue making progress.

Throughout history, our communities have been filled with powerful women who have made Michiana proud.

One of my favorite local women’s history stories is that of Lottie Wilson, an artist famous for the painting, “President Lincoln with a Former Slave,” which depicts Abraham Lincoln meeting former slave-turned-activist Sojourner Truth. Wilson, of Niles, was invited to present the painting to President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, and for a long time after that presentation, the Niles artist’s work hung in the White House, reminding those who saw it of this important meeting.

Wilson, an African American, used her artwork and her passion for equality not only to fight for African American rights, but also for women’s rights. She would be so happy to know that today, we set aside entire months to educate our country about Black History and Women’s History.

Other notable women who made a splash nationally include Lillian Luckey, of Niles, and Peggy Cramer, of Buchanan. Both women were part of the movement that began celebrating female athletes in the 1940s and ‘50s. Both women played baseball in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and played for the South Bend Blue Sox.

Luckey, played on the team in its 1946 season — three years after the league was introduced. She was 27 years old. At 5 feet 1 inch, she pitched eight games for the Blue Sox. 

Cramer was only 16 years old when she played for the same team in 1954. She was a catcher, and was also petite, standing at 5 feet 4 inches.

Though the league folded in 1954, in 1988, both women became part of a permanent display celebrating female athletes at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Judith Ivey, a former Dowagiac Union High School student, received two Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performances in “Steaming” in 1981 and “Hurlyburly” in 1984. She was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her role in “What the Deaf Man Heard,” a movie released in 1997.

Ivey attended Union High from 1965 to 1968, through 10th grade.

There are scores of other women to be celebrated in the region, both in the past and in the present — many women who have broken through barriers, some who have found fame, and countless who have quietly and humbly worked to make life better for the next generation.

These women should be celebrated all year long, but this month, we look forward to giving them their time to shine.