Schools Add Drama to Women’s History Month

She was shunned by medical schools, rejected by colleagues and turned away by hospitals. But Elizabeth Blackwell persevered to become the nation’s first woman physician, respected and renowned by the time she died at 89 in 1910.

Blackwell is one of five famous women in history now being portrayed in schools around Ventura County throughout March to commemorate Women’s History Month.

“By sheer determination, I had become a good doctor . . . and in the process, I opened the doors for all the women who came after me,” said 11-year-old Christina Cochran, who portrayed Blackwell for kindergarten students at Brookside Elementary School in Oak Park on Wednesday.

Her audience, many squirming and shifting on the floor before her, quizzed Christina about her portrayal as well as the history.

“Are you a grown-up?” asked Christopher Pigozzi, 5. “Did Elizabeth Blackwell wear those clothes? Did you fix people who were dying?”

The presentation was one of hundreds this month, including some in San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles counties, to use scripts written and distributed by the Conejo Valley chapter of the American Assn. of University Women.

Since 1985, the Conejo Valley AAUW has written five scripts each year and distributed them to school districts, complete with tips on costumes and presentation. In addition, the AAUW has just published its second volume of scripts, which has been distributed nationally.

Other women portrayed this year at Brookside and other schools include Dolores Huerta, a political activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union; Maya Lin, the artist who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of America; and C. J. Walker, daughter of former slaves who became a businesswoman and the first woman millionaire in the country.

Conejo Valley AAUW volunteers portrayed the five women for an assembly of 200 at the California Youth Authority prison in Camarillo on Wednesday.

“As much or more than other kids, these kids need to know about role models and see history come alive,” said Paula Osterbrink, AAUW co-chairwoman of this year’s program. “It’s important that they see the accomplishments that women of color have made and see them portrayed in a positive way, especially since these women tend not to be in the history books.”

A similar program is underway in the Ojai Valley, where 21 parent volunteers--with the help of Suzanne Lawrence, a docent at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art--have written scripts of their own. They are portraying local and national women in history at Mira Monte and Meiners Oaks elementary schools, including Ventura pioneer Molly Donlon, Ojai pioneer Clara Smith, First Lady Hillary Clinton and animal behaviorist Jane Goodall.

The AAUW program began after Sandy Hindy, now a teacher at Brookside, picked up her then-second-grade daughter from school after she had fallen and hurt her arm. Once they had seen the doctor, Stacey Hindy said she would like to be a nurse, “because only men can be doctors,” her mother recalled.

Hindy went home to look up the first woman doctor and offered to portray Blackwell and other famous women at her daughter’s school. The program took off, growing in scope and volunteers each year.

Stacey is now a senior at Westlake High School and one of only 24 students enrolled in the school’s advanced anatomy class.

“She wants to be a doctor,” her mother said.

Although a core group of adult AAUW members still performs for many schools and at public events, many schools choose to have their students play the roles themselves.

“Until last year, we had mom volunteers who did this,” said Brookside Principal Linda Vranesh. “But this way, our girls use language arts skills, they do research, practice performing arts and public speaking. And I noticed that my second-graders perked up a little more when a fifth-grader walked in their class.”

Denise Cochran, who coordinated the group of girls performing at Brookside, said it helped bring history home to her daughter, Christina.

“It becomes so personal for them,” Cochran said. “They want to emulate the women.” But Christina might have to choose another profession.

“If she didn’t faint when she sees blood, it might be a good profession for her,” her mother said.

Christina liked Blackwell’s determination, if not her profession.

“She never gave up,” she said. “Even if she was blind and people wouldn’t accept her to colleges, she wouldn’t give up.”