Writer Erma Bombeck looks to familiar household situations and points out their humorous aspects. Her first book, At Wit’s End, is published. Later, her columns appear in seven hundred newspapers across the country.
Comedic actress Goldie Hawn joins the television program Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In; later she wins an Academy Award for her work in Cactus Flower. After demonstrating that women can pursue independent, fruitful lives in the movie Private Benjamin, Hawn becomes a movie producer.
Actress Diahann Carroll breaks television’s color barrier by having a television show (Julia) built around her as the central character. She portrays a nonstereotypical character and wins a Golden Globe Award.
Mary Washington Wylie founds Washington, Pittman and McKeever, which is one of the largest black-owned accounting firms in the country. She is the first African American woman to become a certified public accountant (CPA).
Author Joan Didion receives national recognition when she publishes Slouching Toward Bethlehem, a collection of essays.
Figure skater Peggy Fleming wins America’s only Olympic gold medal at the Grenoble games.
Close to four hundred feminist protestors demonstrate against the Miss America Pageant because they believe it supports racist and sexist messages.
Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to Congress, where she is an effective proponent for minority rights and urban needs. In 1972, she campaigns for the presidency of the United States. At the Democratic national convention, she receives 151 delegate votes. She authors Unbought and Unbossed and receives many honors and awards. In that book, she says: “Tremendous amounts of talent are being lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.”