Educator, humanitarian, and women’s rights activist Johnetta B. Cole is the first female president of Spelman College. Cole says: “When you educate a man you educate an individual, but when you educate a woman, you educate a nation.”
Gloria Anzaldúa writes Borderlands/La Frontera; it is chosen as one of the best new books of the year by the Literary Journal.
Katherine Siva Saubel, a preserver of tribal culture and languages, is elected Elder of the Year by the California State Indian Museum.
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby and her husband, Bill Cosby, provide tremendous support to black colleges; in 1987 they give $20 million to Spelman College.
Women in Franchising forms to provide training in this area.
President Ronald Reagan selects Jo Waldron, who is deaf, to receive the President’s Trophy; she is appointed “Disabled American for the Nation” to represent all Americans with disabilities. She works for eleven years to ensure passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Computer scientist Anita Borg founds the Systers e-mail list to provide mentors, support, encouragement, and information sharing to women in computing.