by Mari K Eder | Dec 7, 2023 | Newsletters
A dark holiday season arrived early in New York City that year. It was December 1941, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had just occurred three weeks earlier. Everyone was on edge. Even Mae Foley, a New York Policewoman and mother of two grown... 
by Mari K Eder | Nov 2, 2023 | Newsletters
From my November 2023 Newsletter: In September I was watching commentary on the U.S. Open when a broadcaster repeated a quote from tennis great Billie Jean King. He said she often remarked, “Pressure is a privilege.” I was immediately struck by those words... 
by Mari K Eder | Oct 3, 2023 | Newsletters
From my October 2023 Newsletter: In just two weeks, I’ll be in Phoenix, Arizona, where I will be privileged to receive the Historian of the Year Award for 2023 from Historic Hotels of America, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Historic Hotels... 
by Mari K Eder | Sep 5, 2023 | Newsletters
August 26th is nationally recognized as Women’s Equality Day, recalling that day in 1920 when the 19th amendment was certified to the Constitution, recognizing women’s right to vote. In 1920, Mae Foley was thirty-four years old, married, with two young children, and... 
by Mari K Eder | Aug 1, 2023 | Newsletters
National emergencies—wars, disasters, all those things that create sudden change and deep needs—seem to drive progress in many ways. World War I created industries to make uniforms and manufacture war materials. The need for manpower to build American military units... 
by Mari K Eder | Jul 24, 2023 | Op-Eds and Commentary
As published in the July – August 2023 edition of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution National Defender. A recent military magazine article on WWII journalists neglected to mention any women correspondents aside from Martha Gellhorn, and... 
by Mari K Eder | Jul 5, 2023 | Newsletters
For the past two years, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with my new friends, The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line. Those intrepid women, trailblazers in the World War II years and beyond, kept me company throughout the empty span of the pandemic. I learned their... 
by Mari K Eder | Jun 1, 2023 | Newsletters
It is hard to believe that by next June, it will be 80 years since D-Day, four score years since the Allied invasion of Normandy, during a global war, one meant to fight oppression and preserve the peace and freedom of people across the world. This was considered the... 
by Mari K Eder | Jun 1, 2023 | Op-Eds and Commentary
Mary Agnes Sullivan built a remarkable 35-year career as a pioneering policewoman in New York City. She became the first woman homicide detective in the New York City Police Department, breaking down barriers and setting new standards for women in law enforcement. Her... 
by Mari K Eder | May 30, 2023 | Op-Eds and Commentary
Ellen O’Grady claimed to be the first female detective. So did Mary Sullivan, but Ellen O’Grady had been a matron first, and Mary Sullivan hadn’t been through basic police training. Additionally, as Mae knew, many claimed to be the first policewoman or the first...