Blog

Sixty years ago this month, over 200,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the endpoint of a massive protest march organized to draw attention to the Civil Rights Movement. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom may be most famous for serving as the backdrop of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic speech, best...

Most of us recognize the name Sally Ride (1951-2012). Her legacy precedes her: in 1983, as a member of the Challenger’s crew, Ride became the first American woman to go into space. But there are two other things about Sally that are both striking and memorable—she was raised in a Presbyterian family, and she was gay.

Ride was born in Encino, California, in late May 1951. As a young adult, she attended Stanford University, where she earned two degrees: a bachelor’s in physics, and another in English. After graduating in the class of ’73, Ride continued her...