Follow along all month long as we share topics in celebration of Women's History Month!

While climbing can often feel like a male-dominated sport, there have been countless women who have made strides in the industry and paved the path for future women crushers. More than ever, the climbing world is witnessing a larger number of women at the forefront of making impressive ascents and being inspirational role models within the climbing community. Here is a list of just a few notable women who have exceeded expectations set by their male-counterparts and showed the world just how powerful women can be, and that anything is achievable with drive and passion. 

Miriam O'Brien Underhill

Miriam O’Brien Underhill was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire in 1899. She graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1920 and studied at Johns Hopkins. She worked at an Eye and Ear Infirmary in Massachusetts but spent her summers in Europe.  In 1928 she completed one of her most notable guided climbs of all five pinnacles of the Aiguilles du Diable. At that time guideless climbing was new to the forefront, but only for men. Underhill coined the term “manless climbing” and in 1929 took on one of the most striking mountains in Chamonix, France, The Grépon.  Underhill faced sexist remarks such as that by French Mountaineer Étienne Bruhl, who exclaimed “The Grépon has disappeared. Now ... no self-respecting man can undertake it.”  Yet undeterred, she went on to complete the first manless climb of the Matterhorn.

(Photo Source: Ladies Climbing Club)

Lynn Hill

Lynn Hill was born in 1961 in Detroit Michigan. She began climbing at the age of 14 and quickly excelled, becoming the first woman to climb a route rated 5.12d in 1979. Then later becoming the first woman to climb 5.14. Hill was also an avid competition climber, winning more than 30 international competitions. Lynn Hill is probably best known for her free ascent of The Nose on El Capitan, Yosemite in 4 days in 1993, famously pronouncing “It goes boys!” She returned the following year and repeated the accomplishment in under 24 hours.

(Photo: Jean-Phillipe Guilbaud, Source: Rock and Ice Magazine)

Margo Hayes

Margo Hayes was born in 1998 in Boulder, Colorado. She was drawn to gymnastics at a young age and began competing at the age of 8. A major injury to her talus after a fall on the uneven bars led her to move to the sport of climbing, a pastime that her grandfather and father had introduced to her. She joined Team ABC where she held the bar high for her goals, eventually landing a spot on USA Climbing’s national team. In 2016 she won three golds at the World Youth Championships. Hayes made history in 2017 when she climbed La Rambla in Siurana, Spain, making her the first woman to climb a consensus 5.15 route. But Hayes wasn’t done, just seven months later she sent Biographie/Realization in Ceuse, France, a second 5.15 route.

Support a great cause!

For Women's History Month, Sender One is donating 25% of net proceeds from the Sender One online store to The Loveland Foundation. This foundation is committed to "showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. [Their] resources and initiatives are collaborative and they prioritize opportunity, access, validation, and healing."

Information gathered for this post was sourced from the following: 
2017 Bigstone Publishing, 2018 Adventure Journal LLC, 2021 Lynn Hill Climbing, 2021 The American Alpine Club, 2021 Red Bull, 2021 Recreational Equipment, Inc, 2021 Mountain IQ, 2021 Pocket Outdoor Media Inc, 2021 Mountain Equipment, 2021 Outside Integrated Media, LLC

The work to create a diverse and inclusive community is ongoing. It doesn't happen in a day, a week, a month, or even a year. It's forever-work that we're committed to while we continue to learn and listen. February is Black History Month and we're taking time to recognize and celebrate the history, accomplishments, and contributions made by Black Americans. We'll be sharing facts, events, and amplifying the Black community. Black history is American history that should be celebrated all the time, so we hope that you can take what we share this month further by exploring more ways to highlight Black history and culture.

History is made every day by Black Americans across the nation as they work to break through barriers and establish successful, thriving businesses despite adversity. According to the 2018 Annual Business Survey, only 2.2% of the 5.7 million employer businesses in the U.S. are Black or African American-owned. This number should be much higher and one way to make this happen is to support Black-owned businesses!
Browse our hand selection of Black-owned businesses below with something for foodies, wellness gurus, and home design lovers.

FOOD & DRINK

Tribute Coffee House

www.tributecoffeehouse.com

13960 Harbor Boulevard, Garden Grove, CA, 92843 

BEER & WINE

Crowns & Hops Brewing Co.

www.crownsandhops.com

Dedicated to preserving culture, expansion of the palate, and community building through world-class beer.

McBride Sisters

www.mcbridesisters.com

A mission to transform the industry, lead by example, and cultivate community, one delicious glass of wine, at a time.
(Photo: Dillon Johnson Photography)

HOME GOODS

Jungalow

www.jungalow.com

A place that will inspire you to tap into your own creativity, connect with nature at home and help you to bring good vibes home.

SustainAble Home Goods

www.yoursustainablehome.com

The opportunity to bring dignity and financial stability to marginalized people groups all over the world, while also getting to have a beautiful piece of their culture in our homes.

WELLNESS, FITNESS APPAREL, & HAIRCARE

Briogeo

www.briogeohair.com

"Brio" meaning "vibrant and full of life," "Geo" meaning "of Earth and nature," is an inspired, diverse, clean and transparent hair care line.

Many films and conversations provide perspectives into Black history and culture. The stories told offer insight into the experiences many Black communities have faced and continue to face today. Here is a list of movies, documentaries, and podcasts that we recommend. So grab some popcorn and maybe a notepad to write down topics you may want to further explore!

12 Years a Slave (2013, R)

Director: Steve McQueen

12 Years a Slave is based on an incredible true story of one man's fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon's chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist forever alters his life.¹

Moonlight (2016, R)

Director: Barry Jenkins

Moonlight chronicles the life of a young Black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami. At once a vital portrait of contemporary African-American life and intensely personal and poetic meditation on identity, family, friendship, and love, Moonlight is a groundbreaking piece of cinema that reverberates with deep compassion and universal truths.²

One Night in Miami (2021, R)

Director: Regina King

One Night in Miami is a fictional account of one incredible night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gather to discuss their roles in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 60s.³

Soul (2020, PG)

Director: Pete Docter

Joe Gardner, a middle-school band teacher, gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. Unfortunately, one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before – a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks, and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22, who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions.⁴

13th (2016, TV-MA)

Director: Ava DuVernay

In this thought-provoking documentary, scholars, activists, and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom.⁵

The Most Beautiful Thing (2020, 16+)

Director: Mary Mazzio

The film chronicles the first African American high school rowing team in this country (made up of young men, many of whom were in rival gangs from the West Side of Chicago), all coming together to row in the same boat.  An amazing story, based on the memoir of team captain, Arshay Cooper.⁶

I Am Not Your Negro (2016, PG-13)

Director: Raoul Peck

In his new film, director Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished – a radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words. He draws upon James Baldwin’s notes on the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr to explore and bring a fresh and radical perspective to the current racial narrative in America.⁷

Black History Buff

Heard in over 100 countries, the Black History Buff podcast is a fun and thrilling journey through time. Covering the full historical tapestry of the African Diaspora, you’ll hear tales covering everything from African Samurai to pistol-wielding poets.

The work to create a diverse and inclusive community is ongoing. It doesn't happen in a day, a week, a month, or even a year. It's forever-work that we're committed to while we continue to learn and listen. February is Black History Month and we're taking time to recognize and celebrate the history, accomplishments, and contributions made by Black Americans. We'll be sharing facts, events, and amplifying the Black community. Black history is American history that should be celebrated all the time, so we hope that you can take what we share this month further by exploring more ways to highlight Black history and culture.

Literature can take us to unexpected places and let us explore other worlds. This recommended shortlist of books for Black History Month offers a chance to see from other perspectives, to learn about the challenges that Black Americans have faced and continue to face, and to dive into a culture that may either be a reflection of our own life or be completely foreign. 

We hope that you will find a book on this list that will help you better discover yourself and connect with others!

NON-FICTION

Between the World and Me 

Ta-Nehisi Coates

"A brilliant thinker at the top of his powers, Coates has distilled four hundred years of history and his own anguish and wisdom into a prayer for his beloved son and an invocation to the conscience of his country. Between the World and Me is an instant classic and a gift to us all." -- Isabel Wilkerson, Author The Warmth of Other Suns

How to be an Antiracist

Ibram X. Kendi

“Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author’s own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism. . . .  How to Be an Antiracist gives us a clear and compelling way to approach, as Kendi puts it in his introduction, ‘the basic struggle we’re all in, the struggle to be fully human and to see that others are fully human.” -- NPR

The New Jim Crow

Michelle Alexander

“Alexander put the entire criminal justice system on trial, exposing racial discrimination from lawmaking to policing to the denial of voting rights to ex-prisoners. This bestseller struck the spark that would eventually light the fire of Black Lives Matter.” -- Ibram X. Kendi, The New York Times

FICTION

Beloved

Toni Morrison

“Compelling . . . Morrison shakes that brilliant kaleidoscope of hers again, and the story of pain, endurance, poetry, and power she is born to tell comes right out.” -- The Village Voice

Salvage the Bones

Jesmyn Ward

“Salvage the Bones is an intense book, with powerful, direct prose that dips into poetic metaphor . . . the story is told with such immediacy and openness . . . That close-knit familial relationship is vivid and compelling, drawn with complexities and detail.” -- Los Angeles Times

The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead

“I haven’t been as simultaneously moved and entertained by a book for many years. This is a luminous, furious, wildly inventive tale that not only shines a bright light on one of the darkest periods of history but also opens up thrilling new vistas for the form of the novel itself.” -- Alex Preston, The Guardian

Children's Books

Brown Girl Dreaming

Jacqueline Woodson

“This is a book full of poems that cry out to be learned by heart. These are poems that will, for years to come, be stored in our bloodstream.” -- The New York Times Book Review

One Crazy Summer

Rita Williams-Garcia

“Emotionally challenging and beautifully written, this book immerses readers in a time and place and raises difficult questions of cultural and ethnic identity and personal responsibility. With memorable characters (all three girls have engaging, strong voices) and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading.” -- School Library Journal

Sulwe

Lupita Nyong'o

"A welcome celebration of Black girls, an important lesson for all kids (and grownups), and a necessary message for any child who has been made to feel unworthy of love on account of their looks." -- Booklist

The work to create a diverse and inclusive community is ongoing. It doesn't happen in a day, a week, a month, or even a year. It's forever-work that we're committed to while we continue to learn and listen. February is Black History Month and we're taking time to recognize and celebrate the history, accomplishments, and contributions made by Black Americans. We'll be sharing facts, events, and amplifying the Black community. Black history is American history should be celebrated all the time, so we hope that you can take what we share this month further by exploring more ways to highlight Black history and culture.

This week, we're sharing six random facts about Black history. This shortlist of facts does not even scrape the surface of American Black History, but we hope that learning will bring about more curiosity to discover more.

1. Black History Month began as “Negro History Week” in 1926

Carter G Woodson, an African American historian, scholar, publisher, and founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life (ASALH), established “Negro History Week” in 1926. The second week of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. 

As the civil rights movement took shape Negro History Week began to evolve into Black History Month. It was officially recognized as a month-long celebration by President Gerald Ford in 1976. 

2. The 2021 theme for Black History Month is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity”

Since its establishment in 1976, every American President has designated February as Black History Month and endorsed a specific theme. The 2021 theme of The Black Family chosen by the ASALH looks at the complexity and dichotomy of the representation and portrayal of black families specifically how it has “been reverenced, stereotyped, and vilified from the days of slavery to our own time.” 

To read more on the 2021 Black History Month theme, click here. 

3. Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968 and the first major-party Black candidate for president

Long before Kamala Harris became the first highest-ranking Black female elected official in the United States, there was Shirley Chisholm. Chisholm became a member of Congress in 1968, representing the 12th congressional district for New York, and was an activist for minority groups including women and children During her time in Congress, she advocated for programs that would benefit inner cities, employment, and education. After four years in Congress, she announced her run for the presidency, becoming the first Black presidential candidate from a major party, and the first female candidate to run for the Democratic Party’s nomination. Shirley Chisolm faced three separate assassination attempts during her run for the presidency. 

4. Interracial marriage in the United States was banned from 1664 until 1967

The colony of Maryland was the first to enact a law prohibiting interracial marriages in 1664, but other colonies quickly followed suit. The laws grew and evolved over the years with harsh punishments that included enslavement, exile, or imprisonment. 

It wasn’t until three hundred years later during the case of Loving V. Virginia that the Supreme Court ruled that prohibiting interracial marriage on state and local levels was unconstitutional. 

5. The iconic cartoon character Betty Boop was inspired by a Black jazz singer in Harlem

Betty Boop was introduced in 1930 by cartoonist Max Fleischer. Her character is best known for her revealing dress, curvaceous figure, and signature “Boop Oop A Doop” vocals. The inspiration for Fleischer’s cartoon has been traced back to Esther Jones who performed regularly in New York’s Cotton Club during the 1920s. Jones went by the name “Baby Esther” and was known for her vocal style of using “boops” and other childlike scat sounds. 

6. Martin Luther King Jr. improvised the most iconic part of his “I Have a Dream” speech

The written version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech given on August 28, 1963, did not initially include the “I have a dream” language that many have commonly heard. King was considering the words but they ultimately did not make it into his final draft. Yet, in front of the Lincoln Memorial that day, perhaps inspired by the 250,000 civil rights supporters, he fortuitously decided to use the language that would forever make history. 

Information gathered for this post was sourced from the following:
2021 WorkplaceDiversity.com
2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC.
2019 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
2021 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc.
2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC
2020 ASALH