Celebrating Women’s History Month
What I learned: Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie invented the game we now know as Monopoly
March
Women’s History Month honors the overlooked contributions by women.
In 1978, a weeklong celebration was organized by the Sonoma Valley Commission on Women and started to spread in the following years.
The celebration was planned to correspond with International Women’s Day, observed on March 8 since 1911.
In 1980, thanks to the advocacy of the National Women’s History Project, President Jimmy Carter issued the first proclamation of National Women’s History Week.
Congress passed Public Law 100-9 in 1987 declaring March as Women’s History Month.
As I was doing research for our district’s Women’s History celebration site last year, I came across an interesting story about the woman who originally invented the iconic board game Monopoly, and how its intention was to be a critique of capitalism.
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie created a game called The Landlord’s Game, where the objective is to obtain as much wealth as possible. Her creation came during the Gilded Age (roughly from the end of the Civil War to the 1930s) when there was more leisure time across various communities in the United States. Magie applied for a patent in 1903, and her version contained two sets of rules. The Monopolist rules centered on individuals accumulating wealth through property and rent, while the Prosperity rules allowed every player to benefit when one player gained wealth. The patent was granted in 1904, and 37-year-old Magie became one of a handful of women to have multiple patents pre-suffrage.
As the game gained popularity in coming years, game developer Charles Brace Darrow played The Landlord’s Game at a party. Struggling during the Great Depression, he adapted and marketed his own version of the game called Monopoly. After one failed attempt, he later successfully sold the rights to Parker Brothers in 1935. Magie contacted the Washington Post and the Washington Evening Star in 1936 to share her story of the game.
However, Magie’s central role in the creation of the game wasn’t widely known until 1973 during a lawsuit involving a professor who created and tried to copyright a game called “Anti-Monopoly.” Magie created the game as a critique of the wealth monopolists of her time, namely Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt, and was an outspoken advocate for women’s rights throughout her life.
If you would like to celebrate Women’s History Month, the following are some ideas:
Learn more about female leaders and role models, particularly women whose contributions have been hidden, minimized, or taken credit for by men.
Support women-owned businesses. You can often search online for this criteria in your area and get a list of businesses.
Read and follow women authors and influencers, particularly those who work in male-dominated fields.
These are great ways to honor the overlooked contributions of women yearlong!
Help us learn more: What women leaders and role models do we need to learn more about? What are additional ways to celebrate and honor Women’s History Month? What stereotypes and/or tropes do we need to make sure we challenge or avoid?
In case you missed it - related essays from Cultivating Justice:
