On November 18, 1977, 20,000 women, men and children gathered in Houston to participate in an unprecedented event, the first federally funded National Women’s Conference. Longtime feminist activist and U.S. Representative Bella Abzug presided over the conference, for which she had paved the way two years earlier by authoring a bill in Congress that provided the conference’s funding.

Learn more about the National Women’s Conference in This Week in History.

Photo: Congresswoman Barbara Jordan Speaking at the National Women's Conference with Bella Abzug and Rosalynn Carter Seated to her Right. Image courtesy of Dorothy Marder, for use on jwa.org only.