ON THIS DAY 3 22 2023

This Day in History: March 22

Featured Event

Equal Rights Amendment



proposed United States legislation








Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would invalidate many state and federal laws that discriminate against women; its central underlying principle is that sex should not determine the legal rights of men or women.
The text of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) states that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex” and further that “the Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” The ERA was first introduced to Congress in 1923, three years after women in the United States were granted the right to vote (by the Nineteenth Amendment), and it was finally approved by the U.S. Senate 49 years later, in March 1972. It was then submitted to the state legislatures for ratification within seven years but, despite a deadline extension to June 1982, was not ratified by the requisite majority of 38 states until 2020. Following its ratification by the 38th state (Virginia), supporters of the ERA argued that if Congress were to adopt legislation rescinding the 1982 deadline, the ERA would become the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.




Phyllis Schlafly
Although the ERA gained ratification of 30 states within one year of its Senate approval, mounting intense opposition from conservative religious and political organizations effectively brought ratification to a standstill. The main objections to the ERA were based on fears that women would lose privileges and protections such as exemption from compulsory military service and combat duty and economic support from husbands for themselves and their children.



Advocates of the ERA, led primarily by the National Organization for Women (NOW), maintained, however, that the issue was mainly economic. NOW’s position was that many sex-discriminatory state and federal laws perpetuated a state of economic dependence among a large number of women and that laws determining child support and job opportunities should be designed for the individual rather than for one sex. Many advocates of the ERA believed that the failure to adopt the measure as an amendment would cause women to lose many gains and would give a negative mandate to courts and legislators regarding feminist issues.

Reese Witherspoon

American actress






Reese Witherspoon, in full Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon, (born March 22, 1976, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.), American actress who appeared in a wide range of genres but was perhaps best known for her romantic comedies, in which she often portrayed charming yet determined characters.



The Man in the Moon
Witherspoon’s father was a U.S. Air Force doctor, and the family lived in West Germany for several years before moving to Nashville, Tennessee. As a child, she worked as a model and appeared in commercials. In 1991 she made her big-screen debut, portraying a tomboy in The Man in the Moon. That coming-of-age drama was critically acclaimed, and Witherspoon garnered accolades for her performance. Other roles followed, including a supporting role on the television miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove (1993), before she took a break from acting to briefly attend Stanford University in 1994–95. Resuming her career, she appeared in such notable films as the dark crime comedy Freeway (1996), which was inspired by the Grimm’s fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood”; Pleasantville (1998), a comedy centring on teenaged siblings in the 1990s who become trapped in a 1950s TV sitcom; and Cruel Intentions (1999), a modern take on the 18th-century novel Dangerous Liaisons, set in high school. The latter film costarred Ryan Phillippe, to whom she was married from 1999 to 2008.


In 1999 Witherspoon earned rave reviews for her portrayal of Tracy Flick, an overly ambitious high-school student running for class president, in Alexander Payne’s black comedy Election. The following year she was cast against type as the girlfriend of a serial killer (played by Christian Bale) in the violent satire American Psycho, an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s controversial novel. Also in 2000 Witherspoon had a memorable turn as the sister of Jennifer Aniston’s character on the popular television series Friends, and she provided a voice on the animated series King of the Hill.




Reese Witherspoon
Returning to the big screen, Witherspoon had her first major box-office hit with Legally Blonde (2001), a romantic comedy in which she played Elle Woods, a spoiled sorority girl who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School; she reprised the role for the 2003 sequel. During that time she also appeared in the hugely popular comedy Sweet Home Alabama (2002) and in several adaptations, notably The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), which was based on the play by Oscar Wilde.




Reese Witherspoon
Witherspoon turned to more serious fare with Walk the Line (2005), an acclaimed biopic of country singer Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix). For the role of June Carter, she learned to sing and to play the autoharp, and her commitment to the part helped Witherspoon win an Academy Award for best actress. She then appeared in a series of romantic comedies, including the box-office hit Four Christmases (2008) and the less-seen How Do You Know (2010) and This Means War (2012). In 2011 she starred in the Depression-era drama Water for Elephants, portraying a performer in a traveling circus who is caught in a love triangle (Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz). Better received was Mud (2012), in which she had a supporting role as the girlfriend of a troubled loner (Matthew McConaughey) who befriends two boys.

Continuing with dramatic roles, Witherspoon appeared in The Good Lie (2014) as a job recruiter who helps Sudanese refugees who have relocated to the United States and in Wild (2014) as a woman who hikes the Pacific Crest Trail in an effort to overcome the effects of a series of tragedies. The latter film was adapted from the memoir by Cheryl Strayed, the rights to which Witherspoon had purchased through her production company. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for best actress.


In Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice (2014), adapted from the comic crime noir by Thomas Pynchon, she played the love interest of a private investigator (Joaquin Phoenix). The farcical Hot Pursuit (2015) featured Witherspoon as a straight-laced police officer who must protect the widow of a criminal. She later supplied the voice of a pig who enters a singing contest in the animated film Sing (2016) and its sequel (2021). In 2017 she starred as an overachieving mother in the HBO series Big Little Lies, adapted from Liane Moriarty’s best-selling novel. Later that year Witherspoon appeared in the romantic comedy Home Again. She played the role of Mrs. Whatsit in the 2018 film adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s acclaimed 1962 sci-fi novel, A Wrinkle in Time. In 2019 Witherspoon reprised her role in Big Little Lies for a second season. Later that year The Morning Show, a series on Apple TV+, made its debut. It featured Witherspoon as a news reporter and also starred Aniston and Steve Carell.

In 2020 Witherspoon appeared in the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere, which was based on Celeste Ng’s novel about racial tensions and classism in an affluent suburb. She later starred with Ashton Kutcher in the romantic comedy Your Place or Mine (2023).





Witherspoon’s first book, Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits (2018), is a cheery primer on Southern etiquette, cooking, and beauty.