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American History

40 Basic Rights Women Did Not Have Until The 1970s

Women's rights - Women's liberation movement
Women’s Rights March in the 1970s. Barbara Freeman / Getty Images / Thoughtco.

36. They Wouldn’t Be Acknowledged For Running In The Boston Marathon

Kathrine Switzer attacked while running in the Boston Marathon in 1967. Getty Images / Jezebel.

The first woman to try to run in the Boston Marathon was Kathrine Switzer, a student at Syracuse University, in 1967. At the time, the Boston Marathon didn’t acknowledge women, and while Switzer registered, ran, and made history, she was attacked, spit on, and taunted. In fact, it wouldn’t be until five years later, in 1972, when women didn’t receive an acknowledgment as runners in the Boston Marathon. Nina Kuscsik from Huntington, New York, was one of the first women to be acknowledged, coming in first for women at 3 hours, 10 minutes, and 26 seconds in 1972.

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