Women’s History Month Heroes You Should Know: Tammy Duckworth

Happy Women's History Month! This is the 6th blog of a series of blogs called “Women's History Month Heroes You Should Know”. This series will be a collection of my research into little-known American women who have made history in one way or another (or multiple ways!).

The focus of today’s blog is Tammy Duckworth, Congress's first woman to serve with a disability as well as its first person born in Thailand to be elected.

This is her story.

According to biography.com, Tammy Duckworth was born in Bangkok, Thailand in 1968. As she grew up, her father worked for the United Nations doing development work. This meant Duckworth's childhood would be spent traveling throughout mostly Southeastern Asia, but also Hawaii. After spending her teenage years in Hawaii, Duckworth attended the University of Hawaii to pursue an undergraduate degree. She went on to receive her Master's in international affairs at George Washington University and pursue a Ph.D. in political science at Northern Illinois University.

While pursuing her Ph.D., she joined the Illinois Army National Guard in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After training as a Blackhawk pilot, her unit was deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004. In November of the same year, while serving, a rocket-propelled grenade hit Duckworth's helicopter. The incident cost her both of her legs and the full function of her right arm. Following this, Duckworth was promoted to major and awarded a Purple Heart for her bravery.

In the year it took for her to heal, she became a fierce advocate for better medical treatment for veterans and their families. Her passion for the issue led her to run for office. During her first campaign for Congress in 2006, she lost by a narrow margin. At this time, she took the position of director at the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs. A few years later, when the U.S. elected Barack Obama as President in 2009, he appointed her as his U.S. Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

In 2012, Duckworth ran for a House seat for the second time and won. With this victory, she became the first disabled woman and the first person born in Thailand elected to Congress. She officially retired from the military in 2014. Two years later, she ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate and won, becoming the 2nd Asian American woman to do so. While serving in the Senate, Duckworth gave birth to her second daughter, Maile, making her the first senator to give birth while in office. She is still currently serving as a senator for Illinois, following her reelection in 2020. Read more about Tammy Duckworth here or here.

Read another post from the blog series "Women's History Month Heroes You Should Know" here.