Today, concert, jazz, and marching bands thrive in most communities as part of the schools in the United States, and many teachers and students of these groups are women. According to data collected by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, girls outnumbered boys in instrumental ensembles in the years 1990, 1992, then again in 2002 for grades 10 and 12. Because of this prevalence, it seems timely to provide a history of women's bands in America to communicate the fact that women, too, have a long legacy of participation. This article helps to establish women's legitimacy as a part of the American wind band tradition by tracing a century of participation from the 1870s through the 1970s. This overview aims to spark interesting class discussion with students about instruments the women played, uniforms worn, the events that influenced the development and documentation of these bands, and women's emerging roles in society. (Contains 1 figure, 18 notes and 19 resources.)