With a happy shout-out to this spring’s high school and college graduates—including Megan, Max, Nell, Ariel, Emily, and all those near and dear to readers everywhere—here’s a celebratory look at how women at the University of Minnesota organized their first physical education program in 1888. The women’s drill team, known as Company Q, used wooden guns and put up with lots of snickering before strutting their stuff to whoops of applause during commencement week, 1889. An example from the pages of the campus newspaper (staffed entirely by males):

Q? Q? Q? Q?

What is Company “Q”?

A troop of girls,
A troop well known as the pride of the U,
A troop deserving of homage, too
Maids who dress in black and blue,
Maids whose cheeks are ruddy in hue,
Maids who are blithe and bonny and true—
Such a troop is Company “Q.”

Tim Brady tells the amazing story of “The Broom Brigade” in his Gopher Gold: Legendary Figures, Brillian Blunders, and Amazing Feats at the University of Minnesota.

Read more here.

Photo: Company Q, 1889