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Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone was born in West Brookfield, Massachusetts, on August 13, 1818. She attended the first woman's college, Oberlin College in Ohio, and graduated in 1847. After that, she became one of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society's lecturers and also spoke on her own about women's rights. In 1850, she organized the first national women's rights convention. In 1855, Lucy married the Ohio abolitionist Henry B. Blackwell. However, she kept her maiden name as her last name, showing her protest a -
Jane Addams
When Jane returned to the United States, she traveled to Chicago and turned an old mansion there into a settlement house called Hull House which she used in order to care for children, give medical care, and try to clean up the disease-causing waste on the city streets. While in Chicago, she also managed to enlighten and educate the poor and spoke often at church groups and women's clubs and also talked to college students. In 1898,Jane began to become known throughout the nation for her speec -
Marie Curie
On April 19, 1906, Marie's husband, Pierre, died, but she was still able to continue her scientific work. She became the first female head of Laboratory at the Sorbonne University in Paris in 1906 and also received another Nobel Prize, this one in Chemistry, in 1911. She was the first person ever to win two Nobel Prizes. In 1922, Marie became a member of the Academy of Medicine. On July 4, 1934, Marie died of leukemia, probably caused by her exposure to radiation during her experiments. She ha -
Aleksandra Mikhailovna Kollontai
Aleksandra was the first woman to serve as minister to another country. From 1923 to 1925, she served as minister to Norway. From 1926 to 1927, she served as minister to Mexico. She served as minister to Norway again from 1927 to 1930, and then as Sweden's from 1930 to 1945. In 1943, she became a true ambassador, and in 1944, she conducted a negotiation for an armistice between Russia and Finland during World War II. Aleksandra died in Moscow on March 9, 1952. After her death, a book was publi -
Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor
In 1919, Waldorf and Nancy became Viscount and Viscountress, and then Nancy won a huge majority of the votes to put her in a vacated seat in the House of Commons, and was the first woman elected into the British Parliament. Astor was also a member of the Tory party (the political opposite of the Whig party), and she focused mostly on women and children's issues. She was also the first female in Parliament to introduce a bill. The bill she introduced was a bill prohibiting the selling of alcohol -
Helen Keller
Helen had finally found her match, for Anne could control her with sheer willpower and force. Soon, Anne began teaching Helen words by signing them into Helen's hand (forming letters with her fingers) so Helen could feel them. Anne spelled out "water" and splashed water on Helen's hand repeatedly. Finally, Helen realized what words related and their spellings. Anne and Helen's progress continued for almost fifty years. Helen learned how to read and write Braille, a language where letters are m -
Eleanor Roosevelt
On March 17, 1905, Eleanor married her distant cousin, Franklin Roosevelt, in New York City, New York. Together, they had six children, but one died as an infant. She was elected to the Senate in 1911, but in April 1917, she returned to volunteer work. With the war going on, she visited wounded soldiers and participated in the Navy's Marine Corps Relief Society and a canteen of the Red Cross. In 1921, Eleanor joined the Women's Trade Union League and took an active role in the democratic party. -
Amelia Earhart
Amelia took her first solo flight in 1921 and bought her own plane a year after. Still, flying was only a hobby at hers; she still taught English at the Denison House. However, from June 17 to 18, 1928, Amelia was a passenger on a plane called Friendship that flew from America to England. She became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Her story of the flight was covered by publisher George Putnam, whom Amelia later married in 1931. From May 20 to 21, 1932, Amelia crossed the Atlantic s -
Barbara McClintock
In 1923, Barbara received her Bachelor of Arts in the study of cells, cytology. She also received her Masters and Doctorate, using part of her time to identify corn chromosomes. In 1931, the National Research Council gave her a fellowship and for two years, she researched genetics at Cornell University, the University of Missouri, and the California Institute of Technology. Barbara became a faculty member at the University of Missouri in 1936. She left in 1941 because she had been discriminate -
Ella Baker
Ella attended Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and graduated as valedictorian in 1927 and then moved to New York City. In 1930, Ella joined the Young Negroes Cooperative League in order to develop economic power for blacks using collective planning. In 1940, Ella joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and became the field secretary and director of branches. Although she resigned in 1946, she still played an active role and still fought to desegr -
Rachel Carson
In 1952, Rachel resigned from service to the government and began to concentrate on her writing. She wrote The Sea Around Us in 1952 and The Edge of the Sea in 1955. Both of these books made her famous as a naturalist and a writer. During World War II, Rachel changed her interest from marine biology and the seas to pesticides, feeling as if the use of synthetic chemical pesticides in the war was wrong. In 1962, she published her most well-known work called Silent Spring. This book challenged t -
Rosa Parks
On December 1, 1955, Rosa's whole life changed when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. For violating Montgomery's ordinance, she was arrested and fined. However, this act began the modern civil rights movement. In combination with Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa boycotted the ciry's bus company for a duration of 382 days. This caused the Supreme Court to rule that the ordinance under which Rosa was fined was wrong. They also put out a law against racial segregation on public -
Emma Tenayuca
In 1937, in San Antonio, Emma was named the Workers' Alliance's general secretary for ten chapters. Also, she was asked to be the strike representative in January 1938 for the pecan shellers, which she accepted. The problem was that the pecan dust made the workers have high tuberculosis rates and as workers, they had inadequate restrooms and cleaning facilities. Their wages had also been cut in half, unfairly. Soon, Emma was granted permission to speak at the Municipal Auditorium at a small Co -
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I was born in England on September 7, 1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. When she was just three years old, her mother was beheaded because of her father's accusation that Anne Boleyn committed adultery and treason. Because of this, Elizabeth was pronounced as illegitimate and put last in order of the throne. Her half-sister, Mary, was first in line (from her father's first marriage) until her half-brother, Edward, was born in 1537. Although Elizabeth wa -
Bonnie Kathleen Blair
Bonnie was born on March 18, 1964 in Cornwall, New York. Right from the start, Bonnie was very skilled at skating, and began entering speed skating races when she was just four years old. In 1986, she won the world short-track title for speed skating in Chamonix, France. Then, in 1987, she created a world record in a 500 meter speed skating race. Also in that year, she won her first world sprint championship, and her brother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. So, Bonnie began her fundraising for
