Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Who The Women Who Matter To You?
Alice Paul, suffrage leader and a primary catalyst for the 19th Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution. Courtesy of Library of Congress. Learn More
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Dr. Bernadine Healy, Cardiologist, and first woman to direct the National Institutes of Health. Credit: National Institutes of Health.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Annie Leibovitz, photographer. Credit: AP images.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Joan Baez, folksinger and songwriter, at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. Courtesy of United States National Archives and Records Administration.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and civil rights leader, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949. Courtesy of Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Nancy Pelosi, first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Courtesy of House.gov.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Sarah Palin,11th Governor of Alaska and first woman nominated for Vice President by the Republican party. Credit: USA.gov
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Clara Barton, humanitarian, organizer of American Red Cross. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Kalpana Chawla, Space Shuttle Columbia Mission Specialist. NASA.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Rosa Parks, civil rights activist, 'Mother of Modern Day Civil Rights Movement' Copyright Lehigh And Northampton Transportation Authority.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) and Susan B. Anthony (standing), social activists and women's suffragists. Courtesy of Texas State Library and Archives Commission and Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State. Courtesy USASearch.gov
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
"'We Can Do It" poster for Westinghouse, closely associated with Rosie the Riveter, by J. Howard Miller. Courtesy National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Harriet Tubman, abolitionist and women's suffragist, from a photograph by H. B. Lindsley, not dated. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
Who Are The Women Who Matter To You?
Amelia Earheart, first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Courtesy of NASA.
We can all remember a few women’s names from our history textbooks. Sure there was Harriet Tubman, Sacagawea, Betsy Ross and Rosie the Riveter. But after that, the pickings got pretty slim. While today’s textbooks do a better job of recognizing the contributions of women to the history of the United States, we still have a long way to go to give our children and grandchildren the real story of our nation.
Here’s your chance to change that! Share a story of a woman that you admire in our comments section below. She could be an historic figure or just someone you know who has made a difference in your community. We can’t wait to see what you’ve written!
Birth of a movement: The Story of Ann Pamela Cunningham.
Most people have never heard of Ann Pamela Cunningham. They don't know—as we, her heirs, do—that in the process of saving something wonderful she created something even better. Read more
Sisterhood of the Ready and Able: Building restored? Neighborhood saved? Chances are a woman had something to do with it.
These young women are having a great time in New Orleans painting the frames of these historic wood windows. Read more about some preservation heroines that precede them.
Submitted by ruthnaomi at: March 13, 2009
My great grandmother, Mary Ellen Ray Brock, was a community leader in her own quiet way. She lived in the Friendship Community in Polk County, Georgia. She donated the land and some of the materials to build a " log club house" for the community home-demonstration club could meet there. The University of Georgia Extension Program was very important to the women of the community. The log club house was built with WPA workers in the 1930's. She died before I was born, but I have fond memories of attending socials at the club house as a child. This building is in need of repair but I don't know how to find grant money to restore this community treasure. Ruth
Submitted by Camille at: March 13, 2009
I recently read a wonderful biography about Susan Pringle Frost, a realtor/activist/humanitarian in Charleston who actually defined historic preservation in Charleston in the early 20th Century. This was the story of a "woman before her time" who fought for what she believed to be right...taking care of people, animals, and buildings. She was GREEN in the teens and twenties -- way before the term was popularized -- and she was operating totally on common sense, sacrifice, hard work, gumption, and drive.
Submitted by Mary at: March 12, 2009
Today making history are two persevering and strong women in New Mexico. One is Lynda Sanchez who is one of the directors and powerhouse behind the restoration of Fort Stanton in Lincoln County. The other is Mary Serna the administrator for the St. Joseph Apache Mission Restoration Project to save the historic church and veterans' memorial. Both women are working to insure these national treasures are saved for future generation to enjoy.
Submitted by harrit tubman at: March 12, 2009
she is a very nice person
Submitted by normapapuma at: March 9, 2009
Alice Paul-suffragette! Got us the right to vote.
Submitted by HP Boston at: March 9, 2009
I have always been inspired and have marveled at the thought and insight possessed by Cady. I always nod my head in yes as I read about her and her friendship with Susan B. Anthony. Cady is my shero. ======================================================= In 1895, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a committee of other women published The Woman’s Bible. In 1888, the Church of England published its Revised Version of the Bible, the first major revision in English since the Authorized Version of 1611, better known as the King James Bible. Dissatisfied with the translation and with the failure of the committee to consult with or include Biblical scholar Julia Smith, the “reviewing committee” published their comments on the Bible. Their intent was to highlight the small part of the Bible that focused on women, as well as to correct Biblical interpretation which they believed was biased unfairly against women. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/stantoneworks/a/womans_bible.htm
Submitted by Jeanne at: March 8, 2009
Juana Briones, her house is one of the oldest still standing in the County of Santa Clara in California, and by 50 years or so, the oldest in the City of Palo Alto, constructed about 1844. She was famous in her time, the pre-eminent woman of Hispanic California, one historian wrote. She is famous now. People have been trying to preserve her home, so far without success, for public access and appreciation. Her fame had to do with her being highly skilled in the field of medicine, learning her skills from Indians and from family members. She also prospered with a dairy, a farm, and land in a region that got wealthy after the Gold Rush. Born of parents who were the first pioneers into California from Mexico, she lived from 1802-1889, born in what is now Santa Cruz and died in what is now Palo Alto. Preservationists should be putting this high on a list of must-saves.
Submitted by Connie at: March 6, 2009
Eliza Lucas Pinckney and her daughter Harriott Pinckney Horry - SC 18th-19th c widowed rice planters. Eliza Pinckney (1722-1793) IS one of the few southern women who DO make it into the textbooks - albeit mostly for her contributions while a teenager in developing the cultivation and manufacture of indigo when left in charge of her absent father's plantations. Relatively little is known of her later life continuing to manage her late husband's plantations when she was widowed in 1758. And almost nothing is known of her daughter, Harriott (1748 - 1830), widowed in 1785 who also took over the reins of an extensive plantation system until the end of her long life, experimenting (like her mother) with new agricultural techniques and practices throughout. To be widowed is not the end of life as we know it! Harriott's two extensive journals tell us about taking her mother Eliza to Philadelphia seeking (too late) a cure for Eliza's breast cancer; another in 1815 describes a 6-month overland trip from Charleston SC to Portsmouth, NH. The purpose of the trip was to see her grandson enrolled there in training for the navy, but the 67-year old Harriott visited brickyards, iron foundries, and textile mills, and rode Fulton's steam ship up the Hudson out of curiousity and belief in the scientific and engineering developments of her age. May we all keep that sense of curiousity and belief as we move into the new eras that face us.
Submitted by Karen at: March 6, 2009
Gerda Lerner, one of the founders of the field of women's history, has been one of my heros since my first women's history class in 1972. It was the first time the class was offered and the reading list was short by necessity, because there were so few books available about women in history. Two of our books were by Gerda Lerner--The Woman in American History (a whopping 200 pages!) and The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Rebels Against Authority. I didn't know that Gerner Lerner had also been a rebel, active in the anit-Nazi resistance in Austria, or that I would end up living in the Grimke's sisters' city, Charleston, SC., or that, like Lerner, I would go to school (she for her BA, MA and PhD, and me for my PhD) at age 40. I did know that her work and her example would be an inspriration to me and countless other historians of women. She is currently a visiting scholar at Duke University. Thank you, Dr. Lerner!
Submitted by LaTanya at: March 4, 2009
My grandmother, Mary Bell Young Henderson, was the centerpoint of my immediate family. She was the consummate wife, mother, homemaker, grandma, and church and school volunteer. She had the style and grace of a young Jackie Kennedy and an older Laura Bush (sister Texan). Her soul food cooking and baking were both consistently delicious. This past week marks the 5th anniversary of her death. The bad news is that the passage of time has not diminished our loss. The good news is that all of her female offspring share some of her special gifts.
Submitted by Dolores at: March 4, 2009
Lucinda Todd was an African American teacher in Topeka, Kansas who was angry that her daughter, Nancy was not allowed to play in a student concert because of the color of her skin. So she opened her home to the local NAACP Chapter in 1950 for strategy sessions to end school segregation. In fact, Todd for the FIRST plaintiff in the the landmark lawsuit Brown v. Board of Education. Her home, which gave birth to that landmark case, survives today.