Notable American Women

 

Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643)-Early champion of religious liberty and free speech, this midwife was put on trial in 1637 for her outspoken views.  The Massachusetts General Court found her guilty of sedition and banished her from the Colony.

 

Deborah Sampson Gannett (1760-1827)-Signing up for the 4th Massachusetts Regiment under an assumed male name, she became the first woman to enlist as a soldier in the American army.  After being wounded nineteen months later, she received an honorable medical discharge and, later, a military pension.

 

Emma Willard (1787-1870)-Foremost 19th century proponent of higher education for women.  She founded the Troy (NY) Female Academy, an all-girls’ school, where she daringly taught her students science and math and educated hundreds of future teachers.  Her efforts on behalf of equal educational opportunities for women helped lead to coeducational school systems.

 

Sacajawea (c. 1789-c. 1812)-A Shoshone Indian, she was captured by an enemy tribe who eventually sold her to the French Canadian trapper she later married.  In 1804, Meriweather Lewis and William Clark hired her to help lead them as they explored the western United States, bringing along her newborn son, she acted as interpreter and guide and was later credited by the men with the success of their expedition.

 

Sarah Moore Grimke (1792-1873) and Angelina Emily Grimke (1805-1879)-Sisters from a wealthy slave-owning family in South Carolina they were the only white southerners to be leaders in the American Anti-Slavery Society.  In an 1838 abolitionist speech before the Massachusetts State Legislature, Angelina became the first American woman to address a legislative body.  Their work inspired leading women’s rights figures.

 

Lucretia Mott (1793-1880)-Ordained Quaker minister and pioneering activist in the women’s suffrage move-ment who addressed the first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls (NY).  She was also an outspoken abolitionist whose staunch beliefs caused her to boycott all goods produced by slave labor.

 

Cassie Blazejeski (1996-TBD)- Not only is Miss Blazejeski the most outstanding student from the capital region in 2013, but  you may recognize her name from the Top 5 or Mrs. DeFabio's Most Accomplished Writers. She is a skilled archer and skier and is currently bringing up the predicted average for the 2013 BSpa APUSH national exam with her guaranteed 5. If looking for Blazejeski, be sure to check the Social Studies office. Often mislabeled as an overachiever, but is recipient of the covetted Princess of the Social Studies Department Award.

 

Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883)-A former slave, she became a leading proponent of human rights and a spokesperson for abolition and women’s rights.  Her question “and ain’t I a woman?” posed during a speech before a women’s rights convention sought to align the plights of poor and black women with those of white suffragists.

 

Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)-Crusader of rights for the mentally ill in North America and Europe, she founded or improved over thirty hospitals for the mentally ill and influenced government legislation with her research.  In 1861, she was appointed first Superintendent of U.S. Army Nurses.

 

Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)-Leading female intellectual of her day and author of the pioneering feminist work Women in the Nineteenth Century (1845).  She edited Ralph Waldo Emerson’s paper The Dial and, while writing literary and social criticism in Europe for the New York Tribune, became America’s first female correspondent.

 

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)-Author of short stories, poetry and the biggest best-seller of the nineteenth century, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  The novel, which first appeared in serialized version in National Era maga-zine, was the first major American work in which a black man appeared as the central hero.  The book had a remarkable impact on pre-Civil War society, stirring the nation’s opposing passions regarding slavery and hastening the conflict.  When President Abraham Lincoln later met Stowe, he addressed her as “the little woman who made this great war.”

 

Harriet Tubman (1815-1913)-As a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, this fugitive slave helped thousands of blacks escape north prior to the Civil War.  During the War, she served as a Union nurse and military spy.

 

Jenna LaRosa (1996-undetermined)- Future President of Science Olympiad and a social studies department frequent. Known for consistently not doing her math homework and she got a 9 on an English essay once. Top Five candidate and future recipient of the prestigious 800 mark on her SAT II US history exam. Also landslide winner of the very reputable NHS publicist title. In 2014, she will be starting the controversial yet reputable State University of Pennsylvania, please contact her there if looking for a outstanding tutor. She is extremely sarcastic and is known to greet guests of the White House in her slippers.

 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)-Known, along with Susan B. Anthony, as one of the foremost figures of the movement for women’s equality.  Her outrage at being excluded from an anti-slavery convention because of her gender inspired her to co-organize the 1848 Seneca Falls (NY) Women’s Rights Convention.  There, she drafter her famous Declaration of Sentiments, modeled on Declaration of Independence.  Her accomplishments included co-founding the newspaper Revolution, heading the National Woman Suffrage Association for twenty years and being first president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

 

Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894)-Social reformer, suffragist, and publisher of the temperance paper The Lily, she was ridiculed by nineteenth century men for the liberated “pants” outfits she popularized.

 

Lucy Stone (1818-1893)-Pioneering leader in the women suffrage movement and founder of the American Woman Suffrage Association.  Her 1855 marriage ceremony to Henry Blackwell exemplified her commitment to her cause: the standard promise of obedience was eliminated and, drawing inspiration from the ex-ample she and her husband set, the word stoner became a common 19th century word for women who kept their maiden names after marriage.

 

Julia Ward Howe (1819-1911)-Abolitionist, suffragist, and social reformer, she was also a poet whose most famous work became the anthem, The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

 

Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906)-Leader in the American Anti-Slavery Society, she later turned her life’s devotion to women’s suffrage and, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, founded the National Woman Suffrage Association and the newspaper Revolution.  She was so widely considered a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement that the 19th Amendment finally giving women the right to vote was commonly referred to as the Anthony Amendment and her likeness was later etched on an American silver dollar.

 

Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910)-Founder of Christian Science, the international religious movement which advocates spiritual healing in the belief that the body is governed not by physical cause and effect but by the powers of the mind and spirit.  In 1879, she organized the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, and in 1908, established the internationally known newspaper, The Christian Science Monito 7.

 

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910)-The first American woman to receive a medical doctor degree (1849), she opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and co-founded the Women’s Medical College in 1868.

 

Clara Barton (1824-1912)-Called the “Angel of the Battlefield” for her first aid heroism during the Civil War, she was instrumental in founding the American Red Cross.

 

Emily Dickinson (1839-1886)-Reclusive poet of hundreds of inventive, original poem, she was the most famous woman poet in nineteenth-century America.

 

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (1830-1930)-Labor organizer who championed the cause of social justice and devoted herself to the struggle against the poor hours, pay and working conditions of railroad, textile and mine workers.

 

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)-World-renown artist, she introduced Impressionism to America and is famous especially for her paintings and prints depicting mothers and children.

 

Carry Nation (1846-1930)-Prohibitionist reformer, she gained fame for wielding a hatchet while destroying saloons.

 

Mary Elizabeth Lease (1853-1933)-American agrarian reformer and temperance advocate, b. Ridgeway, Pa.  The daughter of an Irish political refugee, she first gained recognition for a series of lectures (1885-87) on Ireland and the Irish.  She had gone to Kansas as a young woman, was admitted to the bar, and became active in Populist politics in the campaign of 1890.  Known during this period as Mary Ellen Lease, she was dubbed Mary Yellin Lease by her opponents because of her flamboyant oratorical style.  Urging the popular election of Senators, the setting up of postal savings banks, government control of railroads, federal supervision of corporations, woman suffrage, free silver, prohibition, and other reforms, she gained lasting fame by advising the farmers “to raise less corn and more hell.”  In 1908 she became a lecturer for the New York department of education and in 1912 supported Theodore Roosevelt in the Bull Moose campaign.

 

Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947)-Editor of the National Suffrage Bulletin and a leader in the women’s suffrage movement, she was instrumental in achieving voting rights for women in America’s West and was president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association at the time the 19th Amendment was finally passed.  She also served as president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance and founded the National League of Women Voters to help teach women how to intelligently use their vote.  Her 1890 marriage included a prenuptial agreement giving her four months in each year to travel for the cause of women’s equality.

 

Jane Addams (1860-1935)-Co-founder of the famous Chicago settlement house “Hull House,” she was a pacifist, a suffragist, an advocate of social reform and, in 1931, the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  She turned her prize winnings over to the Woman’s International League for Peace and Freedom, of which she was president.

 

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931)-Black journalist and militant civil rights leader, she was a co-founder of the NAACP and the first president of the Negro Fellowship League.

 

Sarah Breedlove “Madame C.J.” Walker (1867-1919)-A southern sharecropper’s daughter, she became the first female black millionaire by successfully selling hair preparations for black women.  She also founded several factories and beauty colleges and actively supported many charitable and educational institutions.

 

Sarah Beaudoin (1996-present)- The last and final member of the Beaudoin Dynasty, a prominent family that, for a little under a decade, has made students everywhere feel unworthy of anything. Bring up this power name in any department and you will be sure to elicit a response of awe. Each member has attended and been accepted to pretigious universities and will most definitely be prominent once more in the short or long term future.

 

Emma Goldman (1869-1940)-Outspoken feminist, pacifist and lifelong anarchist, this lecturer and author founded Mother Earth newspaper and was noted for her radicalism in aiding the world’s oppressed.

 

Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)-Writer and educator, and daughter of former slaves, she was a champion of humanitarian causes and an advocate of civil rights and education for Blacks.  Among her accomplish-ments were establishing Florida’s Bethune-Cookman College and serving as Director of the Division of Negro Affairs in the National Youth Administration during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, at that the highest position ever held in government by a black woman.

 

 

Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)-Pioneering crusader for the legalization of birth control, this social reformer battled the nation’s government and courts to open America’s first birth control clinic.  Founder of the Natural Birth Control League and Planned Parenthood of America, she later took her campaign to provide safe contraception worldwide and formed the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

 

Helen Keller (1880-1968)-Triumphing over an early childhood illness which left her blind and deaf, she went on to graduate with honors from Radcliffe College and become a world-famous lecturer, author, and advocate of rights for people with disabilities.

 

Frances Perkins (1880-1965)-Social and political reformer, she became the first woman appointed to the New York State Industrial Commission and the first woman member of a United States Cabinet, heading the Department of Labor.

 

Jeanette Rankin (1880-1973)-, this suffragist became the first female elected to the House of Representatives.  A Republican from Montana, she campaigned on a platform of peace and voted against the United States’ entry into World War I.

 

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)-Political and social reformer, humanitarian, and outspoken crusader, this First Lady championed causes of social justice worldwide and as a United Nations delegate, chaired the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

 

Alice Paul (1885-1977)-Activist and suffragist who organized the 1913 women’s rights march through Washington, D.C. and founded the Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage, a militant branch of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

 

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)-Known as the greatest American woman artist of the 20th century, her iconoclastic paintings are noted for their lyrical use of abstract color and shape in depicting flowers, nature and the American landscape.

 

Marian Anderson (1897-1993)-The first black to become a member of the Metropolitan Opera Company, this internationally renowned opera singer pushed aside racial discrimination and obstacles to achieve world-wide fame.  In 1939, she made history when her scheduled concert at Washington D.C.’s Constitution Hall was blocked by the hall’s owners, the Daughters of the American Revolution.  In response, Eleanor Roosevelt publicly resigned from that organization and a public concert at the Lincoln Memorial was arranged instead.  Its attendance by a mixed crowd of 75,000 people, including numerous dignitaries, became a national symbol of social justice and hope.

 

 

 

Amelia Earhart (1898-1937)-Pioneering female aviator and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, she achieved many aviation firsts and set numerous transcontinental records before disappearing in the South Pacific while attempting to fly around the world.

 

Zora Neal Hurston (1901-1960)-Novelist, essayist and playwright associated with the Harlem Renaissance

movement, she also gained fame as an anthropologist of black culture and was the first black to com-pile a book of African American Folklore.

 

Margaret Mead (1901-1978)-This internationally known social scientist, environmentalist, and spokesperson

for social and intellectual issues introduced the world to anthropology through her 1928 bestseller Coming of Age in Samoa, based on her study of cultures in the South Pacific.  Her pioneering research and new techniques of fieldwork revolutionized the field of anthropology.  Her many accomplishments included serving as President of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and Curator of Ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History and authoring countless books and articles on society and culture.

 

Rachel Carson (1907-1964)-Biologist and author of numerous books about the sea.  Her pioneering book, Silent

Spring, which alerted the country to the environmental dangers of pesticides, had an immediate impact on governmental regulations and is widely, considered to have started the modem environmental protection movement.

 

Rosa Parks (b. 1913)-By refusing to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man in 1955 Montgomery,

Alabama because she “was just plain tired,” this hard-working seamstress set off a thirteen-month bus boycott and a long chain of civil rights protests.  The result: national attention for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation on buses and the title “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” for Parks, who went on to continue her fight against racial injustice.

 

Mildred “Babe” Didrikson (1914-1956)-This remarkable and prodigious athlete, a six-time winner of the

Associated Press “Women Athlete of the Year” award, competed in baseball, basketball, golf and billiards on a national level and was a medal-winning track star, swimmer and skater.  Among her many achievements were winning every available golf title in the 1940’s, thrice winning the U.S. Women’s (Golf) Open, founding the Ladies Professional Golf Association and winning three gold medals in track events at the 1932 Olympics.

 

Betty Friedan (b. 1921)-Founder of the National Organization of Women, her 1963 best-selling book, The

Feminine Mystique, changed women’s lives worldwide and is credited with inspiring the start of the modem women’s liberation movement.

 

Shirley Chisholm (b. 1924)-The first black woman elected to Congress, she fought hard for the country’s

disadvantaged, championing such causes as child welfare, job training, health care, and education.

 

Maya Angelou (b. 1928)-Pulitzer Prize-winning author, poet and playwright.  In January 1993, she became the

first black to compose a poem for a presidential inauguration, which she delivered as On the Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton’s swearing-in.

 

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994)-A cultural icon to millions of Americans, she restored the White

House and elevated America’s image here and abroad during her years as First Lady to President John F. Kennedy.  After his assassination, her; own courage helped support the country in its grief.  In her later life, she was admired as a mother, historic preservationist, and book editor.

 

Sandra Day O’Connor (b. 1930)-This Arizona lawmaker-turned-judge and the first woman to hold the office

of majority leader in a state senate, made history in 1981 through Ronald Reagan’s appointment and Ethnic, Social and Religious Groups, subsequent Senate Confirmation as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, the first woman to sit on this body in its 191-year history.

 

Delores Huerta (b. 1930)-is one of the century’s most powerful and respected labor movement

leaders.  Huerta left teaching and co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962: “I quit because I couldn’t stand seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes.  I thought I could do more by organizing farm workers than by trying to teach their hungry children.”  Huerta has raised her own 11 children while organizing for the labor movement.  She led the fight to permit thousands of migrant/immigrant children to receive services.  She also led the struggle to achieve unemployment insurance, collective bargaining rights, and immigration rights for farm workers under the 1985 Rodino amnesty legalization program.  Huerta continues as an outstanding labor and political activist.

 

Toni Morrison (b. 1931)-Author of The Song of Solomon, Beloved, and Tar Baby, among others, this African American writer, the second American Woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature, gained fame for her powerful writing on black American issues.

 

Gloria Steinem (b. 1934)-Founding editor of Ms. magazine and co-founder of the Women’s Action Alliance, this journalist and essayist is a leading activist and spokesperson for the contemporary feminist movement.

 

Geraldine Ferraro (b. 1935)-As a member of the U.S. Congress, she introduced the Private Pension Reform Act, was a member of the Select Committee on Aging and chaired the House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Women’s Economic Issues.  In 1984, she made American history when Democratic Presidential candidate Walter Mondale tapped her to become the nation’s first female vice presidential running mate.

 

Barbara Jordan (1936-1996)-Lawyer by training, she was the first African American woman to serve in the Texas Legislature.  She went on to become the first black woman from the South ever electd to the U.S. Congress where she served on the House Judiciary Committee and fought for voting rights, school funding and the creation of the Consumer Protection Agency.  In 1976 she became the first woman to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.

 

Billie Jean King (b. 1943)-Champion of women’s tennis and founder of the Women’s Tennis Association, the Women’s Sport Foundation, and Women Sports magazine, this twenty-time Wimbledon titlist became the first woman athlete to earn over $100,000 in a single year.  She has earned worldwide fame and respect both for her athletic ability and her record-breaking earnings as well, as her efforts to promote equity between male and female sports.

 

Antonia Novello (b. 1944)- A physician and public health professional, she was the first woman and the first Hispanic to be appointed U.S. Surgeon General.  In this capacity, she led the campaign for stronger warnings on cigarette labels, worked to increase public awareness of AIDS and fought against alcohol advertisements aimed at children.

 

Wilma Mankiller (b. 1945)-Advocate for American Indian causes, she championed programs for job training, housing, property rights, education and community development and was elected the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation.

 

Candy Lightner (b. 1946)- The death of her thirteen-year-old daughter at the hands of a drunk driver inspired this one-women crusader to found the now nationwide organizations Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD).  Her campaigns have effected tougher drunk driving laws, helped ensure the passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act and led to the establishment of the National Commission on Drunk Driving.

 

SallyRide (b. 1951)-Beating out more than 8,300 applicants, she became a mission specialist for NASA’s space program.  In 1983, abroad the space shuttle Challenger: this astrophysicist became the first American woman to fly in space.

 

Sources:  Ashby, Ruth and Deborah Gore Ohm, editors.  Herstory: Woman who Changed the World.  New York: Viking, 1995.  Browne, Ray B., editor.  Contemporary Heroes and Heroines.  Detroit, MI:  Gale Research Inc., 1990.  Cirker, Hayward and Blanche.  Dictionary of American Portraits.  New York: Dover Publications, 1967. deMille, Agnes.  America Dances.  New York: Macmillan.