Equal Rights

Biography

Anne Crawford “Nancy” Allen Holst

The first woman to join the International Association of Fire Chiefs, “Chief Nancy” led Rode Island’s Cedar Hill Volunteer Fire Department beginning in 1931.

Lesson Plan

Defiance and Dignity, Mary Church Terrell

Students will examine a timeline of the life of Mary Church Terrell and complete a close reading of her speech, “The Progress of Colored Women” (1898)

Lesson Plan

The Legacy of Historical Sites featured in Black Feminist DC

In Spring 2023, the National Women's History Museum partnered with a class at Miss Hall's School, an independent high school for girls in Massachusetts, to create a discussion guide for select sites featured in "We Who Believe in Freedom."

Biography

Nkenge Touré

Nkenge Touré is an activist whose expansive collection of speeches and written works confront issues around reproductive justice, Black feminism, and women’s rights.

Biography

Sister Margaret Traxler

Sister Margaret Traxler was a Catholic feminist nun and a civil rights activist who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the famous march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

Lesson Plan

Women, Education, Sports, and Title IX

How has Title IX impacted women in education and sports over the last 5 decades?

Biography

Loretta Ross

Loretta Ross is an academic and activist who has dedicated many years to advocating for women’s rights and reproductive justice.

Biography

Barbara R. Johns

As a teenager, Barbara Johns helped organize a strike that eventually led to the desegregation of schools in the United States.

Lesson Plan

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

This is a short thirty-minute lesson on Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

Lesson Plan

Janet Yellen: The Progress of Women and Minorities in the Field of Economics

The students will discuss diversity within the economics profession and in the federal government, and the functions of the Federal Reserve System and U. S. monetary policy, by reviewing a historic timeline and analyzing the acts of Janet Yellen.

Biography

Sister Marjorie Tuite, O.P.

Sister Marjorie Tuite, O.P. was a Catholic feminist nun who fought for gender equality, especially within the Catholic Church.

Biography

Zitkála-Šá ("Red Bird"/Gertrude Simmons Bonnin)

Zitkála-Šá (“Red Bird”), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was a Native American musician, writer and activist who fought for women's suffrage and Indigenous voting rights in the early 20th century.

Biography

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (commonly referred to by her initials, AOC) is the youngest woman and youngest Latina to ever serve in the United States Congress.

Biography

Nydia M. Velázquez

Nydia M. Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress, is the Representative for New York’s 7th Congressional District.

Biography

Asieh Amini

Journalist and poet Asieh Amini is a leading voice in the campaign to end stoning and juvenile executions in Iran.

Biography

Liya Kebede

Harnessing her fame as a supermodel, and drawing on her experiences as a child in Ethiopia and as a mother in the United States, Liya Kebede has become a leading advocate for maternal, newborn, and child health around the world.

Biography

Matilda Joslyn Gage

Famously referred to as “the woman who was ahead of the women who were ahead of their time,” author, activist, and lecturer Matilda Joslyn Gage worked tirelessly to advocate for abolition, women’s rights, and Native American rights.

Biography

Nanfu Wang

A 2020 MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant winner, Nanfu Wang uses film to explore the relationship between individuals and governments.

Biography

Elizabeth Keckley

Born into slavery, Elizabeth Keckley’s story is one of perseverance and ingenuity in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Biography

Elsie Robinson

Elsie Robinson was a journalist, fiction writer and poet. She was best known for her nationally syndicated column, Listen, World! which was read by more than 20 million Americans between 1921-1956.