Biographies generously sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

Biographies

American women played an active role in American history. Explore some of the lesser known and famous women who impacted our nation. New biographies are regularly added, so check back to discover new stories.

Featured Biographies

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a prominent journalist, suffragist, activist, and researcher.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Known as the founder of the Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low created the largest and most successful organisation for girls in the world.

Juliette Gordon Low

Nancy Hart made it her mission to rid the Georgia territory of British Loyalists.

Nancy Hart

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Biography

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice is the first African American woman to hold several positions, including Secretary of State.

Biography

Sally Ride

Sally Ride was the first American woman in space.

Biography

Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt grew up to become one of the most important and beloved First Ladies, authors, reformers, and female leaders of the 20th century.

Biography

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the senior US Representative from Florida, the first Latina elected to the US Congress, and the first Republican in congress to publicly support the passage of the marriage equality act.

Biography

Wilma Rudolph

Wilma Rudolph relentlessly pursued her dreams becoming an international track and field star.

Biography

Marla Runyan

Legally blind since childhood, Olympic track and field athlete and marathon runner Marla Runyan never let her vision loss stand in the way of her athletic dreams.

Biography

Sacagawea

Sacagawea is best known for joining Louis and Clark on their expedition westward from the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast.

Biography

Deborah Sampson

Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man and joined the Patriot forces during the American Revolution. She was the only woman to earn a military pension for participation in the Revolutionary army.

Biography

Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger founded the birth control movement and became an outspoken and life-long advocate for women’s reproductive rights.

Biography

Elizabeth Ann Seton

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American to be canonized as a saint.

Biography

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Author, lecturer, and chief philosopher of the woman’s rights and suffrage movements.

Biography

Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem is an acclaimed journalist, trailblazing feminist, and one of the most visible, passionate leaders and spokeswomen of the women’s rights movement.

Biography

Lucy Stone

A leading suffragist and abolitionist, Lucy Stone dedicated her life to battling inequality on all fronts.

Biography

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Abolitionist author, Harriet Beecher Stowe rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of her best-selling book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South.

Biography

Maria Tallchief

Maria Tallchief was one of America's most popular ballerinas.

Biography

Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple was a child actor with curly hair and later worked as an ambassador for the US government.

Biography

Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell was a well-known African American activist who championed racial equality and women’s suffrage.

Biography

Sojourner Truth

A former slave, Sojourner Truth was an advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women’s rights in the 19th century.

Biography

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman escaped enslavement and helped others reach freedom.

Biography

Minnie Vautrin

"Goddess of Mercy!" During the Rape of Nanking (1937-38), the Chinese women refugees under Minnie Vautrin’s protection gratefully addressed her this way.