Biographies generously sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

Biographies

Women have always played an active role in history. Explore some of the historical pioneers and contemporary newsmakers that continue to impact the world. New biographies are added regularly, so check back to discover new stories!

Featured Biographies

As an activist, community organizer, and executive, Tarana Burke has made quite an impact.

Tarana Burke

Elizabeth Freeman became the first African American woman to successfully file a lawsuit for freedom in the state of Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Freeman

Although it was very dangerous for African Americans to speak out against white people during the Jim Crow era, Recy Taylor refused to remain silent about sexual violence.

Recy Taylor

Autherine Lucy was the first African American student to attend the University of Alabama

Autherine Lucy

Educator, soldier, and psychologist, Charity Adams Earley led the first African American women’s unit of the army on a tour of duty overseas during WWII.

Charity Adams Earley

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Biography

Mary Musgrove

Mary Musgrove become a negotiator between English and Native American communities and played an important role in the development of Colonial Georgia.

Biography

Florence Nightingale

Nurse Florence Nightingale is best known for making hospitals a cleaner and safer place to be.

Biography

Mary Adelaide Nutting

Mary Adelaide Nutting had a profound impact on American nursing. She was one of the key figures in modernizing the profession and her work is still influential in the field today.

Biography

Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley is a famous markswoman known for her sharpshooting.

Biography

Miné Okubo

Miné Okubo is well known for her representations of daily life and humanity in drawings depicting Japanese American internment during WWII.

Biography

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and set in motion one of the largest social movements in history, the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Biography

Alice Paul

A vocal leader of the 20th century women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul advocated for and helped secure passage of the 19th Amendment.

Biography

Ethel L. Payne

Ethel Payne is known as the First Lady of the Black Press, because of her fearlessness as a journalist and a Civil Rights activist.

Biography

Pocahontas

Among the most famous women in early American history, Pocahontas is credited with helping the struggling English settlers survive.

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

Betsy Ross

Considered essential to the American Revolution, Betsy Ross is credited with sewing the first United States flag.

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

Bernice Sandler

Known as the “Godmother of Title IX,” Bernice Sandler fought for women’s rights in education.

Biography

Margaret Sanger

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