Biographies generously sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.
Suggest a new bioBiographies
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
Biography
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger founded the birth control movement and became an outspoken and life-long advocate for women’s reproductive rights.
READ MORE
Biography
Elizabeth Ann Seton
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American to be canonized as a saint.
READ MORE
Biography
Muriel Siebert
Fearless Wall Street broker Muriel Siebert was known as The First Woman of Finance.
READ MORE
Biography
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Author, lecturer, and chief philosopher of the woman’s rights and suffrage movements.
READ MORE
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.
READ MORE
Biography
Lucy Stone
A leading suffragist and abolitionist, Lucy Stone dedicated her life to battling inequality on all fronts.
READ MORE
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.
READ MORE
Biography
Biography
Julia Hunt Catlin Park Depew Taufflieb
During World War I, Julia Taufflieb turned her home into a hospital for wounded soldiers in France.
READ MORE
Biography
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple was a child actor with curly hair and later worked as an ambassador for the US government.
READ MORE
Biography
Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell was a well-known African American activist who championed racial equality and women’s suffrage.
READ MORE
Biography
Sojourner Truth
A former slave, Sojourner Truth was an advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women’s rights in the 19th century.
READ MORE
Biography
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.
READ MORE
Biography
Maggie L. Walker
Maggie Lena Walker was one of the foremost female business leaders in the US and the first woman to own a bank.
READ MORE
Biography
Mary Edwards Walker
Mary Edwards Walker is the only US woman to receive the Presidential Medal of Honor.
READ MORE
Biography
Madam C.J. Walker
Madam C.J. Walker was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist. She rose from poverty in the South to become one of the wealthiest African American women of her time.
READ MORE
Biography
Mercy Otis Warren
Mercy Otis Warren was a published poet, political playwright and satirist during the age of the American Revolution.
READ MORE
Biography
Martha Washington
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the first First Lady of the United States.
READ MORE
Biography
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a prominent journalist, suffragist, activist, and researcher.
READ MORE