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Biographies

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

 

Featured Biographies

Biography

Dolley Madison

Dolley Madison, the fourth First Lady of the United States, is widely remembered as the most lively of the early First Ladies.
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Biography
Mary Eliza Mahoney

Mary Eliza Mahoney

Mary Eliza Mahoney pursued a nursing career which supported these aims. She is noted for becoming the first African American licensed nurse.
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Biography
Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller is honored and recognized as the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
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Biography

Sarah McBride

The first openly transgender person elected to a state senate in the U.S., Sarah McBride won a seat in the Delaware Senate on November 3, 2020.
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Biography
Patsy Mink

Patsy Mink

Patsy Mink was the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the first Asian-American woman to serve in Congress.
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Biography
Gabriela Mistral

Gabriela Mistral

Chilean author and educator Gabriela Mistral became the first Latin American author to receive the Nobel Prize in literature.
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Biography
Maria Mitchell

Maria Mitchell

Maria Mitchell was the first female astronomer in the United States and the first American scientist to discover a comet.
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Biography
Janet Mock

Janet Mock

Janet Mock became the first transgender woman of color to write and direct an episode of television.
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Biography

Rita Moreno

Rita Moreno became the first Latina woman to earn an “E.G.O.T.:” an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
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Biography

Lucretia Mott

Lucretia Mott argued as ardently for women’s rights as for black rights, including suffrage, education, and economic aid.
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Biography
Ibtihaj Muhammad

Ibtihaj Muhammad

A world-class fencer, Ibtihaj Muhammad made history as the first American to wear a hijab in Olympic competition at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.
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Biography

Judith Sargent Murray

A prominent essayist of the American republic, Judith Sargent Murray was an early advocate of women’s equality, access to education, and the right to control their earnings.
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Biography

Pauli Murray

As a poet, writer, activist, organizer, legal theorist, and priest, Murray was directly involved in, and helped articulate, the intellectual foundations of two of the most important social justice movements of the twentieth century.
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Biography
Mary Musgrove

Mary Musgrove

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

Admiral Mary Joan Nielubowicz

Mary Joan Nielubowicz was the only woman in the Navy Nurse Corps to earn the rank of Commodore and the first non-physician to earn the role of Deputy Commander for Health Care Operations in 1984.
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Biography
Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi, a business leader and strategic thinker, is widely considered to be one of the top CEOs in the world for her leadership of the global behemoth PepsiCo for 12 years.
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