Biographies

A veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising, Sylvia Rivera was a tireless advocate for those silenced and disregarded by larger movements.

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

Ana Roqué de Duprey, a prolific educator, writer, and scientist, founded the first woman’s suffrage organization in Puerto Rico in 1917.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Jazz pianist and singer Hazel Scott was not only the first African-American woman to host her own television show, but she also bravely stood up to the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Hollywood studio machine.

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

Fearless Wall Street broker Muriel Siebert was known as The First Woman of Finance.

Olympia Snowe was the first woman in American history to serve in both houses of State Legislature and both houses of Congress.

As the first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the Supreme Court, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor has made an impact in and out of the courtroom.

Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer lived her entire life in Virginia, where she tended her garden, worked as a librarian and teacher, hosted luminaries of Black intellectual and cultural life, and fought for equal rights for African Americans. 

On February 23, 1914, Lilian St. Cyr, performing under the name “Princess Red Wing,” became the first Native American actress to appear in a silent film. During her 15-year acting career, she performed in more than 70 films.

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

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