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| Women's Suffrage Picket Parade, 1917 Source: Library of Congress |
Growing up, I learned about a few key female figures in history, but they seemed scarce. As I learned more about women's rights throughout time, I originally assumed women were too limited by various cultural and societal norms to make much history.
Thankfully, that assumption was wrong. Women might have been held back by limited access to education, traditional roles and society in general, but that didn't stop them from shaping history. The more I read about amazing women, the more I realized I'd never been told about the incredible stories of so many women who came before me.
For 2018 the National Women's History Project has chosen the theme "Writing Women Back Into History." I'm not affiliated with NWHP, but I love this idea. I want to contribute to the effort.
Over the past few years, I've been collecting the names of amazing women in history who lead movements, broke barriers, challenged norms and exceed expectations. These women fascinate me and inspire me. I want to learn more about them.
So this March, I'm giving myself a challenge: I'm going to pick a different woman from history every day and write about her.
These posts won't be long, I'll provide links to my research and to further reading. This is a project I could easily expand beyond the month of March, but I'm starting with a few women I've run across in my own reading and research. (Feel free to suggest more in the comments). I don't claim to have the broadest or most representative list to start with, but this is only a beginning. I hope to expand this project in the future.
Keep tabs on this introduction post. I'll turn it into a master post with links to all the other 2018 Women's History Month posts I make. Here's to girl power!
Master list:
- Neith Boyce: The Carrie Bradshaw of 1898
- Lorraine Hansberry: First African-American female playwright on Broadway
- Sybil Ludington: 16-Year-old Paul Revere
- Alice Guy-Blaché: First female film director
- Mae Young: Pioneer of women's professional wrestling
- Melitta Bentz: Coffee-brewing innovator
- Flora Zabelle: Refugee turned silent film star
- Kentucky Book Women: Horseback librarians
- Amelia Bloomer: Fashion-forward Suffragette
- Caresse Crosby: Inventor of the bra
- Rebecca Lee Crumpler: First female African-American doctor
- Patsy Mink: First Asian-American women in Congress
- Zabelle C. Boyajian: Conservator of Armenian myths and legends
- Diana Apcar: First female international ambassador
- Mary Anderson: Inventor of the windshield wiper
- Maeve Brennan: Gender-role smashing Irish-American writer
- Arabella Mansfield: First female lawyer
- Tye Leung Schulze: First Asian-American woman to vote
- Donaldina Cameron: "Angry Angel" who fought human trafficking
- Julie Ward Howe: Writer of the Battle Hymn of the Rebulic
- Henrietta Smith Bowers Duterte: First female funeral home director
- Beatrice Hicks: Pioneering female engineer
- Marie Van Brittan Brown: Inventor of the security system
- Sue Sarafian Jehl: Secretary to General Eisenhower
- Artemisia Gentileschi: 17th-century Italian painter
- Madam C.J. Walker: Haircare pioneer and entrepreneur
- Sarah Winnemucca: Native American author and activist
- Jeannette Rankin: First American congresswoman
- Louise Chéruit: First female fashion house owner
- Zabel Yesayan: Armenian activist and writer
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