Women's History

Ernestine Rose championed abolition and women's rights in her adopted land.

The Immigrant Activist Who Loved America’s Ideals, If Not Its Actions

By the 1850s, Ernestine Rose was a well-known public figure, far more famous than her allies Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

The Sybil Ludington commemorative stamp was issued by USPS in 1975.

Was There Really a Teenage, Female Paul Revere?

Sybil Ludington has been honored for her contributions to the American Revolution, but there's little to indicate they were real

A souvenir program from the 1925 Woman's World's Fair in Chicago.

A Look Back at the 1925 Woman’s World Fair

After the success of the Chicago World's Fair, women made their own event

This 1898 photograph shows a young black boy holding hands with a young white girl during the Easter egg roll. The contraption on her head is an Easter bonnet.

The Curious History of the White House Easter Egg Roll

Thousands of families enter the lottery each year to take part in this White House tradition

Anne Bonny and Mary Read are just two of the famous female pirates who pillaged their way to fame.

The Swashbuckling History of Women Pirates

When women roamed the high seas in search of fortune, freedom, and sometimes revenge

Women of the Salvation Army relied on ingenuity to serve up thousands of donuts to WWI soldiers.

The Women Who Fried Donuts and Dodged Bombs on the Front Lines of WWI

Even if they had to use shell casings as rolling pins, the donuts still got made

Naomi Weisstein was a feminist activist, a neuropsychologist and, for a brief time, a rock 'n roll musician.

This Feminist Psychologist-Turned-Rock-Star Led a Full Life of Resistance

Naomi Weisstein fought against the idea of women as objects in both the fields of psychology and rock 'n roll

Susannah Madora Salter was hanging up laundry when she heard her name was on the mayoral ballot.

130 Years Ago, Men Against Women's Suffrage Put Susanna Salter’s Name on the Ballot

Boy, were they sorry.

Millicent Garrett Fawcett gives a speech in Hyde Park in 1913.

London's Parliament Square Will Get Its First Statue of a Woman

Suffragist leader Millicent Garrett Fawcett will join the ranks of 11 statesmen who have been honored with monuments there

Women of the Signal Corps run General Pershing's switchboard at the First Army headquarters.

Women On the Frontlines of WWI Came to Operate Telephones

The “Hello Girls” risked their lives to run military communications—and were denied recognition when they returned home

April 25, 2017, marks the centennial birthday of Ella Fitzgerald (above, in a triple-exposure undated photograph).

Never Mind Her Stellar Jazz Career, Young Ella Fitzgerald Just Wanted to Dance

The preeminent vocalist didn't actually start out as a singer

Emmy Noether, mathematical genius

Mathematician Emmy Noether Should Be Your Hero

She revolutionized mathematics, and then was forgotten because she was a woman

Ruth Law, (circa 1915, at the controls of her Curtiss Model D Headless biplane) once said that wearing a seatbelt "was a bit cowardly."

This Ace Aviatrix Learned to Fly Even Though Orville Wright Refused to Teach Her

With flint and derring-do, the early 20th century pilot Ruth Law ruled American skies

Vessel (#2309) by June Schwarcz, 2006, electroplated copper foil and enamel, gold plated

Artist June Schwarcz Electroplated and Sandblasted Her Way Into Art Museums and Galleries

The Renwick hosts a 60-year career retrospective for the innovative California enamelist

The male mountain gorilla Limbo (left) and Green Lady, a female from the same species, are on view in the exhibition, "Objects of Wonder," at the Natural History Museum.

Dian Fossey’s Gorilla Skulls Are Scientific Treasures and a Symbol of Her Fight

At a new Smithsonian exhibition, the skulls of “Limbo” and “Green Lady” have a story to tell

What It Took to Travel the World Solo as a 19th-Century Woman

Marianne North was not your typical Victorian noblewoman content to simply enjoy the comforts of British high society

A portrait of Fanny Mendelssohn, by her husband Wilhelm Hensel.

Sonata by Fanny Mendelssohn, Mistakenly Attributed to Her Brother, Premieres Under Her Name

The Royal College of London performed the Easter Sonata in honor of International Women's Day

Portrait of women shirtwaist strikers holding copies of "The Call," a socialist newspaper, in 1910

The American Garment Workers Who Helped Inspire International Women’s Day

Jobs in the garment industry were some of the first to empower women in the industrial workforce

Cunitz was among the few who saw the truth in Johannes Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, which stated that planets moved in elliptical orbits around the sun. Here, a concept drawing of the Earth and moon in orbit around the sun.

The 17th-Century Lady Astronomer Who Took Measure of the Stars

Astronomer Maria Cunitz might not be such an anomaly, were other women given the same educational opportunities

Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, Nancy Grace Roman, Mae Jemison

LEGO Is Making a Women of NASA Set

The toy company selected Maia Weinstock's proposal to celebrate the space agency's female pioneers during its Lego Ideas competition

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