We want to continue our series on America’s 250 years by looking at the women who helped make America great. You will be surprised at the list.
Throughout the history of America there have been many famous women, so many, that we will not be able to mention them all. Let’s start with a few from the Revolutionary War period.
Sybil Ludington was known as the “female Paul Revere” for her ride that warned colonial troops of an approaching British force.
Margaret Corbin took her wounded husband’s place at his cannon during the Battle of Monmouth and became the first American woman to receive a pension as a soldier.
Abigail Adams, the wife of Massachusetts Congressional Delegate John Adams, influenced politics as did Mercy Otis Warren. It was Abigail Adams who famously and voluminously corresponded with her husband while he was in Philadelphia, reminding him that in the new form of government that was being established he should “remember the ladies” or they too, would foment a revolution of their own.
Sojourner Truth lived from 1797-1893. Sojourner was a preacher who campaigned nationwide for the abolition of slavery and important women’s rights. She also raised money for the black Union soldiers.
Biddy Mason lived from 1818-1891. She won her freedom from slavery. She worked as a nurse/midwife, and became a wealthy entrepreneur. She gave her money to many charities.
Harriet Tubman lived from 1820- 1913. She was probably the most famous of all the Underground Railroad’s heroes, Harriet Ross Tubman managed over a decade to make 19 trips into the South and lead more than 300 slaves to freedom.
Susan B. Anthony lived from 1820-1906. She was a prominent American women’s rights activist and suffragist who fought for racial, gender, and educational equality. Born into a Quaker family that valued social equality, Anthony began her activism as an anti-slavery abolitionist known for her passionate speeches.
Clara Barton lived from 1821-1912. She organized and delivered important aid to the Union and confederate soldiers. She started the American Red Cross and also began a free school in New Jersey. to enroll in a technical institution (MIT), in 1870. She founded the science of home economics and promoted science for women
Anne Oakley lived from 1860-1926. She was a great sharp-shooter who starred with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show and so she established herself as a famous western folk legend.
Florence Basom lived from 1862-1945. She was the first woman geologist to earn a PH.D. from John Hopkins. She was a pioneer in microscope viewings of minerals and rocks.
Winifred Edgerton Merrill lived from 1862-1951. She was the first U.S. woman to earn a PH.D. in mathematics from Columbia University in 1886 with highest honors. She founded the famous Oaksmere School for Girls in 1906.
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett Lived from 1862-1931. She was an American
investigative journalist, sociologist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Nellie Bly lived from 1864-1922. She was an undercover journalist who sided with the poor and marginalized people. She also was known for a famous 72 day race around the world in 1889.
Marie Curie lived from 1867-1934. Marie Curie was the scientific genius behind radioactivity and X-rays as we know them today. Not only did she become the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1903, but she also became the first person to ever win it twice in 1911.
Molly Dewson lived from 1874-1962. She was an author and the head of the DEmocratic national Committee’s Women’s Division. She also fought for a minimum wage law.
Helen Keller lived from 1880-1968. She was deaf and blind from a childhood disease but she overcame her disabilities and then worked for the blind and for numerous progressive causes.
Jeannette Ratkin lived from 1880-1973. She was the first woman to be elected to congress. She was one of few congressional members to vote no on WWI and WWII.
Elizebeth Smith Friedman lived from 1892-1980. She was an American cryptanalyst and author who deciphered enemy codes in both World Wars and helped to solve international smuggling cases during Prohibition. Over the course of her career, she worked for the United States Treasury, Coast Guard, Navy and Army, and the International Monetary Fund.
Amelia Earhart lived from 1897-1937. She was the first woman to fly solo. She flew over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. She attempted to fly around the world, but disappeared July 2,1937
Margaret Chase Smith lived from 1897-1995. She was the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress and the first woman to be placed in nomination for the U.S. presidency at a major party’s convention.
Grace Hopper lived from 1906-1992. She had a PH.D. in mathematics from Yale. Nicknamed “Amazing Grace” by her subordinates retired from the Navy as a Rear Admiral. She is best known for her trailblazing contributions to computer programming, software development, and the design and implementation of programming languages.
Rosa Parks lived from 1913-2005. Her refusal to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 began the modern day civil rights movement
Martha Raye lived from 1916-1994. She was an actor, comedienne and singer.She entertained and even nursed troops for 50 years. She is a Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree.
Marie Maynard Daly lived from 1921-2003. She was the first African American Woman to earn a PH.D. in chemistry from Columbia University. She made important contributions in four areas of research: the chemistry of histones, protein synthesis, the relationships
between cholesterol and hypertension, and creatine’s uptake by muscle cells.
Sarah Caldwell lived from 1928-2006. She founded the Opera Company of Boston in 1957. She became the first woman to conduct the Metropolitan Opera House.
Coretta Scott King lived from 1929-2006. She was known as the First Lady of civil rights. She carried on the dream of her husband Martin Luther King Jr. after his death.
Barbara Walters lived from 1929-2022. Anchoring hit programs like 20/20, The View, and Today, Barbara Walters was known as one of the most well-respected TV figures in history. She defied the odds by becoming the first female co-anchor of a network evening news program, paving the way for women in journalism.
Carolyn Shoemaker was born in 1929. She holds the record for the most comet discoveries (32) as well as more than 800 asteroids.
Sandra Day O’Connor lived from 1930-2023. She became the first woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. She felt the court’s role was to interpret the law, not legislate the law.
Frances Poppy Northcutt was born in 1943. She is an American engineer and attorney who began her career as a computer operator and was later a member of the technical staff of NASA’s Apollo program during the Space Race. During the Apollo 8 mission she became the first female engineer to work in NASA’s Mission Control.
Sally Ride lived from 1951-2012. In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to travel to space. She beat out 1,000 other applicants for a spot in NASA’s astronaut program and paved the way for many women like Mae Jemison who have followed in her footsteps.
Nikki Haley was born in 1972. She was a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and two-term Governor of South Carolina. She was the first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina.
Katie Britt was born in 1982. She is the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate. She took office in 2023.
All of these women were truly American heroes. Don’t miss part 4 of our series, the Birth of a Nation.