Florence Kelley, the first woman factory inspector in the United States, was born September 12, 1859 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to William Kelley and Caroline Bonsall. She led the struggle for the passage for labor and social legislation, including eight and ten-hour day and minimum wage legislation for women as part of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards.
Margaret Mead was a cultural anthropologist born on December 16, 1901 in Philadelphia. Between 1925 and 1939, she studied seven cultures in the South Pacific and Indonesia, focusing on the relationship between the individual and culture.
Ella Fitzgerald was born just as jazz was beginning to develop into a distinct art form. She mastered scat singing, a vocal improvisation using words, syllables and parts of other songs. She won 13 Grammy Awards, sold over 40 million albums, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1967.
Frances Perkins was the secretary of labor under President Franklin Roosevelt, the first female cabinet secretary, the longest serving secretary of labor and one of the architects of Roosevelt’s New Deal economic policies.
Mary Riddle, also known as Kus-da-cha or Kingfisher, took up flying in 1929. She made her first solo flight on May 10, 1930 then went on to parachute out of planes and executed over 40 parachuting jumps. Some were of the misconception that women didn’t posses the physical or intellectual capability to pilot airplanes. There were few places where women could obtain flight training.
