Celebrated in the United States and in countries around the world, March is Women's History Month. Honoring women of the past while illuminating injustices women still face and raise awareness about gender inequality, the first “National Women's Day” was established on February 28, 1909.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared that Women’s History Week would be recognized during the week of March 8.
In this post, you'll discover ten influential women who’ve left their mark in various frontiers.
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree around 1797 in New York to Mum Bett and Brom, the first enslaved African Americans freed under the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 In her lifetime, she supported the cause of the Underground Railroad, she provided needed clothing, blankets, food, and recruited African American soldiers for the Union’s only Black regiment during the Civil War.
Valentina Tereshkova
On July 16, 1962 aboard Vosktok 6, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space. In 1961, she and four other women were chosen for cosmonaut training by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The Soviet Union (Russia) wouldn’t send another woman into space until 19 years later.
Lise Meitner
Born in Vienna, Austria, Lise Meitner was the first woman admitted to the physics lectures and laboratories at the University of Vienna. One of the major discoveries in her career was the co-discovery of nuclear fission—the splitting of the atom—in 1939. This led her to being unfairly called "the mother of the atomic bomb."
Amelia Earhart
At 10-years-old Amelia Mary Earhart saw her first plane while attending the Iowa State Fair in 1908. She was the first woman to graduate from the Curtiss School of Aviation. In 1922, she received her pilot’s license, making her one of about a dozen licensed women fliers in the world. On July 24, 1936 she would take possession of the airplane she’d use to make a round-the-world flight which would turn out to be her last.
Helen Keller
During her lifetime, Helen Keller worked on behalf of the blind, campaigning that the major cause of blindness in infants was a condition called ophthalma neonatarum, which passed to children by mothers infected with certain venereal disease. She spoke at the annual convention of the American Association of Workers for the Blind and was appointed a member of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind in 1906. She wrote books, articles, traveled the world giving lectures, and visiting schools to promote the cause. Following a trip to Hiroshima, she became determined to fight for world peace.
Madeleine Albright
Madeline Albright was the 64th U.S Secretary of State. She would be charged with working with then President Bill Clinton and other government officials to plan the way the United States acts and communicates with other nations, its foreign policy. The journey to her confirmation as Secretary of States spanned two continents and 20 years of government service.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra was the first Ptolemaic queen with her head and name minted on coins. She became queen in 51 BC with her brother Ptolemy XIII as co-monarch. While various accusations have been made against her and at times taken as facts—notably that the predominant element in her character was sexuality—there's no evidence that she took any other lovers aside from Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony.
Nefertiti
Nefertiti holds the position as the Egyptian queen with the most surviving appearances on monuments and other artistic mediums. She ruled alongside Amenhotep IV, who later changed his name to Akhenaten. Together, they introduced monotheism, the belief that there is only one deity with the worship of the sun god Aten. No record has been found to detail her own death, her mummy has yet to be found, her end remains a mystery.
Maggie Walker
Maggie Walker founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank to provide economic empowerment to women and help strengthen Richmond's emerging black middle class. In 1905, she opened the St. Luke Emporium, a department store located on Broad Street in Richmond, VA in part to counter Jim Crow restrictions which forbade Black customers to use the main entrance or try on merchandise.
Frida Kahlo
The Frida Kahlo that we identify with was probably in large part a result of the accident which took place on September 27, 1925. Eighteen years old, sitting in the back with Alejandro, the bus they rode on was rammed by a streetcar in Mexico City. She was impaled on a metal bar in the wreckage, her spine was fractured, her pelvis crushed, and one foot broken. She's one of the highest-selling women in art.
“From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.
— President Jimmy Carter
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Works cited:
- Bureau, US Census. “Women's History Month: March 2021.” gov, 8 Oct. 2021
- Randolph, Zoë “13 Facts about Women's History Month.” Mental Floss, Mental Floss, 1 Mar. 2022
- “Why March Is National Women's History Month.” National Women's History Alliance, 11 Feb. 2019
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