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  3. Women’s History

Women’s History

From raising families to leading armies, women such as Catherine the Great, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Amanirenas, Queen Elizabeth I, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and countless others have played a vital role in history.

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Women’s History Milestones: A Timeline

Women’s history is full of trailblazers in the fight for equality in the United States. From Abigail Adams imploring her husband to “remember the ladies” when envisioning a government for the American colonies, to suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fighting for women’s right to vote, to the rise of feminism and Hillary […]

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US-WHITE HOUSE-KENNEDY Standing behind President John F. Kennedy (Seated-R) signing the Equal Pay Act on 10 June 1963 from (R-L) are: Congresswoman Edna Kelly, Congresswoman Edith Green, an unidentified woman, Mary Anderson, Women's Bureau Director, and Dr. Dorothy Height, President National Council of Negro Women. Other organizations represented at this event included the National Council of Catholic Women, the National Council of Jewish Women, the United Auto Workers, and the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. AFP PHOTO/HO (Photo by - / John F. Kennedy Library Foundation / AFP) (Photo by -/John F. Kennedy Library Foundati/AFP via Getty Images)

Equal Pay Act

WAGE GAP The Equal Pay Act was an effort to correct a centuries-old problem of gender-based wage discrimination. Women made up a quarter of the American workforce by the early 20th century, but they were traditionally paid far less than men, even in cases where they performed the same job. In some states, female workers […]

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Illustration of First Women's Rights Convention in 1848(Original Caption) Seneca Falls, NY: Cartoon representing feminist speaker denouncing men at the first Women's Rights Convention, July 19-20, 1848, Seneca Falls, NY, where the American feminist movement was launched. Undated engraving. BPA2# 5480

Seneca Falls Convention

What Was the Seneca Falls Convention? Originally known as the Woman’s Rights Convention, the Seneca Falls Convention fought for the social, civil and religious rights of women. The meeting was held from July 19 to 20, 1848 at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York. Despite scarce publicity, 300 people—mostly area residents—showed up. On […]

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Frances Perkins, named by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as his Secretary of Labor. She was the first woman to hold a cabinet office in the United States.

Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins (1880-1965) achieved historic gains as U.S. secretary of labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, she was a teacher before becoming involved in social reform. She was the first woman to serve on the New York State Industrial Commission, as well as the first to hold a U.S. […]

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Head of a high priestess with inlaid eyes Mesopotamia, Akkadian, Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar), area EH, south of gipar Akkadian period (ca. 2334–2154 BC) Alabaster, shell, lapis lazuli, and bitumen; 9.5 × 8 × 8.5 cm. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, USA, excavated 1926; B16228

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The Earliest Known Author Was a Woman from Mesopotamia

A priestess named Enheduanna claimed authorship to poetry and other texts—sometimes in first-person—more than a millennium before Homer.

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Eleanor Delano Roosevelt, seated, with a wide, warm smile

Eleanor Roosevelt’s Unprecedented Activism—From Inside the White House

The 32nd first lady wielded an influential—and disruptive—voice on behalf of equality, civil rights and social justice.

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How Althea Gibson Faced Racial Barriers—Even as a Tennis Champion

How Althea Gibson Faced Racial Barriers—Even as a Tennis Champion

Between 1956 and 1958, Gibson became the first Black player to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals. But none of it came easy.

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Writer, feminist, poet and civil-rights activist Audre Lorde (1934-1992) poses for a photograph during her 1983 residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

What Are the Four Waves of Feminism?

The history of established feminist movements in the United States roughly breaks down into four different time periods.

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Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo

Human Rights Organization, Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, fight to find their grandchildren who were kidnapped by Argentina’s Authoritarian government in the 1970s.

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3:06 minTV-PG

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale was so respected in the field of nursing that she was tapped to consult with the British Army. Learn more about the health reforms that she instituted in this video.

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1:16 minTV-PG

11 Underappreciated World-Changing Women

Bet you’ve never heard of all 11 of these game-changing women and their incredible accomplishments.

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2:34 minTV-PG

Susan B. Anthony and the Long Push for Women’s Suffrage

Historian Yohuru Williams recaps the efforts of women to secure the right to vote in the 19th century.

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This Day in History

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1992

Dianne Feinstein elected California Senator in the “Year of the Woman”

Women’s History
1856

Eunice Foote’s research on global warming is presented publicly

Women’s History
1850

The first National Women’s Rights Convention begins

Women’s History
1867

Madam C.J. Walker is born

Women’s History
2004

Kenyan environmentalist and human rights campaigner Wangari Maathai wins Nobel Peace Prize

Women’s History
1963

Mary Kay launches her namesake company

Women’s History
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