Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was the first African-American woman to become a licensed airplane pilot. She persevered through discrimination and danger in order to fly in the early days of aviation. Like many aviators of the early 20th century, she made her living as a barnstormer, similar to today’s stunt pilots. People lined up to see […]
Nancy Harkness Love, WWII Pilot & Commander
Nancy Harkness Love was a trailblazing WWII pilot and commander who was instrumental in the founding of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of WWII, the first women in history trained to fly American military aircraft. We were in the air flying from Boston to Vassar College to visit friends when I noticed ugly clouds […]
Melanie Klein, the Founding Mother of Children’s Psychology
As with many fields of study, the canonical works of the social sciences are overrun with the findings of white males. But in the field of psychoanalysis, Melanie Klein, a Viennese Jewish woman, made an impact on the field with her unlikely-sounding theories published in her book The Psychoanalysis of Children, where she documents infants’ […]
Margaret Hamilton, the Woman Behind the Moon Landing
Nearly fifty years ago, history was made when Neil Armstrong took his famous first small step on the surface of the moon. But, as they say, behind every great man is a woman, and for Armstrong that woman was Margaret Hamilton, the programmer who invented the software that made the moon landing possible, not to […]
Margaret Nash, courageous WWII POW navy nurse
United States Navy nurse Margaret Nash was a woman of resilience and courage. Captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese during World War II, she neglected her own health to nurse hundreds of her fellow prisoners suffering from disease and near-starvation in the Philippine Islands. She was still struggling to survive […]
Gertrude Bell, Al Khatun: Queen of the Desert
British-born Gertrude Bell, also referred to as the female Lawrence of Arabia, was an adventurer, spy, archaeologist and powerful political force who travelled into the uncharted Arabian desert and was recruited by British Military Intelligence to help reshape the Middle East after World War I. She drew the borders of Iraq, helped install its first […]
Daphne du Maurier, English writer
Daphne du Maurier was an English writer, most famous for her novel Rebecca. Other significant works include My Cousin Rachel, The Scapegoat, and The House on the Strand. Several of her stories have been made into films, most notably Hitchcock’s Rebecca and The Birds, and Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. Du Maurier came from an […]
Fay Kellogg, ambitious architect
Fay Kellogg (1871–1918) was an American architect and suffragette who helped to open the field of architecture to women who followed. She was described in her own time as “the foremost woman architect in the United States”, and known for staying on the job site “until the last brick is laid and the last nail […]
Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, Hawaiian healer
Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, a native Hawaiian Kahuna and gifted healer, developed a new system of healing based on the ancient spiritual tradition, Ho’oponopono. An indefatigable educator, Simeona was honored as a Living Treasure of Hawaii. Editor’s Note: There is some controversy over the claims in this guest article – see this comment for details. To […]
Huda Shaarawi, Egyptian feminist & activist
Huda Shaarawi (1879–1947) was an Egyptian feminist who influenced not only women in Egypt but throughout the Arab world. She was a pioneer in feminism, and brought to light the restrictive world of upper-class women in her book The Harem Years, published in 1987. Huda Shaarawi (also spelled Hoda Shaarawi or Sha’arawi) was raised in […]