Jovita Idár
She stood down the Texas Rangers and spoke out for the rights of her Mexican American community. Education, Jovita Idár believed, was the key to equality.
Phillis Wheatley Peters
She was the first Black woman to publish a book of poems in America. But it wasn’t until she turned 25 that Phillis Wheatley was allowed to decide her own name.
Marta Minujin
In 2017, a replica of the ancient Greek Parthenon, widely acknowledged to be the first symbol of democracy, was erected in Kassel, Germany. Built from 100,000 banned books, it was the creation of Argentinian artist Marta Minujin and erected on the site where thousands of banned books were burned by …
Kate Warne
When Kate Warne interviewed for a job at the Pinkerton Detective Agency, no one would have predicted that she would save the life of Abraham Lincoln. When Warne arrived for her interview in 1856, it was assumed that she was there for a secretarial position. Instead, she charmed Allan Pinkerton …
Wangari Maathai
Karura Forest sits in the northern corner of Nairobi, Kenya, an oasis of more than 1,000 hectares of native trees, waterfalls and nature trails surrounded by a modern city of more than 3 million people. It’s one of the largest urban forests in the world, and it wouldn’t exist without …
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson wrote more than 200 short stories, but it’s just one that puts her work at the top of the list of the most frequently banned literature in the world.
Melusina Fay Peirce
Melusina Fay Peirce dreamed of a life for women that paid them for everyday household chores. Oh, what might have been.
Maud Stevens Wagner
When tattoos began popping up everywhere in our research this week, we took it as a sign and discovered Maud Stevens Wagner, credited as the first female tattooist in the United States. Born in Kansas in 1877, little is known of her early life. By adulthood, Maud was performing as …
Julia Child
Julia Child mastered French cuisine, but before Paris she lived in Sri Lanka and China working for the US government.