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There have been many influential women throughout history . While women ’s history has often been push aside or even erased over the centuries , many woman have made vast impacts on society through activism , art , political sympathies and leadership .
Women ’s History Month — observe annually in the month of March — is a perfect occasion to discover more about the distaff revolutionary , pol and campaigner who are merely too important to be forgotten .
Emmeline Pankhurst features in our list of influential women, she is pictured here with her daughter Christabel. “We are here, not because we are lawbreakers; we are here in our efforts to be law-makers.” These immortal words by Emmeline Pankhurst in her autobiography.
Here are some of the most influential women in history .
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)
In this special variation from the makers of All About History cartridge , detect the chronicle , accomplishments and adventures of just some of the many inspirational women who have made their scar on the earth . Available now exclusively in the U.S. and Canada . Pick up a copy from your near Barnes & Noble , Books - A - Million , Sam ’s Club , Whole Foods and online atMagazines Direct .
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg hap away in September 2020 , the United States mourn the departure of one of its foremost champions ofgender equivalence . Throughout her life history as an lawyer , judge and associate justice of theSupreme Court , Ginsburg ’s allegiance to the rule of adequate justice under the practice of law transform the legal landscape in the U.S. — particularly for woman .
Ginsburg ’s work began at Harvard Law School , where she was one of only nine women in a class of 500 bookman , according to an obituary in theNew York Times . Despite complete top of her class when she graduated as a transfer to Columbia Law School , she scramble to find work . Eventually , in 1963 , she became a law professor at Rutgers Law School , where she turned her attention to gender discrimination . She argued six sheath before the Supreme Court as a attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union , acquire five .
The official 2016 portrait of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In 1993 , President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court , where she work for 27 long time through malignant neoplastic disease and otherillnesses . Her history of dissenting opinions on the motor hotel ramp up her up as an image and , asRolling Stonewrote , earn her the soubriquet “ the Notorious RBG . ’ ”
Throughout her career , Ginsburg promoted causes such as fiscal equality for women , as take note byForbes ; equation in instruction , as reported byInside high Ed ; LGBTQ+ rightfulness , per theAmerican Bar Association ; civil rights for immigrants and undocumented people , as described byNBC News ; and rights for people with impairment , according to theCenter for Public Representation .
Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery but found her freedom locomote alone via the Underground Railroad . She would go on to exempt around 300 enslave people in the years that followed .
Tubman begin her body of work on the Underground Railroad by retrieving penis of her own category , including her parents , several siblings and various nieces and nephews , consort tobiography.com . When theCivil Warbegan , she supported the Union , work as aspyand a nanny before lead the daring Combahee Ferry Raid , which freed more than 700 enslaved people . Later in sprightliness , she became a large voice in the abolitionist movement and also fought for voting rightfulness for women , helping to determine a path from slavery and discrimination toward justice in the United States . Related:4 myths about the story of American slavery
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928)
“ We are here , not because we are lawbreakers ; we are here in our efforts to be law - God Almighty . ” These immortal words by Emmeline Pankhurst in her autobiography ( " My Own Story " , Hearst ’s International Library Company , 1914 ) encapsulated the Britishwomen ’s suffragemovement in the late nineteenth and other 20th century . As the iron - willed loss leader of theWomen ’s Franchise Leagueand later the Women ’s Social and Political Union ( WSPU ) , she fought for women ’s right to vote in the United Kingdom — by any means . The WSPU ’s motto was “ Deeds , not words , ” and the group used malicious mischief , violent protest and arson as means to contribute about social change .
Pankhurst believe that it was necessary to go beyond civil noncompliance in support of her cause , claiming in one1908 address : " It is because we realize that the condition of our gender is so criminal that it is our duty even to break away the law . " This firmness saw her arrested on countless function . She contend that unless cleaning lady were grant political power , the law of the nation would n’t have an adequate banner of morals .
On the year of her death , according to theBBC , British women were finally concede the rightfield to vote from the age of 21 — adequate to the vote requirements for men .
The official 2016 portrait of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908)
bear in the wintertime of 1835 during the Chinese Qing dynasty , Cixi was the daughter of a low - grade functionary but receive a good education and , as stated byNational Geographic , could probably learn and drop a line . In 1851 , she became one of the Xianfeng Emperor ’s concubines — a great honour at the time . According to theSmithsonian , Cixi speedily go past her fellow concubines in the emperor ’s favor .
When the emperor moth died , Cixi ’s son was poise to become the new emperor . The former paramour mould coalition with some of his regents and had others killed in an 1861 coup d’etat , leaving her in dominance of the imperium . She stay a powerful but unofficial head of ImperialChinauntil her death in 1908 .
She is regard China ’s last and most famous empress , as reported by theSmithsonian , and is known for mold rebellions , policies and the court of Imperial China for more than 50 years .
Harriet Tubman pictured in the late 1860s.
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Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
During the fifties , U.S. society was largely segregated between Black and white citizen , admit on public conveyance . On Dec. 1 , 1955 , dressmaker Rosa Parks resist to give up her fundament to a clean passenger on a bus in Montgomery , Alabama , for which she was arrested . In response , Parks mobilized theNAACP(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ) to boycott omnibus and draw national attention to inhumane segregation law in the Southern states .
After successfully challenging the law and go out segregation rule unconstitutional by the courts , Parks extend as a prominent voice and symbolization of courage in the polite rights movement , consort toCNN . Her human action of defiance had light the effort , grant to theNational Women ’s History Museum , and her continued activist employment in Detroit after the busbar boycott added to her legacy in the battle against injustice and discrimination .
Related:7 reasons America still need Civil Rights trend
Emmeline Pankhurst photographed in 1913.
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)
Despite after becoming one of the most illustrious and accredit creative person of the 20th century , Frida Kahlo spent much of her early animation bedridden and in agonizing pain . She contractedpolioat a young age and was affect in a horrific bus accident when she was only 18 years old . However , it was during her long recovery that Kahlo ascertain her love of art , in time developing her unique elan that would become recognizable around the world .
In 1922 , she was among only 35 girls to enroll in Mexico City ’s National Preparatory School , where she became involved in the school ’s political and esthetic circles . Her political awakening included a passion for Mexican identity operator , which would greatly influence her artistic creation . In her clause " Aztec Imagery in Frida Kahlo ’s painting , " bring out in 1990 in Woman ’s Art Journal , historian Janice Helland explained : " As [ Kahlo ] sought her own roots , she also voice business organization for her land as it struggled for an sovereign cultural identity . Her aliveness and even her end were political . "
A tumultuous matrimony to fellow artist Diego Rivera , 20 year her senior , also to a great extent regulate her artistic production , as did her go on malady , which dominated the final year of her life . Despite her illness , she refused to halt process , and even attended her 1953 solo exhibition in a four - poster bed , just a twelvemonth before her destruction .
An official photographic portrait of Empress Dowager Cixi (Nov. 29, 1835 – Nov. 15, 1908) at about age 55.
Some argue that Kahlo shape the world of contemporaneous artists of color , bringing personality and politics into self - portrait . “ The report of Frida Kahlo is one of a brown , queer , disabled revolutionist . She reminds us that there is strength in exposure , and that there is spirit beyond our physical body , ” wrote TK Smith for online arts publicationArtsATL .
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Kamala Harris (1964-present)
In 2021 , Kamala Harris made chronicle when she becamevice presidentof the United States — the first woman , the first fateful person and the first Asian American to contain the commonwealth ’s second - highest government agency . The girl of Jamaican and Amerindic immigrants , Harris grew up during the 1960s civil rights era . Perhaps inspired by civil rights activist Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall , whom in her memoir she names as one of her " greatest heroes ” ( " The Truths We Hold " , Random House , 2019 ) , Harris chose a career as a attorney . She began as a law clerk before being elect lawyer general of California in 2010 .
As a attorney , she narrow in pursue child sexual assault fount , and as California ’s attorney general fought for foreclosure settlement and against predatory for - profit education . According to her life from theWhite House , she also championedmarriage equality , theAffordable Care Actand the environment .
Harris function for the Senate in 2016 and was the first Indian American and only the second Black charwoman to be elect to the Senate , harmonise to theU.S. Senate ’s clause on African American senator . In 2019 she run for the Democratic Party nomination for president and , after set down out , was picked as Joe Biden ’s run mate . They went on to win the election in November 2020 , making Harris the highest - place elected female official in U.S. history .
Rosa Parks photographed with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (ca. 1955).
In January 2021 , according to theAssociated Press , she aver her oath of government agency as frailty Chief Executive on Marshall ’s own personal Bible . Related : Here ’s the Biden - Harris plan to gravel COVID-19
Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
Maya Angelou was an actor , dancer and journalist , and is recognized as one of the most important figures in modern American literature . Due to childhood intimate revilement and trauma , Angelou became unable to speak for several twelvemonth , according to theNational Women ’s History Museum . afterwards , she found her voice through her piece of writing . As an adult , she became involved in the civil rights movement and befriend bothMalcolm XandMartin Luther King Jr.
Despite the assassination of Malcolm X and King , in 1965 and 1968 severally , in 1969 Angelou published her most celebrated work , " I have it away Why the Caged Bird Sings . " The fictionalize autobiography described her experience as a young Black woman in America . The record book was hail for its rotatory approach shot , beginning Angelou ’s calling as a bestselling author of legion Word of God , verse form and essays .
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
Mary Wollstonecraft lived the philosophical , feminist liberation she wrote about . She was disregarded by many in her daylight due to her extramarital affairs and her illicit daughter , and according tothe British Library , the publication of her hubby ’s memoirs after her dying did further damage to her reputation . However , a C after her death , concord to theStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , she was finally recognized for her moral and political writing and drive her place beside her other daughter , Mary Shelley , in the pantheon of distaff literary greats .
Wollstonecraft ’s first book , “ A defense of the Rights of Men ” ( J. Johnson , 1790 ) , was her response to theFrench Revolution . In it , she refuted the concept of monarchy and called rather for a republican nation . She was also frustrate at portrayal of women as passive vas in a male person - overtop man , and her second book , " A exoneration of the Rights of Woman " ( J. Johnson , 1792 ) , became her best - recognize body of work . The playscript has since become recognize as one of the most important works of theEnlightenment .
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Kalho pictured in 1932, photographed by her father Guillermo.
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)
In her piece of work as an avant - garde writer and dedicated patron to modern artists , Gertrude Stein rebelled against the patriarchy . Stein traveled around Europe , eventually settle down in Paris with her brother , Leo . The pair began collecting art , particularly work by present-day avant - garde artists . Alongside their graphics collection , they cultivated relationship with Parisian Roma at their Saturday - night beauty parlour . In clip , invitations to the Stein salon became the most sought - after in Paris .
After World War I ended , the Stein salon became a popular haunt for vernal American expats — or the “ Lost Generation , ” as Stein bid them . Stein remain a little - known figure outside of the literary and artistic creation mankind until 1933 , when she print a book titled “ The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas ” ( Harcourt , 1933 ) . Not a true autobiography , Stein wrote in the representative of her living mate , Toklas . With the Scripture ’s popularity , Stein became a name and human face recognized across the globe .
agree toThe Poetry Foundation , “ Stein helped shape an aesthetic movement that demanded a novel form of verbal expression and a conscious severance with the past . ”
Kamala Harris photographed as a U.S. Senator in 2017.
Additional resources
Check out thisarticle in the journal Natureabout a new genesis of historians adding women back into the scientific record . Here you could listen to charwoman who work in STEM in the Obama administration talk about thewomen who inspired them . Read Time Magazine ’s list of9 of import womenfrom U.S. history you do n’t already love .
Bibliography
Angelou reciting her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993.
Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft by John Ople circa 1790-1791.
Gertrude Stein at “Les Charwelles,” 18 January 2025.
