Women's History Month

On the morning of September 11, 2001 when the Twin Towers in New York City came under attack Univision's senior national correspondent Blanca Rosa Vílchez was one of the first journalists on the scene.

Seven Trailblazing Latina Journalists Anchor a New Museum Exhibition

Covering war, hosting presidential debates and conducting uncomfortable interviews, these women speak truths to their community

This seven-foot statue of Pearl Kendrick, center, and Grace Eldering, left, was unveiled in Grand Rapids in 2019. Lab assistant Loney Clinton stands to the right with a microscope.

Women Who Shaped History

The Unsung Heroes Who Ended a Deadly Plague

How a team of fearless American women overcame medical skepticism to stop whooping cough, a vicious infectious disease, and save countless lives

Left: Walker in 1912; Right: Octavia Spencer as the inspiring businesswoman in the Netflix series “Self Made,” which debuts this month.

Women Who Shaped History

Madam C.J. Walker Gets a Netflix Close-Up

A turn-of-the-century hair-care magnate who shared her wealth gets the spotlight

Left, the British Army camped at Balaklava in the Crimea. Right, an angelic Nightingale animates a stained glass window crafted around 1930.

The Defiance of Florence Nightingale

Scholars are finding there’s much more to the “lady with the lamp” than her famous exploits as a nurse in the Crimean War

The list includes Artemisia Gentileschi, Wilma Mankiller, Frances Glessner Lee and other Oscar-worthy women.

Based on a True Story

Nine Women Whose Remarkable Lives Deserve the Biopic Treatment

From Renaissance artists to aviation pioneers, suffragists and scientists, these women led lives destined for the silver screen

Almost 40 years ago, in 1981, women cheered during a rally for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Today, Virginia, just across the Potomac River, could become the crucial 38th state to approve the constitutional change.

Why the Equal Rights Amendment Is Still Not Part of the Constitution

A brief history of the long battle to pass what would now be the 28th Amendment

The long-lived soap opera "All My Children" began its over-40-year run in 1970.

For 70 Years, the Soap Opera Has Shaped American Pop Culture

The much-maligned genre has been resurrected as prestige TV

Marvin, a trailblazer in more ways than one, surveys the Antarctic terrain on her meteorite-hunting expedition of 1978-79.

Women Who Shaped History

The Rockstar Geologist Who Mapped the Minerals of the Cosmos

A professor told Ursula Marvin she should learn to cook. Instead she chased down meteorites in Antarctica

Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, Nancy Grace Roman, Mae Jemison

Women Who Shape History: Education Resources

For use in the classroom or your community, a list of lesson plans and other teaching materials on women's history in America

On the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, a mob led by Peter the Lector brutally murdered Hypatia, one of the last great thinkers of ancient Alexandria.

Hypatia, Ancient Alexandria’s Great Female Scholar

An avowed paganist in a time of religious strife, Hypatia was also one of the first women to study math, astronomy and philosophy

Hazel Scott captivated audiences with her renditions of classical masterpieces by Chopin, Bach and Rachmaninoff.

Hazel Scott’s Lifetime of High Notes

She began her career as a musical prodigy and ended up breaking down racial barriers in the recording and film industries

Now serving grief: Irwin (right) gives Holcomb (left) a lesson on why no plebe should ever forget the menu.

Up in Arms Over a Co-Ed Plebe Summer

The first women to attend the Naval Academy became seniors in 1979. Photographer Lucian Perkins was there as the old order changed

Eleanor Roosevelt used Val-Kill, located in New York, as a retreat, office and “laboratory” for social change. This is the only national historic site dedicated to a first lady.

Revisiting the First Ladies’ Homes

The oft-overlooked lives of America's first ladies are on display in house museums across the country

Ramsey's trip across the United States took 59 days to complete and covered 3,800 miles.

Alice Ramsey's Historic Cross-Country Drive

In 1909, 22-year-old Alice Ramsey made history as the first woman to drive across the United States

Farmerettes of the Woman's Land Army of America took over farm work when the men were called to wartime service in WWI.

World War I: 100 Years Later

Before Rosie the Riveter, Farmerettes Went to Work

During WWI, the Woman’s Land Army of America mobilized women into sustaining American farms and building national pride

After a year in graduate school in New York City, Eudora Welty returned to her native Mississippi and began taking pictures (Home by Dark).

Eudora Welty as Photographer

Photographs by Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist Eudora Welty display the empathy that would later infuse her fiction

Gertrude Stein is an American writer who made her home in Paris, France. Her first book was published in 1909 but her autobiography, titled The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, was the only one to reach a wide audience.

Literary Landmarks: A History of American Women Writers

Author Elaine Showalter discusses the lasting influence of Harriet Beecher Stowe and why Gertrude Stein is overrated

Although loosely based on The Supremes (above), the movie Dreamgirls is a work of fiction. The real story of the 1960s girl groups, however, changed American music forever.

The Real Dreamgirls

How girl groups changed American music

Page 1 of 1