Special Report

Women Who Shaped History

The Smithsonian's American Women’s History Initiative is a comprehensive undertaking that documents, researches, collects, displays and shares the rich and compelling story of women in the United States. In celebration of the AWHI, Smithsonian magazine has collected representative examples of its coverage of diverse women throughout American history.

Amelia Earhart (left) and Eleanor Roosevelt (right) National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of George R. Rinhart, in memory of Joan Rinhart

A portrait of Minerva Parker Nichols

History Forgot Minerva Parker Nichols, the Country's First Solo Woman Architect

Mina’s goal was to keep the home—and women—central in modern society. Building on the home economists who came before her, she sought to define women’s work as work rather than a vague, idealized calling.

Mina Miller Edison Was Much More Than the Wife of the 'Wizard of Menlo Park'

Carrie Coon (left) as Jean Cole and Keira Knightley (right) as Loretta McLaughlin in the <em>Boston Strangler</em> movie

The Tenacious Women Reporters Who Helped Expose the Boston Strangler

<p>Six Triple Eight veteran Romay Johnson Davis gets handshakes and fist bumps from members of the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club in Montgomery, Alabama, in July 2022.</p>

How an All-Black Female WWII Unit Saved Morale on the Battlefield

Woodrow Wilson and his second wife, Edith, in 1916

How Edith Wilson Kept Herself—and Her Husband—in the White House

Ada Limón is the United States' 24th poet laureate.

Ada Limón Is a Poet Laureate for the 21st Century

At the Smithsonian

At the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, the story of the Watergate whistleblower Martha Mitchell (detail, oil on canvas, Jan De Ruth, 1970) from Pine Bluff, Arkansas—who pundits dubbed the "Mouth of the South"—is revisited in a new exhibition, "Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue."

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Martha Mitchell Was the Brash 'Mouth of the South' That Roared

Kellie B. Gormly

A western-style performance outfit worn by Patsy Cline and sewed by her mother. The suit features record-shaped patches stitched with the titles of some of Cline's records.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

When Patsy Cline Broke Through as a Country Music Phenom

Amanda Petrusich

This Bushnell telescope allowed Sally Ride to gaze at her favorite constellation, Orion, and envision her future as an astronaut.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

How the Smithsonian Is Honoring Remarkable American Women

Lonnie G. Bunch III

In the 2010 Winter Olympics Games in Vancouver, the USA's Hannah Teter (above: in action during the women's snowboard halfpipe competition) took home silver. Her boots are now in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Meet the Trailblazers in Women’s Olympic Snowboarding

They Shaped Culture

Georgina Schuyler’s campaign to include Emma Lazarus’ poem on the statue was a retort to nativism.

The Woman Who Saved the Statue of Liberty

Elizabeth Stone

Deeply interested in the natural world, Potter would carefully collect and draw specimens.

Beatrix Potter Was a Keen Observer of the Natural World

Teresa Nowakowski

L to R: Abby Ryder Fortson, Amari Price, Elle Graham and Katherine Kupferer in the film adaptation of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

How Judy Blume Redefined Girlhood

Michelle Mehrtens

Helen Gibson once remarked, “I certainly do get angry when I hear someone say, ‘I bet she didn’t do that herself.’”

Hollywood's First Professional Stuntwoman Jumped From Planes and Swung Onto Trains

Elizabeth Weitzman

Women in STEM

Alice Ball was just 23 years old when she developed a method of making chaulmoogra oil—an early treatment for leprosy—more easily injectable.

The Trailblazing Black Woman Chemist Who Discovered a Treatment for Leprosy

Kathleen M. Wong

This Bushnell telescope allowed Sally Ride to gaze at her favorite constellation, Orion, and envision her future as an astronaut.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

How the Smithsonian Is Honoring Remarkable American Women

Lonnie G. Bunch III

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.

The Unsung Heroes Who Ended a Deadly Plague

By Richard Conniff
Photographs by Lisa Spindler

The life-size exhibit presents an inclusive vision of women excelling in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

Smithsonian Honors Female Scientists With 120 Bright Orange Statues

Future of Women's History

Preet Chandi trains in Chamonix before starting her journey across Antarctica.

‘Polar Preet’ Sets Out to Become the First Woman to Cross Antarctica Solo and Unsupported

Margaret Osborne

Between March 19 and April 17, 1964, Geraldine "Jerrie" Mock (above: at the start of her journey at Ohio's Port Columbus Airport) flew her single-engine Cessna 180, dubbed "Charlie," solo around the globe setting a world record.

AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Who Was the First Woman to Fly Solo Around the World?

President Biden announced his pick to fill the US Supreme Court vacancy on Friday: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

What to Know About Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Historic Nomination to the Supreme Court