American Women's History Initiative

Agnesi was an Italian mathematician, philosopher, theologian, and humanitarian.

The 18th-Century Lady Mathematician Who Loved Calculus and God

After writing a groundbreaking math textbook, Maria Agnesi quit math for good

Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine by Kadir Nelson (detail, above) is on view at the National Portrait Gallery through November 4, 2018.

Famed for “Immortal” Cells, Henrietta Lacks is Immortalized in Portraiture

Lacks's cells gave rise to medical miracles, but ethical questions of propriety and ownership continue to swirl

Elinor Powell (right) with a fellow nurse at POW Camp Florence in Arizona, circa 1944-1945

The Army's First Black Nurses Were Relegated to Caring for Nazi Prisoners of War

Prohibited from treating white GIs, the women felt betrayed by the country they sought to serve

Sarah Sokolovic as Grace Humiston, the Mrs. Sherlock Holmes, in this week's episode.

An Elementary Lesson in Women’s Suffrage: “Timeless” Season 2, Episode 7, Recapped

The Time Team, aided by the real-life 'Mrs. Sherlock Holmes,' travels to 1919 this week to save the 19th amendment

To demonstrate Tupperware's patented seal, Brownie Wise tosses a bowl filled with water at a party.

The Story of Brownie Wise, the Ingenious Marketer Behind the Tupperware Party

Earl Tupper invented the container's seal, but it was a savvy, convention-defying entrepreneur who got the product line into the homes of housewives

Ten Female Innovators to Watch In 2018

These inventors, startup founders and businesswomen have exciting things happening this year. Stay tuned!

For all their flaws, lab mice have become an invaluable research model for genetics, medicine, neuroscience and more. But few people know the story of the first standardized lab mice.

The History of Breeding Mice for Science Begins With a Woman in a Barn

Far more than a mouse fancier, Abbie Lathrop helped establish the standard mouse model and pioneered research into cancer inheritance

More women than men were left standing after the war and pandemic.

How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Helped Advance Women’s Rights

While the virus disproportionately affected young men, women stepped into public roles that hadn't previously been open to them

Ruth (Woodworth) Creveling, US Navy Yeoman (F), 1917-1920

During World War I, Many Women Served and Some Got Equal Pay

Remembering the aspirations, struggles and accomplishments of women who served a century ago

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

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Women Who Shaped History

Collecting the stories of women who forever changed the course of the American story

Founders of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst. The group's motto was "deeds, not words," Marshall writes in his blog.

Photographs Documenting the Struggle for Women's Suffrage Are Reimagined in Full Color

Colorizer Tom Marshall's deft touch brings new life to 100-year-old photographs

Figure skating at the Olympic winter games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 1936

A Brief History of Women’s Figure Skating

You might be surprised to learn that this sport where women now shine was initially seen as solely the purview of male athletes

Artist J. Howard Miller produced this work-incentive poster for the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. Though displayed only briefly in Westinghouse factories, the poster in later year has become one of the most famous icons of World War II.

The Unsung Inspiration Behind the "Real" Rosie the Riveter

Historians pay tribute to the legacy of Naomi Parker Fraley, who died Saturday at 96. In 2015, she was linked, circumstantially, to the We Can Do It poster

Dale Messick, creator of the comic strip "Brenda Starr," looks up from some of her strips in her studio in her Chicago apartment in 1975.

How Women Broke Into the Male-Dominated World of Cartoons and Illustrations

A new exhibition at the Library of Congress highlights female artists and their contributions to comic strips, magazine covers and political cartoons

A Timeline of 1968: The Year That Shattered America

The nation is still reckoning with the changes that came in that fateful year

Ellen Raskin designed the first-edition book cover; she later wrote The Westing Game, which won its own Newbery.

The Remarkable Influence of 'A Wrinkle in Time'

How the Madeleine L'Engle novel liberated young adult literature

In a survey of art experts, Thomas’ 2010 collage was named one of the most significant artworks of the 21st century.

How Mickalene Thomas Is Ushering in a New Wave of Contemporary Art

The celebrated portraitist’s glittering images of black women upend tradition

Women gleefully threw objects symbolizing oppression into the Freedom Trash Can, but they didn’t burn bras.

Fifty Years Ago, Protesters Took on the Miss America Pageant and Electrified the Feminist Movement

Miss America pageant is under new leadership after a sexist email scandal. But the pageant has a long history of controversy—including the 1968 protests

Mami Johnson photographed on February 14, 1998, at the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore.

Remembering Mamie ‘Peanut’ Johnson, the First Woman to Take the Mound as a Major-League Pitcher

The Negro Leagues trailblazer has died at 82. Barred from trying out for a segregated female league, she made her mark playing alongside men

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