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Women's History

The women featured in Brave. Black. First. include, among others, Nina Simone, Zora Neale Hurston, Ann Lowe and Condoleezza Rice.

New Book Draws Inspiration From Life Stories of African American Women

In “Brave. Black. First.,” meet more than 50 African American women who changed the world

Margaret Chase Smith sworn in on June 10, 1940 to fill the vacancy left by her husband, Rep. Clyde Smith. Left to right in the picture: Margaret Chase Smith, Speaker William Bankhead and Rep. James C. Oliver, Republican of Maine, who sponsored Mrs. Smith

Women Who Shaped History

The History of Wives Replacing Their Dead Husbands in Congress

This tradition was one of the main ways American women gained access to political power in the 20th century

Susan B. Anthony's childhood home in Battenville, New York, as seen in 2018

Susan B. Anthony’s Childhood Home Is Getting Renovated

The women’s suffrage activist lived in the house from 1833 to 1839

The "Fashionista" line now boasts 176 dolls with nine body types, 35 skin tones and 94 hairstyles.

Meet the New Wave of More ‘Diverse’ Barbie Dolls

The additions include dolls with no hair, prosthetic limbs and vitiligo

John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1865-66

The Women Behind the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

An exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London explores 12 women’s contributions to the male-dominated artistic circle

Anarchist Emma Goldman, who dedicated her life to combatting inequality, repression and the exploitation of workers

At Long Last, an Exhibition Celebrates Centuries of Women at Work

A new show at New York’s Grolier Club features the collection of Lisa Unger Baskin, who sought to share the untold stories of women in the workforce

Marcus Gheeraerts II, Portrait of a Woman in Red, 1620

The Evolution of Pregnancy Portraits, From Tudor England to Beyoncé

A new show at the Foundling Museum in London highlights artists’ depictions of pregnant women over the past 500 years

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

Hattie Caraway succeeded her husband as an Arkansas senator and then won re-election with more votes than her six male opponents combined. She's pictured at her desk in 1943.

Women Who Shaped History

Hattie Caraway, the First Woman Elected to the U.S. Senate, Faced a Familiar Struggle With Gender Politics

After Arkansas elected her in 1931, Caraway was ignored by her peers but hounded by the press

On December 28, 2019, Christina Koch broke the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, according to NASA.

Astronaut Christina Koch Breaks Record for Longest Spaceflight by a Woman

By the end of her mission in February, Koch will have spent 328 days in space

This female warrior was buried with an elaborately engraved headdress during the fourth century B.C.

Cool Finds

Tomb Containing Three Generations of Warrior Women Unearthed in Russia

The four Scythians were buried together some 2,500 years ago

Louisa May Alcott is no longer regarded as a sentimental author for girls, but as a pioneering writer of the first rank.

The New ‘Little Women’ Brings Louisa May Alcott’s Real Life to the Big Screen

More so than in previous film adaptations, writer and director Greta Gerwig weaves the American writer’s own experiences into the classic story

The shores of Mount Athos, a monastic sanctuary where women have been banned for more than 1,000 years

Cool Finds

Possible Female Remains Discovered on Greece’s All-Male Monastic Peninsula

The identity and sex of the individual have yet to be confirmed, but could mark a first for the sacred Mount Athos

Mrs. Maisel's pink wool house coat and peignoir nightgown, worn in the pilot episode, and black dress, worn in the season one finale

Two Dresses From ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Are Coming to the Smithsonian

Though plans aren’t finalized, the costumes might feature in the National Museum of American History’s upcoming “Entertaining America” exhibition

Barbara Hillary shows off the parka she wore on her trip to the North Pole.

Barbara Hillary, a Pioneering African-American Adventurer, Dies at 88

At 75, Hillary became the first black woman to set foot on the North Pole

The Ten Best History Books of 2019

Our favorite titles of the year resurrect forgotten histories and help explain how we got to where we are today

The 19-page volume features three original stories, advertisements and a table of contents.

Miniature Manuscript Penned by Teenaged Charlotte Brontë Will Return to Author’s Childhood Home

The tiny volume, one of six created for a series, will now join four surviving counterparts on view at the Brontë Parsonage Museum

Nina Allender created political cartoons for The Suffragist newspaper.

Celebrating a Century of Women’s Contributions to Comics and Cartoons

A new exhibit marking the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment features innovative illustrations from the suffragist movement to today

The new book, subtitled Remarkable Objects and Stories of Strength, Ingenuity, and Vision from the National Collection includes clockwise from top left: crocheted pussyhat; Sfag-Na-Kins sanitary napkins, Black Lives Matter T-shirt; a clay pot by Hopi-Tewa potter Nampeyo and her daughter Fannie; Alice Paul's ERA charm bracelet; and a cup and saucer by designer Belle Kogan.

Women Who Shaped History

Smithsonian Elevates the Frequently Ignored Histories of Women

For many, the personal—tea cups, dresses, needlework and charm bracelets—really was political. A new book tells why

Judith Leyster, The Concert, c. 1633

The Dutch Golden Age’s Female Painters Finally Receive a Show of Their Own

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts spotlights eight unheralded 17th- and 18th-century artists

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