Scenes from the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

The Paris Olympics

The Rise of the Modern Sportswoman

Women have long fought against the assumption that they are weaker than men, and the battle isn’t over yet

A few of the Olympians pose for a photo upon their return to the U.S. after the 1936 Games. In the back row, on the far right is Tidye PIckett and third from the left is Louise Stokes.

The Paris Olympics

Sports History Forgot About Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes, Two Black Olympians Who Never Got Their Shot

Thanks to the one-two punch of racism and sexism, these two women were shut out of the hero’s treatment given to other athletes

Sojourner Truth, tech pioneer.

Cool Finds

How Sojourner Truth Used Photography to Help End Slavery

The groundbreaking orator embraced newfangled technology to make her message heard

Trending Today

Walmart Once Pulled a Shirt That Said “Someday a Woman Will Be President” From Its Shelves

While Hillary Clinton was living in the White House, no less

Madame President

History of Now

The History of Women Presidents in Film

Why the science-fiction genre was the first to imagine a female commander-in-chief

Cool Finds

These Anti-Suffrage Postcards Warned Against Giving Women the Vote

There are always those who resist societal change

Crowd outside the 1924 Republican National Convention in Cleveland listen to speeches broadcast from inside the hall via an early “public address system.”

100 Years of Women at the Ballot Box

Women Ruled the Floor When the GOP First Came to Cleveland

The 1924 Convention was the first to feature female delegates, and they made their presence known

Who will be the next Hamilton?

Which Great American Should Be Immortalized With the Next Big Broadway Musical?

Hamilton has caught the nation’s attention. A panel of Smithsonian writers and curators suggest who’s next.

NOW co-founder Muriel Fox says: “There’s still a need for a women’s movement. We can’t do it as individuals, each of us working for our own interests. We get much further if we work together."

The NOW Button Takes Us Back When Women’s Equality Was a Novelty

At the half-century mark, for the National Organization for Women it is still personal—and political

A section of the Historic Route 66 in Seligman, Arizona.

Cool Finds

A New Project Tells the Stories of the Women of Route 66

An oral history project with the National Park Service follows women on the iconic highway

The dueling heroines take the lead in a fight for the town’s soul.

Why Betty and Veronica Are the Real Stars of Riverdale

In a reboot of the classic Archie comics, the two female leads take charge

Smithsonian Curator on the Priceless Impact Pat Summitt Made on College Athletics

The winningest coach in NCAA Division I history left an incredible legacy

Edna O’Brien pictured in late 2013

Novelist Edna O’Brien Explores the True Nature of Evil

Celebrated for her books about love, the writer might finally win a Nobel Prize for something darker

A statue of the people present at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention can be seen at the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls.

Women Who Shaped History

Five Things to Know About the Declaration of Sentiments

From seating to suffrage, here’s why the document is relevant today

Sarah Josepha Hale was the 19th century's answer to Oprah.

Cool Finds

Five Fascinating Details About the Media Mogul Who May Have Written ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’

Everywhere that Sarah Josepha Hale went, success was sure to go

Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leaving their plane, "Pistol Packin' Mama," at the four-engine school at Lockbourne AAF, Ohio, during WASP ferry training.

Trending Today

Female WWII Pilots Can Now Be Buried at Arlington National Cemetery

Seventy-five years later, WASPs have won one last battle

Blair's Snow White Hair Beautifier

Old Cosmetics Made New Again Through the Art of Digitization

Arsenic Complexion Wafers? A whole new world of yesteryear cosmetics just got a refresh

A portrait photograph of Victoria Woodhull.

Cool Finds

Victoria Woodhull Ran for President Before Women Had the Right to Vote

Her 1872 campaign platform focused on women’s rights and sexual freedom

Sisters Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri mapped the positions and brightness of 481,215 stars.

Cool Finds

These Little-Known Nuns Helped Map the Stars

A century later, the identities of women who mapped over 481,000 stars are finally known

Mary Kies' patented technique wove silk and straw together to make fetching bonnets like this 1815 specimen.

Cool Finds

Meet Mary Kies, America’s First Woman to Become a Patent Holder

Brains plus bonnets equal a historic first

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