Amazing Women In History

Julia Chase-Brand, Breaking Down Barriers for Women Athletes

August 23, 2016 by Danika Kimball Leave a Comment

Julia Chase-Brand, Breaking Down Barriers for Women Athletes

When Julia Chase-Brand was growing up, women didn’t run. Born in 1945 in Groton, Connecticut, Chase recalls being surrounded by four active brothers, in a time where girls couldn’t run, play soccer, and if they were to play basketball, it was at the half court line. Inspired by local distance runner John J. Kelley, Chase […]

Filed Under: Athletes, Scientists Tagged With: 20th century women, 21st century women, american women, women doctors, women psychiatrists, women runners

Admiral “Amazing Grace” Hopper, pioneering computer programmer

October 21, 2013 by KeriLynn Engel 7 Comments

Admiral “Amazing Grace” Hopper, pioneering computer programmer

United States Navy Admiral Grace Hopper (1906–1992) was one of the first programmers in the history of computers. Her belief that programming languages should be as easily understood as English was highly influential on the development of one of the first programming languages called COBOL. It is largely due to Grace Hopper’s influence that programmers […]

Filed Under: Featured, Inventors, Scientists, Warriors & Soldiers Tagged With: 21st century women, american women, women computer programmers, women in the military, women in the navy, women scientists

Carmen Rupe, drag performer, brothel keeper, and LGBT activist

April 5, 2013 by KeriLynn Engel Leave a Comment

Carmen Rupe, drag performer, brothel keeper, and LGBT activist

Carmen Rupe (1936–2011) or “Kiwi Carmen” was a vivacious performer, businesswoman and brothel keeper, and LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS activist. She was a cultural icon in the transgender community who paved the way for many transgender men and women after her, and has been named a role model for many, including Georgina Beyer, the world’s […]

Filed Under: Entrepreneurs, Other, Performers Tagged With: 21st century women, maori, new zealand women, transgender women, women entrepreneurs, women in civil rights, women politicians

Fanny Blankers-Koen, wife, mother, and four-time Olympic gold medalist

August 16, 2012 by KeriLynn Engel 2 Comments

Fanny Blankers-Koen, wife, mother, and four-time Olympic gold medalist

Fanny Blankers-Koen (1918–2004) was a Dutch Olympic athlete known as the Flying Housewife. In the 1948 Olympics in London, the 30-year-old mother of two won four gold medals and set world records — while pregnant with her third child. She was the first woman to win four Olympic gold medals, and the first one to […]

Filed Under: Athletes, Featured, Women Firsts Tagged With: 21st century women, dutch women, european women, mothers, women of the netherlands

Wilma Rudolph, Olympic gold medalist & civil rights pioneer

August 14, 2012 by KeriLynn Engel 6 Comments

Wilma Rudolph, Olympic gold medalist & civil rights pioneer

Wilma Rudolph (1940–1994) was considered the fastest woman in the world in the ‘60s, and the first American woman to win three gold medals in track & field in the 1960 Olympics. This was the first year that the Olympics were covered internationally on television, which helped Wilma become an international star. In the 1960 […]

Filed Under: Activists, Athletes, Featured, Women Firsts Tagged With: 21st century women, african american women, black women, women in civil rights, women in the olympics

Gay Allis Rose Clifford, poet & scholar

August 8, 2012 by KeriLynn Engel 1 Comment

Gay Allis Rose Clifford, poet & scholar

Gay Allis Rose Clifford (1943-1998) was a poet and a literary theorist whose most influential piece, Transformations of Allegory, has been cited by over a hundred subsequent works and is still a major work today in the field of allegory in literature. Gay Clifford left her mark not only in the world of literature, but […]

Filed Under: Other, Writers Tagged With: 21st century women, english women, european women, women poets, women scholars

Randy’L He-dow Teton: the face of Sacagawea

October 10, 2011 by KeriLynn Engel Leave a Comment

Randy’L He-dow Teton is a Shoshone woman who posed for the image of Sacagawea on the Sacagawea dollar coin, first issued in 2000. She’s the only woman besides Martha Washington to appear on US currency, the only Native-American woman to pose for an American coin, and the only living person whose image appears on American […]

Filed Under: Activists Tagged With: 21st century women, american indian women, american women, modern women, native american women

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Amazing Women In History by KeriLynn Engel
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