Katherine Murray “Kate” Millett is an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She is an acknowledged leader of the modern women’s movement. Millett was born in 1934 in Saint Paul, Minnesota to James Albert and Helen Feely Millett. The family’s background was Irish Catholic, and Kate attended several parochial schools. Her father was an …
Katherine G. Johnson is an American physicist, space scientist, and mathematician who contributed to America’s aeronautics and space programs with the early application of digital electronic computers at NASA. Johnson was born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. She showed an interest in mathematics from a young age, and was eager to go …
Dame Vivienne Westwood is an English fashion designer and businesswoman whose early designs helped shape the look of the punk rock movement. Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in 1941 in Tintwistle, England. Her parents, Gordon and Dora Swire had married two years previously, two weeks after the outbreak of World War II. Westwood attended …
Kelly Sue DeConnick is an American comic book writer and editor and English-language adapter of manga. She is best known for Captain Marvel, Avengers Assemble, PRETTY DEADLY, co-created with Emma Ríos, and BITCH PLANET, co-created with Valentine De Landro. DeConnick was born in Ohio in 1970. Her father served in the United States Air Force, …
Missy “misdemeanor” Elliott is a Grammy Award-winning singer, rapper, songwriter and producer who has achieved great success while breaking boundaries in the male-dominated world of hip-hop. Missy Elliott was born Melissa Arnette Elliott in 1971 in Portsmouth, Virginia. She was the only child of Patricia, a power-company dispatcher, and father Ronnie, a U.S. Marine. She …
Maya Angelou was an American award-winning author, poet, and civil rights activist. She is best known for her acclaimed memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and her numerous poetry and essay collections. Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She was briefly raised in St. Louis until her parents …
Hannah Höch was an important member of the Berlin Dada movement, a pioneer of photomontage and a feminist icon. Höch was born in 1889, in Gotha, Germany. She was forced to leave school at 15 to take care of a sister, and was not able to resume her studies until she was 22 when she …
Misty Copeland is an American ballet dancer and the first African-American performer to be appointed as a principal dancer for American Ballet Theatre. Copland was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1982 and raised in San Pedro, California. When she was seven, Copeland saw Nadia on the Lifetime network and Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci became …
Jane Austen was an English Georgian era novelist whose books, set among the English middle and upper classes, are notable for their wit, social observation and insights into the lives of early 19th century women. Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire in 1775. She was the seventh child and second daughter of Cassandra and George …
Roxane Gay is an American writer, professor, editor, blogger, and commentator. She is a 2015 winner of PEN USA’s Freedom to Write award for her demonstration of exceptional courage in the defence of free expression. Gay was born in Nebraska to Haitian parents. Her family moved several times during her childhood and as Gay was …