For #LGBThistorymonth I will be posting an #lgbtq #womaninhistory every day. Today is Jacqueline Charlotte Dufresnoy, best known by her stage name Coccinelle. She was a French actress, entertainer, singer and the first widely publicized post-war gender reassignment case in Europe. Coccinelle was a successful performer and media sensation. She built a singing career, …
Nichelle Nichols is an American actress, singer and voice artist. She is best known for starring as Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek, making her one of the first African American female characters to play a role other than a servant. She was a role model for female women of colour, and inspired many to join …
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi is a transgender rights activist, Hindi film actress and Bharatanatyam dancer in Mumbai, India. She became the first transgender person to represent Asia Pacific in the UN in 2008. Laxmi was born in 1979 in Thane to an orthodox Brahmin family. She had a difficult childhood, both due to her health – …
Dolly Parton is an American singer-songwriter, actress, author, businesswoman, and humanitarian, known primarily for her work in country music. She is the most honoured female country performer of all time. Parton was born in 1946 in Sevier County, Tennessee. From a young age, she would sing in church and at the age of 7 she …
Josephine Baker was an American-born French dancer and singer who was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture. She devoted much of her life to fighting racism and was a vital member of the Civil Rights Movement. Baker was born in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri. At the age of eight, …
Hattie McDaniel was an American actress, singer-songwriter and comedienne. She is best known for playing Mammy in Gone with the Wind, for which she became the first African American to win an Oscar. McDaniel was born in 1895 in Wichita, Kansas to Henry McDaniel, who had fought in the Civil War and Susan Holbert, who …
Lena Horne was an American singer, dancer, actress and civil rights activist. She was one of the most popular African American entertainers of the twentieth century and best known for films such as The Wiz and her trademark song, “Stormy Weather.” Horne was born in 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Edna, was an …
Carrie Fisher was an American actress and writer. She is best known for playing Princess Leia in Star Wars. She has written a semi-autobiographical novel Postcards from the Edge, as well as two autobiographical novels Wishful Drinking and Shockaholic which deal with her struggles with addiction and bipolar disorder. Fisher was outspoken in her views …
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress and model. She became one of the world’s biggest and most enduring sex symbols. Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926, in Los Angeles, California. Monroe’s mother, Gladys Pearl Monroe was mentally and financially unprepared for a child, Monroe was placed with foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender …
Hedy Lamarr was an inventor, pin-up and film actress. She co-developed an early technique for spread spectrum communications which are key in many wireless communications used today, including Wi-Fi. Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in 1914 in Vienna, Austria. In the late 1920’s, her acting talents were discovered by producer Max Reinhardt. He …