Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (also known as “Eliza” or “Betsey”.) has been called one of the ‘Founding Philanthropists’ for being the co-founder and deputy director of the first orphanage in New York City. She was the wife of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was born in 1757 in Albany, New York to Philip Schuyler, an American …
Venus Williams is an American champion women’s tennis player. She is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and currently holds the record for fastest serve in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Williams was born in 1980 in Lynwood, California. At the age of 4, Williams’ family moved to Compton, California. The area had a …
Amandla Stenberg is an actress best known for Catelya in Colombiana and Rue in The Hunger Games. She is an activist and in addition to advocating for No Kid Hungry, she has spoken out about a range of issues including the Black Lives Matter movement and the appropriation of black culture into the mainstream. She …
Serena Williams is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked No. 1 in women’s singles tennis. She has won over 20 Grand Slam singles titles and was a gold-medalist at the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Williams was born in 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan. At the age of 3, the Williams family moved …
Dr Helen Sharman OBE FRSC, is a British chemist who became the first Briton in space and the first woman to visit the Mir space station in 1991. Sharman was born in 1963 in Grenoside, Sheffield. Her father, a physicist, inspired an early interest in science and made her realise how relevant science is to …
Margaret Hamilton is a computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. She is best known for her role as an Award-winning American NASA scientist and mathematician who, as the Director of the Software Engineering Division at Charles Stark Draper Laboratory (CSDL), worked to develop the Apollo program. Hamilton was born in 1936 in Paoli, Indiana. …
Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author. She is considered one of the pre-eminent writers of twentieth-century African-American literature and was closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston was born in 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama. At the age of three, her family moved to Eatonville Florida, one of the first incorporated black …
Fatema Mernissi was a Moroccan sociologist and one of the founders of Islamic feminism. She is best known for her focus on reconciling traditional Islam with progressive feminism. Mernissi was born in 1940 in Fes, Morocco. As a child, she, unlike her mother and grandmother before her, was able to gain an education. She attended …
Ava DuVernay is an American director, screenwriter, film marketer, and film distributor. She is best known for ‘Selma’, which chronicles Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership in the struggle for voting rights. She is the first African-American woman to win the Best Director Prize at Sundance, the first female director to receive a Golden Globe …
Frances Power Cobbe was an Irish writer, social reformer, anti-vivisection activist, and leading women’s suffrage campaigner. Cobb was born in 1822 in Newbridge House on her family estate in what is now Donabate, Co. Dublin. The Cobbe family included noteworthy figures like Charles Cobbe, the Archbishop of Dublin from 1743 to 1765. Cobbe was the …