Gloria Richardson is best known as the the leader of the Cambridge Movement, a struggle for civil rights and economic opportunities in Cambridge, Maryland. Richardson was born in Gloria St. Clair Hayes in 1922 in Baltimore, Maryland. At the age of six, Richardson’s family moved to Cambridge, Maryland where her grandfather, Herbert M. St. Clair, …
Alison Bechdel is an acclaimed author and illustrator known for her graphic novel ‘Fun Home’, and the Bechdel test, an indicator of gender bias in film. Bechdel was born in 1960 in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania to Helen and Bruce Bechdel who taught at the local high school. Her father also worked as a funeral director …
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to graduate from medical school in the United States. She was a pioneer in educating women in medicine and a leading public health activist. Blackwell was born in 1821 in Bristol, England to Samuel and Hannah Blackwell. Her father was a dissenter, and so his children were denied public …
Caroline Norton was an English feminist, social reformer, and author of the early and mid-nineteenth century. She was a major Victorian campaigner for women’s rights and was instrumental in the passing of the Custody of Infants Act 1839 and the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857. Norton was born in 1808 in London. At the age of …
Lili Elbe was a transgender Danish painter who was among the first-ever documented recipients of gender confirmation surgery. Elbe was born in 1882 in the town of Vejle, Denmark. Her artistic talent was obvious as a young child, and as a teenager she travelled to Copenhagen to study art at the Royal Danish Academy of …
Shirley Chisholm was an educator, author and politician. She was the first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress, the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States, and the first woman ever to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Chisholm was born Shirley St. Hill in 1924 in Brooklyn, New York …
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was an English physician and feminist, she was the first female doctor to qualify in England. She opened a school of medicine for women, and paved the way for women’s medical education in Britain. Anderson was born in 1836 in Whitechapel, London to Newson and Louisa Dunnell Garrett. Her father had previously …
Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She wrote and illustrated more than 20 children’s books featuring the animals Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and Benjamin Bunny. Potter was born in 1866 in London. Her father Rupert had trained as a lawyer but devoted himself to art and photography, her mother Helen …
Etta James was a Grammy Award-winning singer who bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in 1938 in Los Angeles, California to 14-year-old Dorothy Hawkins, her father is unknown. As a baby, James was put in the care of a series of foster parents including “Mama” …
Audre Lorde described herself as “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”. She was a pioneer of intersectional feminism and her work focused on confronting and addressing the injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Lorde was born in 1934 in New York City to West Indian parents. She grew up hearing her mother’s stories about the West …