Barbara Brenner was a renowned American breast cancer activist and leader of the Breast Cancer Action organisation. Brenner’s activism started at a young age when her mother took her to a Civil Rights march when she was 10 where she heard Martin Luther King, Jr speak. While at Smith College she was active in the …
Claudia Jones was a feminist, black nationalist, political activist, community leader, communist and journalist. She is the founder of Britain’s first black weekly newspaper “The West Indian Gazette” and has been described as the mother of the Notting Hill Carnival. Jones was born Claudia Vera Cumberbatch in Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1915. At …
Indira Gandhi was the first female Prime Minister of India and central figure of the Indian National Congress party. She was assassinated in 1984. Gandhi (born Indira Nehru) was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru was one of the chief figures in India’s campaign for independence from Britain along with her grandfather Motilal Nehru. …
Eva Perón served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She used her position to fight for women’s suffrage and improving the lives of the poor, becoming a legendary figure in Argentine politics. She is commonly known as ‘Evita’. Perón was born María Eva Duarte on May 7, 1919, …
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She is the second female justice and the first Jewish female justice. Ginsburg graduated with a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University in 1954. In 1956 she enrolled at Harvard Law School, she was one of nine women in …
Jessica Ennis-Hill is a British track and field athlete. She is the current Olympic and world heptathlon champion and the current British national record holder for the heptathlon. She is also a former World and European champion. Ennis-Hill’s interest in track and field began when her parents took her and her younger sister, Carmel to …
Rosalind Franklin was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer who made contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite. Franklin attended one of the few girls’ schools in London that taught physics and chemistry, she excelled at science and at 15 decided she would become a scientist. …
Marie Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo. She is known as the ‘Voodoo Queen of New Orleans’. The history of Laveau is not certain, she is thought to have been born to a rich Creole plantation owner, Charles Laveau and his mistress Marguerite on a plantation on the outskirts of New Orleans. She …
Mary Beard OBE, FBA, FSA is an English Classical scholar. Beard became interested in the ancient world at the age of 5 after a trip to the British Museum in London. She attended Shrewsbury High School where she excelled, particularly in Latin and Greek. During the summer holidays she participated in local archaeological excavations. In …
Andrea Dworkin was an American feminist, author and outspoken critic of sexual politics, particularly the victimising effects she felt pornography had on women. Dworkin’s father, an educator and socialist was a big influence on her and her interest in human rights and human dignity. Her mother believed in legal birth control and legal abortion long …