Recently, the fall of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election has raised doubts about our country from a progressive standpoint. But while Clinton never shattered the "last greatest glass ceiling", it is important to recognize the women before her that helped her get as far as she did in the election. Here are 17 women for who made history in the United States before 2017.
1. Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643)
Hutchinson was deeply convicted to her religion as a Puritan. She had a fiery popularity for spreading the controversial Antinomianism all around the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Spiritual leaders were afraid of losing ground, so they banished her from their colony, and as she was moving up North to a new location, Anne and all but one of her kids were murdered by Native Americans.
Adams influenced her husband, president John Adams' decisions and wrote hundreds of letters that prove that she was one of the founders of the United States.
Anyone who has binge watched Orange is the New Black on Netflix knows that the federal judicial system is flawed. However, the can was much worse before Dix came along. She advocated for poorhouse, prison, and asylum reforms and was also the Superintendent of Female Nurses during the Civil War period.
When the 14th and 15th amendments excluded women's suffrage, Stanton held conferences where her friends Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony (#6) discussed issues such as women's suffrage.
5. Lucy Stone (1818-1891)
The first woman in Massachusetts to earn a college degree, Stone advocated for women's suffrage and abolition in her lectures.
Anthony advocated for women's equality throughout her entire lifetime. Under the Lincoln administration, she co-organized the Women's Loyal League which also fought for emancipation.
7. Frances Perkins (1882-1965)
Perkins was the first women cabinet member of the United States under FDR. Additionally, she worked as his Secretary of Labor, and helped pass on many of FDR's New Deal Reforms
8. Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)Sanger helped women safely seek contraception with her planned parenting clinic. Before Sanger, women sought abortion dangerously, since it was seen as more of a taboo. Today, it still is, but to a lesser extent thanks to women like Sanger.
Roosevelt was one of the most influential first ladies. In addition to helping her husband, FDR make decisions, she advanced race relations in the U.S. and was a delegate in the United Nations.
10. Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
Hurston was a talented writer, folklorist, and anthropologist. In addition to being a women and a writer, a profession dominated by men in the '30s, she was also a minority.
Anderson advanced race relations in the states. She was also the first black Metropolitan Opera Star, and a delegate in the United Nations.
Margaret Chase Smith was the first congresswoman of Maine. Guess how many times she was reelected. Four times!
13. Grace Hopper (1906-1992)
Don't know who Grace Hopper is? Well, for many of us living in the Silicon Valley, her story hits close to home. She was the first woman to get a degree in computer science and was a leader in developing software.
Although she was most famous for being an actress, her charity worked hand in hand with her career. She was the Special Ambassador for Unicef, where she used her fame to raise awareness about needy children.
Edelman spent most of her lifetime helping youth in need and being a civil rights activist. She founded the Children's Defense Fund and was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
16. Lucretia Mott (1793-1880)
Mott helped organize the Women's Rights Convention. With her husband, she converted her home into a station to house slaves riding on the Transcontinental Railroad, which was extremely dangerous.
17. Hillary Clinton
While many see her loss as a loss, every cloud has a silver lining. She was the first women to make it past the primaries, and inspired young girls everywhere.
Sources: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1551.html
Great list! All of these amazing women deserve to be here. I know not every influential woman can be on this list, but just to name some more, Phillis Wheatley was the first published black poet, and Elizabeth Blackwell was the first female graduate of medical school. While both of these women were not known for advocating change, their very actions inspired other girls to go on and do great things themselves.
ReplyDeleteMore information on Phillis Wheatley:
http://www.biography.com/people/phillis-wheatley-9528784
More information on Elizabeth Blackwell:
http://www.biography.com/people/elizabeth-blackwell-9214198
This is a great post on the top women who have shown great influence on American society up till 2017! I love how you started all the way from 1500s to the 2000s because you were able to show how women kept on contributing though they may have not gotten the recognition they deserved. I also admire how you were able to incorporate many of the women we have learned about in class as well as touch base on Hillary Clinton who most of us know today. While researching further on this topic, Sally Ride, the first women in space looked very interesting. Sally was able to outshine many of her male associates as well as travel to space more than once and return to teach college classes at Stanford.
ReplyDeleteIt was really interesting reading about the women who've positively made a difference in the US! Adding on, some other women who have also made history through the world are Rosa Parks, a civil rights activist who stood up for not only segregation issues (bus boycott with White man) but also fought for equality and freedom, and Malala Yousafzai, an activist for making education possible for everyone, specifically females, in the current world. For instance, she opened up a school for refugee children during the Syrian crisis. Something that stands out to me most and is what I really admire about these women is how some of them, such as Rosa Parks, have the courage to stand up for what they believe in and the determination to keep going to achieve those goals, even though there are obstacles like getting a negative reaction from the rest of society, in order to make the world a better place and positively influence others to do good.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great post Zanny! It is really interesting to read about all these courageous women who changed history. There are so many amazing women who contributed so much to the United States. The life of Maya Angelou is also very inspiring. She was a poet and author who advocated for civil rights in her writing. She also produced and directed plays, films, and television. She was actually the first black woman director in Hollywood. There are so many more women like them who deserve to be honored.
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