Influential Women

Women of Influence

This is a small list of women who achieved recognition throughout history. I hope it is an inspiration to you to become all God made you to be in Christ Jesus.

Eve was the first woman God created and is the mother of us all.

Esther became queen, though she was a commoner and saved the Jewish people from annihilation.

Mary humbled herself before the angel, Gabriel and became the mother of Jesus.

Mary Magdalene repented of her sin and became a follower of Christ. To this day she is used as an example of a life that was changed.

Cleopatra became queen of Egypt at 18.

Joan of Arc helped the French defeat the English and was burned at the stake at the age of 21.

Queen Elizabeth I – during her reign there were great achievements in literature and peace in England.

Pocahontas saved Captain John Smith’s life.

Abigail Adams was the wife of President John Adams and mother of President John Quincy Adams. She was influential in the beginnings of the USA as a nation and a supporter of women’s rights.

Betsy Ross was an American seamstress. Legend says she made the first US flag.

Mary Ludwig Hayes McCauley (Molly Pitcher) brought water to the soldiers in the field during the Revolutionary War. When her husband was injured on the battlefield she took over his gun.

Deborah Sampson fought in the Revolutionary War disguised as a man.

Sacagawea was a guide and interpreter for the Lewis & Clark expedition.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” about slavery in the south and and sold over 500,000 books in the US. It helped to bring people’s attention to the horrors of slavery.

Lucy Stone was one of the first women in the US to earn a college degree. She graduated first in her class at Oberlin College in 1847. Lucy also organized the first national women’s rights convention.

Susan B. Anthony formed the National Women’s Suffrage Association. She was a pioneer in the fight for women’s rights and the first woman to have her picture on a coin, the silver dollar.

Florence Nightingale was a nurse who worked on the battlefield during the Crimean War. She is considered to be the founder of modern nursing.

Harriet Tubman was born a slave, became an abolitionist and conductor of the Underground Railroad. She led over 300 slaves to freedom.

Clara Barton was a nurse during the Civil War and founded the American Red Cross.

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first women physician. She founded the New York Infirmary for Women & Children in 1857 and the Women’s Medical College in 1867.

Emily Dickinson was a famous American poet.

Louisa May Alcott was a famous author who wrote “Little Women” & “Little Men”. She also worked to get voting rights for women.

Edmonia Lewis was the first African American artist acknowledged as a sculptor.

Carry Nation is famous for her work to ban alcohol.

Susie King Taylor was an African American Civil War nurse. She authored “My Life as with the 33rd United Stated Colored Troops”.

Charlotte E. Ray was the first African American woman to get a law degree.

Juliette Gordon Low founded the American Girl Scouts.

Annie Oakley was a famous woman sharpshooter. She was a star in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

Anna Mary Robertson Grandma Moses was a popular American painter. She sold her first painting when she was 78 years old. She lived to be 101.

Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, pen name Nellie Bly, was famous for her articles exposing the conditions in mental hospitals and her article about her trip around the world in 72 days.

Beatrix Potter was a British author and illustrator.

Marie Curie was a famous scientist who won two Nobel Prizes. She and her husband are known for their work with radioactivity. They discovered radium and polonium.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was an author. She wrote the “Little House On The Prairie” books.

Mary Francis Winston Newton was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in Mathematics.

Ida B. Wells was an African American editor and co-owner of the Memphis Free Speech. She published “A Red Record” which documented the lynching of African Americans.

Maria Montessori was the first women to graduate from the University of Rome’s Medical College. She is famous for her work with young children.

Maria McLeod Bethune dedicated her life to improving educational opportunities for African Americans. She founded a school for African American girls.

Helen Keller overcame blindness & deafness and graduated from Radcliffe. She gave many speeches on the behalf of the handicapped and wrote several books.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was married to President Franklin Roosevelt and traveled for him during World War II. She was the chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Edith Wharton was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1921.

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane in 1932.

Frances Perkins became the first female member of a president’s cabinet in 1933 under Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to serve in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. In 1964 she became the first woman to be placed in nomination for the presidency of the United States at a major party convention.

Marian Anderson was the first African American to woman to sing a leading role at The New York Metropolitan Opera House.

Margaret Mead was an anthropologist famous for her study of how culture influences personality.

Clara Mc Bride Hale founded Hale House a home for children with AIDS.

Mother Teresa was a nun who received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in Calcutta, India with the Missionaries of Charity.

Rosa Parks was an American civil rights leader famous for not giving her seat up on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.

Indira Gandhi was an Indian politician and Prime Minister of India for 15 years.

Margaret Thatcher was the United Kingdom’s first female Prime Minister. She was Prime Minister from 1979-1990.

Coretta Scott King carried on the fight for civil rights after the assassination of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Althea Gibson was the first African American to play at Wimbledon.

Joan Ganz Cooney created “Sesame Street”, “Electric Company” & “3-2-1- Contact”.

Anne Frank was the Dutch author of “Anne Frank’s Diary”.

Janet Guthrie was the first woman to drive in the Indy 500 in 1977.

Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman nominated to the Supreme Court in 1981 by Ronald Regan.

Madeline Albright was the first female Secretary of State in 1977 under Bill Clinton.

Mae C. Jemison first female African American astronaut and the first African American woman in space.

American Women of Influence

Martha Dandridge Washington – Martha was the oldest daughter of John and Frances Dandridge. She was born on June 2, 1731 on a plantation near Williamsburg, Virginia. Her education was almost negligible except in social and domestic skills, but she learned all of the arts of a well-ordered household and how to keep her family contented.

From the day Martha married George Washington her great concern was for the comfort of her husband and children. When his career led him to the battlegrounds of the Revolutionary War and finally to the Presidency, she followed him bravely. Her love of private life equaled her husband’s; but, as she wrote to her friend Mercy Otis Warren, “I cannot blame him for having acted according to his ideas of duty in obeying the voice of his country.” As for herself, “I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not on our circumstances.”

During her time as First Lady, the Washingtons entertained in formal style. Martha’s warm hospitality made her guests feel welcome and put strangers at ease. Abigail Adams praised her as “one of those unassuming characters which create Love and Esteem.”

Martha died 3 years after her husband on May 22, 1802. If we listen to the words on this page, she is still influencing our lives.

Taken from www.whitehouse.gov.