I don't know about you, but the history classes I took in high school and college (Women's History wasn't yet a subject) were pretty devoid of women. There was
Betsy Ross and
Dolley Madison, possibly
Abigail Adams. There was
Harriet Tubman and
Sacajawea and
Madame Curie and
Florence Nightingale. There was Amelia Earhart and
Eleanor Roosevelt. (
Amelia Earhart offered to give Eleanor Roosevelt flying lessons but FDR vetoed the plan.) And there were was
Elizabeth I and
Catherine the Great, two of the greatest, most influential monarchs who ever lived. (And no, Catherine the Great did NOT die the way you think she did.)
 |
| Madame C.J. Walker |
And then there was...who else?
Marie Antoinette?
Joan of Arc? I learned the name of every single explorer who ever traveled up the St. Lawrence River or set foot on the South Pole or traveled across the Sahara Desert. But none of my teachers ever mentioned Wu Zetian or Nellie Bly (I wanted to be a reporter when I grew up. I was crazy about Nellie Bly.) There was no mention of female astronomers, mathematicians (R.I.P.
Katherine Johnson), or explorers. I learned about Henry Ford but not about
Madame C.J. Walker.
So many amazing women have touched and changed history. This month I'm going to catch up on my reading about them.
Allison Pataki, the author of
The Traitor's Wife (Benedict Arnold was the traitor in question
), has written an engaging article on
7 Forgotten but Extremely Influential Women from History. Check it out
here.
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