Deborah G. Felder

Impressive! Innovative! Influential! Discover and celebrate the amazing stories and achievements of 120 of America’s most inspiring women! Women have accomplished incredible things throughout American history. They’ve made and changed history. They've contributed revolutionary new ideas and moved science forward. Their inventions, businesses, literature, art, and activism helped build the nation. They've succeeded in a whole host of professions, including media, medicine, politics, government, education, sports, and the military. Trailblazing Women! Amazing Americans Who Made History shines a welcome light on some of America's most remarkable women and their enduring stories and amazing accomplishments. This fun and fascinating read covers the long history of America's heroic women. It brings you the biographies of some of America's boldest and bravest. Read about obstacles they overcame and how they flourished. It covers the lasting legacies of well-known and lesser-known stars, including ... For her efforts to promote world peace, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, the first American woman to receive the award. (Jane Addams (1860–1935), Social Reformer) Like the March girls in her classic novel Little Women, she and her sisters called their mother “Marmee.” (Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), Novelist) As a young child, she sang solos and duets with her Aunt Mary at the Union Baptist Church and by the age of 6 was earning money singing at local functions throughout her hometown of Philadelphia. (Marian Anderson (1897–1993), Singer) This celebrated women’s rights activist was one of very few famous women to have a ship named after her. (Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906), Suffragist) Called the “Angel of the Battlefield” for nursing soldiers during Civil War battles, she went on to establish the American Red Cross (Clara Barton (1821–1912), Army Nurse) She made headlines when she became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in the science of geology from the elite Baltimore research university, Johns Hopkins. (Florence Bascom (1862–1945), Geologist) The first American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, she grew up in a village in China, where her parents were missionaries. As a child, she spoke Chinese before she learned English. (Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973), Novelist) She said about the “me too” movement she founded: “When one person says, ‘Yeah, me, too,’ it gives permission for others to open up.” (Tarana Burke (1973–), Civil Rights Activist) She published articles under the gender-neutral name R.L. Carson, because she feared that readers would dismiss her pro-environment message if they knew the writer was a woman. (Rachel Carson (1907–1964), Biologist) The nation’s first four-star woman general has a long family history of U.S. military service—going back five generations. (Ann E. Dunwoody (1953–), Army Officer) This famous aviator organized an all-women group of pilots called the Ninety-Nines. She even designed the pilots’ uniforms, which were advertised in Vogue magazine. (Amelia Earhart (1897–1937), Aviator) She was the first African American tennis champ, and she paved the way for future Black stars in the sport. “I hope that I have accomplished one thing: that I have been a credit to tennis and my country.” (Althea Gibson (1927–2003), Tennis Player) When this celebrated U.S. Supreme Court justice served on the high court with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as one of only two women justices, she and O’Connor decided to wear special collars on decision days to carve out their visual space in a sea of black robes and ties. (Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020), Attorney, U.S. Supreme Court Justice) She made many discoveries in physics, but the most important was identifying the “magic numbers” that make protons or neutrons stable within an atomic nucleus. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work. (Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906–1972), Physicist) A soccer icon who was the first woman inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame, she started playing the sport at the age of two, while her family was living in Italy. (Mia Hamm (1972–), Soccer Player) Her first name means “lotus” in the Sanskrit langauge, and her name, Devi, means “goddess.” (Kamala Harris (1964–), Vice President of the United States of America) She coined the term “bug” to describe computer errors after she found a moth inside one of her team’s computers. (Grace Hopper (1906–1992), Computer Scientist, Navy Rear Admiral) When this physician and astronaut became the first African American woman in space, she carried with her a photo of pioneering Black aviator Bessie Coleman. (Mae Carol Jemison (1956–), Astronaut, Physician, Scientist) An acclaimed architect and artist best known for designing Washington, D.C.’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Lin once said, “I try to give people a different way of looking at their surroundings. That’s art to me.” (Maya Lin (1959–), Architect) When this former first lady was growing up, she was a great athlete, but she didn’t like playing competitive sports. The reason, her big brother said, was that “she hated losing.” (Michelle Obama (1964–), Attorney, First Lady) When she was appointed the nation’s first woman Supreme Court justice, she said, “The power I exert on the court depends on the power of my arguments, not on my gender.” (Sandra Day O’Connor (1930–), Attorney, U.S. Supreme Court Justice) A Cuban American and the first Latinx elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, she delivered a Spanish version of the Republican rebuttal to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address in 2014. (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (1952–), Congresswoman) This famed Shoshone Indian guide brought her infant son, Jean-Baptiste, with her on the Lewis and Clark expedition to the American West. (Sacagawea (c. 1786–c. 1812), Frontier Guide) This acclaimed prima ballerina was the daughter of an Osage Indian father and a white mother. The Osage people gave her the name Wa-Xthe-Thomba, meaning “Woman of Two Worlds.” (Maria Tallchief (1925–2013), Ballet Dancer) This mathematician, whose work has been described as one of the most important in 20th-century mathematics, used the complex shapes of soap film in her work to advance the field of geometry. (Karen Uhlenbeck (1942–), Mathematician) America’s first black self-made millionaire, she was the child of former slaves who attained her success by creating and marketing an innovative line of beauty products and hair-care techniques to African American women. (Madame C. J. Walker (1867–1919), Entrepreneur) A labor leader and educator, she is the current president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the former president of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), and she became the first openly gay individual to be elected president of a national American labor union. (Randi Weingarten (1957–), Educator, Labor Leader) This mathematician is the hidden hero behind the development of GPS apps on cell phones. (Gladys West (1930–), Mathematician) Raised during the Great Depression of the 1930s, this Nobel Prize-winning medical physicist had the chance to realize her dream of becoming a scientist because she was able to attend Hunter College, a free all-women school in New York City. (Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (1921–2011), Medical Physicist) And many more. America has had more than its share of amazing women. The influence, inspiration, and impact of women on U.S. society and culture cannot be ignored. Explore the vital roles and vibrant experiences of some of the most impressive women in American history with Trailblazing Women! Amazing Americans Who Made History. It brings to light all there is to admire and discover about these extraordinary women.

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