In Photos: Women Who Dared to Change the World
Author Dorothy West once said, “There is no life that does not contribute to history.” Today, we honor the great women who dared to change the world and make it a better place.
Simone Segouin, an 18-year old French Résistance fighter, holds her rifle during the liberation of Paris. [19 August 1944]
The iconic photo of a concerned pea-picker during the Dust Bowl. Her name is Florence Thompson, her children described her as someone who made sure they had something to eat when many times she did not. [1936]
A Muslim woman uses her veil to cover the yellow star of her Jewish neighbor to protect her from prosecution. Sarajevo, former Yugoslavia. [1941]
Jeanne Manford shows support for her gay son (to her left) during a Pride Parade. She went on to found PFLAG International, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group. [1972]
Aviator Amelia Earhart after becoming the first woman to fly an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. [1928]
Margaret Hamilton stands next to the code she wrote by hand — the same code that was used to take humans to the moon. [1969]
A Dutch woman stays with her husband, a German soldier, after Allied soldiers capture him. She followed him into captivity. [1944]
Women boxing on a rooftop in Los Angeles. [1933]
Anna Fisher, an American astronaut and “the first mother in space.” Currently, she is the oldest active American astronaut. [1984]
Some of the first women sworn into the US Marine Corps. [August, 1918]
Female pilots leaving their B-17, “Pistol Packin’ Mama” [c. 1941 – 1945]
A Swedish woman hits a neo-Nazi protester with her handbag. The woman was reportedly a concentration camp survivor. [1985]
Two women show uncovered legs in public for the first time in Toronto. [1937]
A suffrage activist protesting after “The Night of Terror.” [1917]
Maud Wagner, the first well-known female tattoo artist in the United States. [1907]
The first women’s basketball team from Smith College. [1902]
Female members of the Hell’s Angels. [1973]
Volunteers during a firefighting exercise at Pearl Harbor [c. 1941 – 1945]