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]