Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World: 1

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Today, we think it’s a given that your family and community shape the person you become. That once-revolutionary concept was defined and popularized by the world-famous anthropologist Margaret Mead. Before graduating from Columbia University, Mead traveled to Samoa in 1925 to investigate a question of human nature: Was adolescence a struggle due to biology, or because of cultural influences? She spent nine months observing Indigenous society and concluded in Coming of Age in Samoa, her bestselling 1928 book, that culture largely determined one’s adolescent experience. The book was a sensation thanks to its frank descriptions of sexuality, and launched Mead into a long career. Just as important as her scientific work, Mead was an outspoken advocate for women’s equality, racial equality, sexual freedom, and the environment. —KL 86. Maryam Mirzakhani Vice President Kamala Harris has gotten closest to the Oval Office, but Victoria Claflin Woodhull tried to make it there almost a century and a half earlier. Before she became the first woman to run for president in 1872, Woodhull divorced her cheating, alcoholic husband and had a successful, eclectic career alongside her sister, Tennessee. Together, they served as Cornelius Vanderbilt’s personal clairvoyants, became the first women to found and run a Wall Street brokerage firm, and established a leftist newspaper, Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly, which was the first to publish an American English translation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s Communist Manifesto. She then became the presidential candidate for the Equal Rights Party, running on a liberal platform that supported women’s suffrage, an eight-hour workday, welfare programs, and more. Needless to say, she didn’t win—at 34 years old, she wasn’t really even old enough to run—but her campaign helped clear the path for dozens of female presidential hopefuls who have fought the noble fight since then. —EG 128. Chien-Shiung Wu

Though at times the language can be difficult to follow, it is powerful and moving and also reveals the perspective of a woman who served in the war.Last but not least, there are some fabulous books on art and fashion included, where women established themselves as leaders in their field, with the stylish Sonia Delaunay book (I have to confess I also bid for it, but obviously failed) being a fine example (49).

Chisala also talks about self-love and self-care. Something on the journey of doing for myself. She also mentioned not putting a man before yourself. Something I often see way more than I should. But for aspiring Asian American figure skaters across the country, seeing themselves represented atop an Olympic podium had a power of its own. And as Yamaguchi told The Washington Post in 2022, “I didn’t go away.” She started touring with Stars on Ice, and co-creator Scott Hamilton (a fellow Olympic gold medalist) credited her “great, incredible capacity to draw [people]” with doubling the number of shows on the schedule. She’s written children’s books, designed activewear, and appeared in movies like Disney Channel’s Go Figure (2005). She also founded an organization, Always Dream, to promote children’s literacy.As a schoolgirl, Sophie Scholl joined the League of German Girls along with her peers, but later grew skeptical. While at the University of Munich, she joined the Weiße Rose (White Rose), a protest group her brother Hans had started. The rebel students wrote and distributed leaflets urging the public to resist the Nazi regime. The two Scholl siblings and one other White Rose member were caught on February 18 and arrested for treason. The three were beheaded by guillotine just four days later. But Scholl’s belief in her mission never wavered: Years later, Scholl’s cellmate recalled that before her death, Scholl said, “Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go ... What does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?” —KW 111. Mary Seacole

TR: I first read about Maury in “Women of the Moon” by Daniel R. Altschuler and Fernando J. Ballesteros (2019) – a lovely compendium of biographies of the lunar craters named to honour women (at the time of publication, they numbered just 28 out of 1,586 named craters). I was utterly thrilled when we came across Maury’s own copies of these significant publications. Testament of Youth is an autobiography of Vera Brittain’s life from 1900-1925. She first writes about growing up in Edwardian Britain as she struggled to convince her parents of her right to go to university. I imagine that USAmericans would not like their own history and law misrepresented like this, so I would be grateful if this could be revised. Using fifteen years’ worth of interviews and research, this is a close and personal account of Ginburg’s life as a young Jewish girl who grew up during the Holocaust and World War II.Much like Queen Victoria, her great-great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II was not born the heir presumptive. But all that changed in December 1936 with the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, and her father’s ascension to the throne. With no brothers to jump her place in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II upon the death of her father, George VI, in 1952. Though she was only 25 years old at the time, and largely surrounded by men who had years of political experience on her, Elizabeth managed to find her voice and hold her own against legendary leaders like Winston Churchill, who became one of her closest allies.

Full of striking and fascinating infographics and diagrams, this book makes understanding these women’s accomplishments easy and enjoyable. Jane Jacobs at a press conference in 1961. / Phil Stanziola, Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain I am not sure that some of the women were hugely influential in changing the world. But the fact that the earlier women are there because accident of birth or political marriage allowed them to achieve, such as Cleopatra and Catherine the Great, while the later are there because they were achievers in science or literature, such as Marie Curie or Virginia Woolf, is telling. After that we get women who achieved in physical ways such as flying, tennis or sailing. Even acting and singing. Leading countries, civil rights or peace movements is up there too. The Governor General shall from Time to Time, in the Queen’s Name, by Instrument under the Great Seal of Canada, summon qualified Persons to the Senate… Commodore Grace M. Hopper photographed in 1984. / James S. Davis, United States Navy, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

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TR: Yes, the delicate combination of colour and fabric in the Sonia Delaunay volume is stunning. She had such a fresh, innovative approach to fashion in the Jazz age, and her geometric designs are far from the typical flapper girl aesthetic you might associate with the era. The rare inscribed copy of Mary Gartside’s first book was also a great discovery. She was the first woman in the Western world to publish a book on colour and discuss colour theory, but until recently, she had almost disappeared from history. Her work predates that of more recognised and quoted male colour theorists, such as James Sowerby and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.