March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.  Since today is the last day of this awesome month, we’ll be going out with a bank, spotlight FIVE women who rock.

MARVELYN BROWN (1984- )

Marvelyn Brown probably never expected to make it to “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Tavis Smiley Show” and “The Tyra Banks Show.” Early in life, she may not have thought she was going to be featured in Newsweek, Ebony, and Fortune. No doubt she wishes she was featured worldwide for a different reason other than having HIV, but her strength to speak out is admirable.

What makes Brown an amazing woman is not all of the media attention. It’s not about having a book out called The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful, and (HIV) Positive. What makes her amazing is that on July 17, 2003, when she found out she was HIV positive at the age of 19, she immediately reached for her cell phone to notify all of her sexual partners. It’s difficult enough to digest that kind of news, but from her hospital bed she took responsibility for it.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.  Since today is the last day of this awesome month, we’ll be going out with a bank, spotlight FIVE women who rock.

LYDIA THOMPSON (1838-1908)

Born in 1838, Eliza Hodges Thompson was a London dancer, actress and theater producer. As a teenager, she toured as a dancer throughout Europe, starring in many successful burlesque shows around London. She won notoriety for introducing burlesque to America in 1868. Thompson traveled the states with her troupe, the British Blondes, from 1868-1874. Their first hit show, “Ixion,” was a comedy that featured cross-dressing women playing men’s roles.

Thompson’s shows included a mix of pantomime, burlesque, improvisation, singing, dancing and racy costumes. The scantily clad dancers wore skirts that were above the knee and flesh-colored tights. While they never appeared in the nude, the shows were popular because they were sexually suggestive and drew attention to the female body.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.  Since today is the last day of this awesome month, we’ll be going out with a bank, spotlight FIVE women who rock.

JOSEPHINE BAKER (1906-1975)

Josephine Baker, born on June 3, 1906, was the quintessential “wild child” of the 1920s. She was born Freda Josephine McDonald in East St. Louis, Ill., to Carrie McDonald. Although it’s not known exactly who Josephine’s father was, it’s believed that he was McDonald’s white employer at the time. At least that’s what Josephine believed.

Baker’s childhood was not what anyone would call easy. At either, she was abused by a lady she was working for because she used too much soap in the laundry. By the time she was 12, she had dropped out of school and had become one of the “street children” that slept in cardboard boxes and ate from garbage cans. She earned money by dancing on street corners.

She got her start in Vaudeville at 15 in the chorus line. There was no turning back. Josephine Baker broke the color barrier in theater and movies. She made her name in the Follies Bergères, and was recipient of the Croix de Guerre for her war efforts on behalf of her adopted country of France.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.  Since today is the last day of this awesome month, we’ll be going out with a bank, spotlight FIVE women who rock.

MARY McLEOD BETHUNE (1875-1955)

Born July 10, 1875, Mary McLeod Bethune made great strides in education, social justice and positive thinking for women, children and African-American society.

Mary McLeod Bethune is best known for founding Bethune-Cookman University. Though the school is a prestigious university today, it began as a small school for disadvantaged African-American girls.

Mary McLeod Bethune fought for the rights of women, for education without segregation, health care for black children, and much more. She did all this while still focusing on her school. Through the years, Mary McLeod Bethune championed many human rights causes and served as an adviser to five American presidents.

In addition, she served as president of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, founded the National Council for Negro Women, was appointed to the Child Welfare Conference under the Coolidge administration, and served in many other important roles.

Wherever Mary McLeod Bethune saw need for social remedies, she found ways to help. She opened a hospital to serve the African-American population when a sick black man was turned away from a Daytona Beach hospital.

Mary McLeod Bethune is known for saying, “Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.” She truly lived by those words, and though she died on May 18, 1955, her legacy continues.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.  Since today is the last day of this awesome month, we’ll be going out with a bank, spotlight FIVE women who rock.

GWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917-2000)

There are several influential African Americans — women especially — who sometimes fall through the cracks of history. Gwendolyn Brooks is one of them. Where women are concerned, there are few socially and politically influential people who can be called amazing. But a quick peek into the life and accomplishments of Gwendolyn Brooks is sufficient to comprehend the impact that she has had on today’s African American culture.

Born in 1917, Gwendolyn Brooks came from a typical loving family with parents who celebrated education. Her mother left a teaching career to focus on family life. And because the costs of medical school were too high, her father pushed aside the idea of becoming a doctor, settling for janitorial work instead. Years later, Gwendolyn Brooks herself would experience the sting of “settling,” taking on typing jobs and domestic work despite having submitted over 75 poems to The Chicago Defender.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday. 

GILDA RADNER (1946-1989)

She strides across the stage trailing that impossible cloud of wild curly hair behind her. She stops, smiles sweetly, and sings, “Let’s talk dirty to the animals.” Or she’s Rosanne Rosanna Dana reading a viewer’s question: “I have a question about breastfeeding. Do I have to keep my breast in the refrigerator between feedings?” As Baba Wawa might say, Gilda Radner was a “wiving wegend,” adding just enough absurdity to the most mundane situations to make her a star on “Saturday Night Live,” and to fill concert halls.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

GRACE HOPPER (1906-1992)
Born on Dec. 9, 1906 in New York City, computer scientist Grace Hopper led an extraordinary life. She earned a doctorate in mathematics from Yale in 1934 at a time when it was rare for women to earn such degrees. Hopper then became a professor at Vassar college where she remained until 1943, when she joined the U.S. Navy reserves. Having a passion for both math and computers, Hopper joined Harvard’s Computation Laboratory as a research engineer in 1946. She became only the third person to work on Harvard’s Mark I computer, the first automatic digital computer in America. (The military used the Mark I until 1959 for ballistics calculations.) It was during this time that she coined the term computer “bug,” after a moth caused a giant malfunction in the Mark I’s operation.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

PATSY CLINE (1932-1963)

It is visceral; we have to stop and listen every time a Patsy Cline song comes on the radio. That smoky, silky, sultry voice pulls you in and makes you live the lyrics that she sings.

She was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on Sept. 8, 1932, in Winchester, Va., to Sam and Hilda Hensley. Though she had an unhappy childhood, the home appeared happy to others. Patsy was the “poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks.” Sadly, her father abandoned the family when Patsy was 15. Hilda supported the family with her sewing, becoming a master seamstress and making most of Patsy’s “cowgirl” costumes over the years. But Patsy ended up challenging the fashion of country music by ditching the gingham and cowgirl look for cocktail dresses and sequins.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

BENAZIR BHUTTO (1953-2007)

Benazir Bhutto was born on June 21, 1953 in Karachi, Pakistan. Her parents were well known politicians—her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was a former prime minister. Bhutto was educated at Harvard and Oxford, studying government and law. She was the first woman to lead Pakistan as a prime minister, serving two terms as leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party. She was only 35 when she was elected to her first term, breaking barriers not only as a woman, but also as being the first woman to lead a Muslim-dominated country.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

RACHEL CARSON (1907-1964)

Rachel Carson was quite a woman. She pioneered the position that humans are a part of nature and that their quality of life is impacted by ecology. Even when faced with criticism by the government and chemical companies for her “radical” point of view, she continued to educate the world about the frail beauty of nature. Born in the town of Springdale, PA, on May 27, 1907, her love of nature and biology was cultivated by her mother, who encouraged her to marvel at their wonders. This love for nature was further developed throughout Carson’s education at the Pennsylvania College for Women, where she earned her undergraduate degree, and at Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her zoology master’s degree in 1932.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

JULIA CHILD (1912-2004)

Was there more to America’s first celebrity chef than what we read and saw? Most definitely. Julia Child had a past that most wouldn’t believe, and a number of accomplishments that chefs around the world would envy.

She was born Julia McWilliams on Aug. 15, 1912. After a childhood spent attending Katharine Branson School for Girls, Julia attended Smith College in Massachusetts. Instead of marrying and settling down, she volunteered at the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to today’s CIA. While her title was research assistant, she was actually a spy during World War II. It was during this time that she met Paul Child, her future husband.

BETTY FORD (1918-  )

Former First Lady Betty Ford, born Betty Ann Bloomer in 1918, was a pioneering force for the causes of substance abuse rehabilitation and breast cancer awareness. Never before had a public figure, let alone a First Lady, allowed the people to know so much of her private life. Betty Ford stunned the nation with her public admission of her prescription drug and alcohol abuse. By allowing all to see that drug and alcohol abuse can affect anyone and, more importantly, that a person can recover from those addictions, Ford set an example. Her passion for helping others with the same struggles led her and her husband, President Gerald Ford, to establish the Betty Ford Clinic. Over the years, the Betty Ford Clinic has helped celebrities and ordinary people alike break free of substance abuse.

Not only did Betty Ford speak openly about her substance abuse, but also she revealed her struggle with breast cancer. Going public with her mastectomy raised national awareness for breast cancer. Her life is a living and lasting legacy of how our experiences can shape and make better the lives of countless others.

Further reading:

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

JUDY BLUME (1938- )

Born Feb. 12, 1938, Judy Blume is one of the best known authors in America. She has written numerous novels for children and young adults, including Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, Deenie, Forever, and Blubber. Her total U.S. book sales exceed $80 million.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

ELLEN OCHOA (1958- )
Born May 10, 1958, Ellen Ochoa is a student, researcher, inventor, electrical engineer and, of course, an astronaut. Her many talents and accomplishments make her an extraordinary woman and a positive role model to many. She’s best known for co-inventing an optical system for space exploration, as well as for her role as an astronaut. As an astronaut, Ochoa worked with computer hardware, robotics, flight software and more. She served many important roles at NASA, including being a member of the crew aboard the spacewalk mission that was the first to use the robotic arm, which she helped to control. Ochoa has received a great deal of awards and recognitions throughout her life, some of which include various NASA citations, the Harvard Foundation Science Award, the Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award and the Women in Aerospace Outstanding Achievement Award, among others.

The research conducted by Ellen Ochoa has contributed a great deal to aerospace science and technology. She is a role model not only to women young and old (like Punky Brewster!), but also to the Hispanic community. Two schools thought so highly of her that they have her been named in her honor: the Ellen Ochoa Learning Center (a pre-kindergarten school) and the Ellen Ochoa Middle School.

Further Reading:

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

DOROTHY PARKER (1893-1967)

Renowned writer Dorothy Parker was born Dorothy Rothschild in Long Branch, N.J.. Her mother died shortly after her birth, leaving her to be raised by her father and stepmother, both of whom she grew to detest. Her unhappiness at home contributed largely to the literary work she would soon produce.

Parker began her career as a poet, writing for Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines. It was at this time that she came into her own, writing comic analyses of the hypocrisies of modern life. After being terminated from these positions due to her acerbic writings, she went to work as an editor for the newly founded New Yorker magazine. There she published poems that comically depicted her own failed romances.

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

NINA SIMONE (1933-2003)

Singer, pianist, composer, and arranger Nina Simone was destined for musical greatness—she started playing the piano at age 4. Born Eurnice Waymon, Simone was the sixth of seven children in a poor North Carolina family. A music teacher set up a fund for her, and she went to study at the Julliard School of Music.

MADAME C.J. WALKER (1867-1919)

Did you struggle in school? Come from an abusive family? Marry the wrong man? If so, you have the makings of a success, if the amazing life of Madam C.J. Walker is anything to go by.

One of the most successful female entrepreneurs of the 20th century, Madam C.J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on Dec. 23, 1867. She began life in poverty, which included backbreaking work in the cotton fields of Delta, La. By the time she was seven, both her parents were dead, leaving her under the care of an older sister, Louvenia. Unfortunately, Louvenia was married to an abusive man, which led Walker to marry early in order to escape. Four years into the marriage, her husband, Moses McWilliams, died, leaving Walker to raise their only child, Lelia, alone. This marked the turning point of her life.

LAURA INGALLS WILDER (1867-1957)

Laura Ingalls Wilder lived a simple life on the prairie, which she captured for millions in her writing (which were our favorite books when we were younger!), telling stories about growing up on the American frontier. She did much of her writing after her only daughter, Rose, had grown and left home, but getting a later start hasn’t had an effect on her books’ reach. “Little House on the Prairie” and her other 10 other books have been translated into more than 40 languages. “I had no idea I was writing history,” she had said, but she was. [She taught me that you should put maple syrup on snow—yum. —Catherine]

Further reading:

What do we women have to thank for our liberation in the 20th century? You may be thinking the birth control pill or the right to work outside the home or abortion rights. But really, the Vatican newspaper says perhaps we have the washing machine to thank. Yes, the washing machine. The idea was presented in “The Washing Machine and the Liberation of Women—Put in the Detergent, Close the Lid and Relax,” published in l’Osservatore Romano, the semi-official Vatican newspaper, to mark International Women’s Day. This article, which goes on to chronicle the history of the washing machine, may seem like a joke at first because the idea of the washing machine as liberator of women seems so ludicrous. But when we really think about it, we can’t expect anything affiliated with the Vatican and Catholic Church to champion birth control, abortion, or completely equal rights for women. With that said, maybe the article, which was written by a woman, should have focused on the neutral topic of education for women. No one can deny education has liberated women in the 20th century. If you’d like to read more on the accomplishments of women, then check out our “Women Who Rock” series. [Reuters]

Maria Agnesi (pronounced on-YAY-zee) was born May 16, 1718 in Milan, Italy, the eldest of the 21 (!) children Pietro Agnesi fathered with his three wives. Although women weren’t normally educated at the time, Maria’s father recognized her potential. The family wealth, derived from the silk trade, allowed Agnesi to be taught by the most learned members of the Roman Catholic Church—and she didn’t disappoint. Agnesi learned Italian and French as a youngster, and by the time she was 13, she also spoke Latin, Greek, Spanish, Hebrew and Spanish.