Thousands of women began their careers at NASA as computers, before the advent of electronic machines. A diverse and potent force in space exploration, their calculations were ultimately responsible for sending astronauts to the moon.
Dorothy Herrmann, author of Helen Keller: A Life, tells us about the writer and activist’s passion for philosophy, love of Walt Whitman, and devotion to the work of a Swedish theologian.
How could President Wilson call for democracy abroad while suppressing it at home? Filmmaker Amanda Pollak discusses the radical suffragist Alice Paul.
In a 12-part series, journalist Ida Tarbell took on one of the most powerful men in the country, John D. Rockefeller. Her work incited the breakup of a major monopoly, and set a new standard in journalism.
In 1939, Anderson gave a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. She delivered "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" and "America" with heart-breaking pathos.
Eleanor Roosevelt struggled to overcome an unhappy childhood, betrayal in her marriage, and gripping depression — all while staying true to her passion for social justice.
On April 5, 1911, New Yorkers from all walks of life paid tribute to the unidentified victims of the Triangle fire: the deadliest workplace accident in the city's history.
In the summer of 1973 an anonymous band of women at NASA's Johnson Space Center made a mockery of the beauty contest planned by the agency for its Houston staff.
Lucy Pocock was a masterful oarswoman who once rowed so hard to win a race that she fainted when she crossed the finish line. Here, her granddaughter shares Lucy's story.
As America entered the Great War, suffragists turned President Wilson’s hypocritical pleas for democracy elsewhere in the world into a potent weapon at home.
A combative and outspoken leader in the women's suffrage movement, Alice Paul broke away from the National American Woman Suffrage Association to form the more radical National Woman's Party.
Speaking out publicly against injustice, publishing and editing newspapers, and helping slaves escape to freedom, these pioneers achieved successes unprecedented for women at the time.
Fort joins the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Service to fly planes from factories to military air bases, and tragically becomes the first American woman to die on active military duty.
As female sexuality and premarital sex moved out of the shadows, the Pill became a convenient scapegoat for the sexual revolution among social conservatives.
With every new advance in prenatal genetic screening, the ability to prevent suffering has also sparked difficult questions. These fears arise, in part, because just 100 years ago, that’s exactly what the eugenics movement tried to do.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle is thought to be the first person to propose using natural chemicals such as cedar oil, lead ointment, or frankincense oil as spermicides.
Though she'd previously had little interest in politics, the new first lady would go on to run a "stewardship" of the presidency when Wilson's health failed.
