Actress, writer, and comedian Mae West pushed the limits of the American stage and screen, climbing the “ladder of success wrong by wrong.” She was a subversive camp icon who grappled with complex social issues, imbuing her plot lines with commentary about gender conformity, societal ...
Annie Smith Peck, one of the first women in America to become a college professor in the fields of Latin, elocution, and archaeology, took up mountain climbing in her forties. She gained international fame in 1895 when she first summited the Matterhorn in the Swiss ...
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Gladys Bentley joined New York’s Harlem Renaissance jazz scene at age 16 and became an instant sensation and gender identity pioneer, performing piano and vocals at the most popular gay bars, wearing men’s clothing, and openly flirting with women in the audience.
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1931: Toni Morrison--Chloe Ardelia Wofford-- is born in Lorain, Ohio, to George Wofford and Ramah Willis Wofford 1949: Wofford enrolls at Howard University 1953: Graduates from Howard University, receiving her B.A. in English 1955: Awarded a Master's degree in English from Cornell University. She receives ...
I created a kind of twentieth century sex goddess that mocked and delighted all victims and soldiers of the great war between men and women. I was their banner, their figurehead, an articulate image, and I certainly enjoyed the work. --Mae West Mae West achieved ...
August 17, 1893: Mary Jane West is born to John Patrick and Mathilda West on Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn, NY. c.1896: Sister Mildred West is born (name later changed to Beverly). c.1900: Brother John West II is born. c.1901: West makes her show business debut ...
Margaret Chung (1889-1959) overcame great racism and sexism to become the first American-born Chinese female doctor in 1916. She also helped establish WAVES, the women’s naval reserves, paving the way for women’s integration into the U.S armed forces.
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Country music icon Loretta Lynn was married at the age of fifteen. By the time she was twenty-two, she had given birth to four children. Several years later, in her early thirties, Loretta gave birth to twin girls. She had a total of six children. ...
Rose Schneiderman began working in a factory at age 16, and after experiencing unsafe work conditions and unequal pay first-hand, helped organize an all-women's chapter of a hat makers’ union. She became president of the National Women's Trade Union League, and an advisor to President ...
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Lorraine Hansberry believed that words could change society. As the first-ever black woman to author a play performed on Broadway, she did not shy away from richly drawn characters and unprecedented subject matter. Actor Sidney Poitier says in the American Masters film Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted ...
