940: Elizabeth Jennings Graham Rosa Parks Who? Born: c.1830*, New York, United States of America Died: 5 June 1901, Manhattan, New York, United States of America Elizabeth is known for being the first African American woman to be denied a seat on public transportation and whose case later made national news in the United States…
“Every ship I see sailing away fills me with the greatest desire to be on it.” 939: Elisabeth of Austria Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary, and Duchess of Bavaria Born: 24 December 1837, Munich, Bavaria (Present-day Munich, Germany) Died: 10 September 1898, Geneva, Switzerland Also Known As: Sisi or Sissi Elisabeth’s husband was her…
938: Fereshteh Forough Founder, CEO, & President of Code to Inspire Born: 1985, Iran* Code to Inspire is the first school to teach girls coding in Afghanistan. Fereshteh is an education advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment in developing countries. Fereshteh is one of eight children. Her family left Afghanistan after the Soviet Invasion…
“The kids were shipped like cattle on train cars, with up to 300 on each trip. The adult agents who accompanied the children dressed them up and groomed them like livestock for a show. They taught them poems and songs to present to their prospective owners.” 937: Alice Bullis Ayler One of the Last Three…
“Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?” 936: Inez Milholland Literally Campaigned Herself to Death for the Cause of Suffrage Born: 6 August 1886, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America Died: 25 November 1916, Los Angeles, California, United States of America Full Name: Inez Milholland Boissevain Inez was a labor lawyer and…
“The President is Shot!” The ticket I received when visiting Ford’s Theatre. 935: Clara Harris Rathbone She Didn’t Know it at the Time, but President Lincoln Wasn’t the Only Victim in the Box That Night Born: 4 September 1834, Albany, New York, United States of America Died: 23 December 1883, Hanover, Imperial Germany (Present-day Hanover,…
934: Sarah Thomas Sports Fan Who has Kept Her Life Involved in a Number of Different Games Born: 21 September 1973, Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States of America In 2009, Sarah became the first woman to officiate a bowl game (college football). In 2011, she became the first woman to work in a Big Ten stadium….
933: Misty Copeland The First African American Woman to be Hired as a Principal Dancer by a Major US Ballet Company Born: 10 September 1982, Kansas City, Missouri, United States of America Misty was hired by American Ballet Theatre in 2001. In the beginning, when she danced in the theater’s corps de ballet, she was…
932: Mayar Mohamed Moussa Died During a “Botched” Female Genital Mutilation Surgery When She was Seventeen Born: c.1999, Most Likely Egypt Died: May 2016, Suez Province, Egypt Mayar’s death sparked Egypt’s second ever prosecution for an FGM crime. The first case took place in 2013, after thirteen-year-old Sohair al-Bata’a (her name has also been spelled…
931: Seraph Young Ford The First American Woman to Cast a Ballot Vote Born: 6 November 1846, Winter Quarters, Nebraska Territory, United States of America (Present-day Near Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America) Died: 22 June 1938, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States of America It was 14 February 1870, and Seraph had arrived at the…