Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an American-Canadian suffragist, abolitionist, journalist, publisher, teacher, and lawyer. The oldest of 13 children, she was born in 1823 to free black parents whose Wilmington, Delaware home often served as a refuge for fugitive slaves. Shadd Cary was the first black woman publisher in North America and the first woman …
Inez Milholland Boissevain (1886-1916) was the privileged daughter of a New York Tribune writer and salesman. Boissevain’s parents supported her feminist agitations, but her elders at Vassar College were less enthused. Suspended from Vassar and denied entrance to several Ivy League schools, Boissevain finally graduated from NY University Law School in 1912. As a freshman …
Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was Italy’s first female physician and a children’s education pioneer. Montessori endured years of male hostility to finally graduate in 1896 with high honors from the University of Rome. Her work with disabled children informed her innovative approach to learning, which emphasized individuality and autonomy, sensory exploration and task-oriented play. Montessori …
Daughter to Emmeline, sister to Christabel, Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (English, 1882-1960) was perhaps the most reserved—though no less dedicated—member of the Women’s Social and Political Union’s founding family. Pankhurst designed banners, posters, and other promotional materials for the militant WSPU, but eventually left, opting to provide practical help to women by instituting a daycare, a …
