Inspirational Women

This section began as a celebration of March and Women’s History Month; it continues as a regular feature because there are so many unrecognized women who have made major contributions to history.

Helen Gahagan Douglas (1900-1980) Actress Turned Congressperson

  • Elected as Democratic National Committeewoman from California
  • Elected to the House of Representatives in 1944, becoming only one of nine women to serve in the House at that time.

Helen Gahagan Douglas was born in 1900 and was raised in a well-to-do family in Brooklyn, New York. She was not a serious student but loved acting, and by the age of 22 she had been cast in a lead role on Broadway. She never returned to Barnard College where she had been a student.

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Belva Lockwood (1830-1917), American Attorney and Crusader for Equal Rights

• She was admitted to what eventually became George Washington University Law School, but after completing the coursework, she was denied a diploma because she was a woman; after waiting a year she petitioned the U.S. President and soon received her diploma
• Had to petition Congress for the right for a woman to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court; she was the first woman to do so
• Ran for president in 1884 and 1888

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Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), Great Strides in Education and Civil Rights

  • Made great progress for African-Americans in the field of education and civil rights
  • Consultant to four presidents; most significantly FDR for establishing the Federal Council on Negro Affairs
  • First black leader and first woman to have a monument in a public park in Washington DC (1974)
  • In 1989, Ebony Magazine included Mary McLeod Bethune as one of 50 Most Important Figures in Black History

Mary McLeod Bethune was one of 17 children born to former slaves, Samuel and Patsy McLeod. The family lived in Mayesville, South Carolina, and growing up, Mary worked in the cotton fields along with the whole family.

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