Women in American History

Women lead advancements in science, technology, politics, sports and activism—often fighting against inequity and opposition at every turn.

In this collection, explore films, interviews, articles, image galleries and more for an in-depth look at notable female figures in American history.

Watch Films

Film
Fly With Me

The story of the pioneering women who changed the world while flying it. Maligned as feminist sellouts, “stewardesses,” as they were called, were on the frontlines of a battle to assert gender equality and transform the workplace.
Film
The Sun Queen

Scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun. Though undercut and thwarted by her male colleagues, she persevered to design the first successfully solar-heated house in 1948 and held more than 20 patents.
Now streaming
Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space

Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Also a trained anthropologist, Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean — reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms.
Film
Sandra Day O'Connor: The First

Discover the story of the Supreme Court’s first female justice. A pioneer who both reflected and shaped an era, she was the deciding vote in cases on some of the 20th century’s most controversial issues—including race, gender and reproductive rights.
Film
Voice of Freedom

Explore the life of singer Marian Anderson and her triumphant 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
Film
The Codebreaker

Discover the fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the groundbreaking cryptanalyst who helped bring down gangsters and break up a Nazi spy ring in South America. Her work helped lay the foundation for modern codebreaking today.
Film
The Vote

One hundred years after the passage of the 19th Amendment, The Vote tells the dramatic culmination story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote, a transformative cultural and political movement that resulted in the largest expansion of voting rights in U.S. history.
Film
Annie Oakley

As the star attraction of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, Annie Oakley thrilled audiences around the world with her shooting feats.

Digital Shorts

Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space | Digital Short
The Films of Zora Neale Hurston

Filmmaker Tracy Heather Strain talks about Zora Neale Hurston and her interest in capturing the rural Black folk in her writings and ethnographic work. In multiple trips to the south, Hurston shot 16mm film of rural Black people, culture and customs amassing 85 minutes of footage that she shot and/or directed.
Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History | Digital Short
The Woman Behind Monopoly

Monopoly might be America's favorite board game, but it has a surprising secret. The true inventor may be a woman you've never heard of: Lizzie Magie.
Chasing the Moon | Digital Short
Poppy Northcutt: Return to Earth Specialist

Frances “Poppy” Northcutt was the first female engineer to work in NASA’s Mission Control.
Freedom Riders | Digital Short
Who the Hell is Diane Nash?

"She would not be moved."
The Vote | Digital Short
From Women’s Suffrage to the ERA, a Century-Long Push for Equality

Is the U.S. at a tipping point in the nearly 100-year-long fight to ratify the ERA?
The Circus | Digital Short
Mabel Stark: The Trainer

Mabel Stark was one of the 20th century's most famous big cat trainers.

Past Forward

Clip
Command & Control: The Uterus

Professor of Law Renée Landers and Professor of Law and Theology Cathleen Kaveny speak with Historian Adriane Lentz-Smith about the history of reproductive rights and future of bodily autonomy in a post Roe v. Wade America.
The Codebreaker | Clip
Breaking the Code

Author Jason Fagone and CODE-EQUAL co-founders Valeria and Kyara Torres-Olivares speak with professor Adriane Lentz-Smith about pioneering women in STEM—from Elizebeth Smith Friedman, to groups like CODE-EQUAL.
Voice of Freedom | Clip
The Power and Resilience of Black Women

Opera singer Angela Brown and professor Kira Thurman speak with professor Jessica Marie Johnson about the excellence and power of Black women as they navigate and conquer traditionally white spaces and industries.
Test Tube Babies | Clip
Fertility Science

Fertility rights advocate and America’s first IVF baby Elizabeth Carr, and university professor at Rutgers University Margaret Marsh speak with historian Monica Muñoz Martinez about the evolution of fertility science—from a niche opportunity to an accepted norm.

Articles

Fly With Me | Article
‘A revolution waiting to happen’: The Surprising Alliance between Stewardesses and Gloria Steinem

When flight attendants and the most famous feminist of her time joined forces.
The Sun Queen | Article
The Marvelously Inventive Life of Mária Telkes

A look at the scientist’s breakthrough innovations, from the world’s first solar-heated home to an electricity-free Easy Bake Oven.
Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space | Article
What Happened When Zora Neale Hurston Studied Voodoo in Haiti?

The renowned author and anthropologist went to the island nation in search of its religion—and its zombies.
Sandra Day O'Connor: The First | Article
Sandra Day O’Connor’s Journey to Supreme Court Justice

How the Arizona lawyer became one of the most powerful women in America.
The Codebreaker | Article
How Codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman Fought Nazi Spies

For 50 years, her contributions to WWII intelligence were a secret. No longer.
Freedom Summer | Article
Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer was born in 1917, the 20th child of Lou Ella and James Lee Townsend, sharecroppers east of the Mississippi Delta.
Chasing the Moon | Article
The Women Who Brought Us the Moon

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.
The Vote | Article
Black Women’s 200 Year Fight for the Vote

For two centuries, black women have linked their ballot access to the human rights of all.

Explore

The Vote | Interactive
She Resisted: Strategies of Suffrage

Celebrate the strategies and tactics of the movement in a new interactive experience.
Article
Helen Keller's Bookshelf

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.
The Vote | Image Gallery
Suffragist Gender Benders

A Browse through our selection of historical images of notable gender non-conforming suffragists.