This is just a sampling of the famous women around the World that have paved the way for what women can and do accomplish today. We've listed all the bios so that you can view them together. Please use the links below to navigation to the profiles that interest you.

Bella Abzug
July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998
American

She was a well-known American political figure and a leader of the women's movement. She famously said, "This woman's place is in the House — the House of Representatives," in her successful 1970 campaign to join that body. She became an attorney in the 1940s, a time when very few women did so, and took on civil rights cases in the South. Abzug was an outspoken advocate of liberal causes, including support for the Equal Rights Amendment, and opposition to the Vietnam War. This landed her on the master list of Nixon political opponents. She served the state of New York in the United States House of Representatives, representing her district of Manhattan, from 1971 to 1977. She was one of the first members of Congress to support gay rights. In 1990, she co-founded the Women's Environment & Development Organization to mobilize women's participation in international conferences, particularly those run by the United Nations.

Madeleine Albright
May 15, 1937
American (born in Czechoslovakia)

She is an American government official who attended Wellesley College (B.A., 1959) and Columbia Univ. (M.A., 1968; Ph.D., 1976). A lifelong Democrat, she was chief legislative assistant to Senator Edmund Muskie (1976–78) and served on the staff of the National Security Council and the White House (1978–81). When the Democrats lost the White House, Albright became a professor of international affairs at Georgetown Univ. (1982–93); her Washington, D.C., home was an informal meeting place for prominent Democrats and international leaders. Albright was an adviser to Bill Clinton (1992), and the newly elected president appointed her U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1993. A forceful promoter of American interests, she encouraged increased U.S. participation in the United Nations, often in military actions. In 1997, President Clinton named her secretary of state during his second term. After being unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate 99-0, she became the first woman to hold the post. Upholding the administration's “assertive multilateralism,” Albright was a strong supporter of an expanded NATO and an advocate of an active U.S. foreign policy, including the use of U.S. forces to protect American interests and prevent genocide in foreign countries.

Angelou (born Marguerite Johnson)
April 4, 1928
She is an American poet, memoirist, actress and an important figure in the American Civil Rights Movement. Angelou is known for the autobiographical writings I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) and All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986). Her volume of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die (1971) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993, Angelou read her poem On the Pulse of Morning during Bill Clinton's Presidential inauguration. It was only the second time in U.S. history that a poet had been asked to read at an inauguration, the first being Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy.

Susan B. Anthony
February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906
American

She was born into a family that enforced self-discipline, principled convictions, and belief in one's own self-worth. A prominent, independent and well-educated American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to secure women's suffrage in the United States, she traveled thousands of miles throughout the United States and Europe, and gave 75 to 100 speeches per year on women's rights for some 45 years. On January 1, 1868, Susan B. Anthony first published a weekly journal entitled, The Revolution published in New York City, and having as its motto: "The true republic — men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less." Anthony worked as the publisher and business manager, while Elizabeth Cady Stanton acted as editor. In 1869, Anthony and Stanton founded the National Woman's Suffrage Association (NWSA), an organization dedicated to gaining women's suffrage. Anthony was vice-president-at-large of the NWSA from the date of its organization until 1892, when she became president.

Halle Berry
August 14, 1966
American

She is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award-winning American actress and former fashion model and beauty queen. Berry won an Emmy and a Golden Globe in 1999 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her portrayal of Dorothy Dandridge in the HBO movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Interestingly, Dorothy Dandridge was the first African-American woman to be nominated for a best actress Academy Award. Another similarity the two women shared was being born in the same hospital. In 2002, Berry won Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her role in Monster's Ball, making her the first African-American woman to win that award.

Elizabeth Blackwell
February 3, 1821 – May 31, 1910
American

She was an abolitionist and women's rights activist, and the first woman to practice medicine in the United States with a college degree. she took up residence in a physician's household, using her time there to study from the family's medical library. She became active in the anti-slavery movement (as did her brother Henry Brown Blackwell, who married Lucy Stone), in the course of which she made friends with Harriet Beecher Stowe. Blackwell applied to several prominent medical schools but was rejected by all. Her second round of applications was sent to smaller colleges, including Geneva College in New York. She was accepted there — anecdotally, because the faculty put it to a student vote, and the students thought her application a hoax — and braved the prejudice of some of the professors and students to complete her training. On January 23, 1849, she became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, graduating at the top of her class. She founded her own infirmary, the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children, in 1857, and then later went back to Britain to open the Women's Medical College with Florence Nightingale.

Nellie Bly
May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922
American

She was an American journalist, author, industrialist, and charity worker. Trail-blazing journalist considered to be the "best reporter in America" who pioneered investigative journalism while working as a reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. She is most famous for an undercover exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within. She is also well-known for her record-breaking trip around the world. As a researcher, reporter, industrialist and reformer, Bly was a model of progress and achievement for women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Mary Cassatt
May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926
American

She was an American painter and printmaker, and was known as an Impressionist painter who captured the soul of family life, women, children, interiors and gardens. A friend and student of the great Impressionists of Paris, Cassatt powerfully influenced American art. She was the only American (and one of only three women) to exhibit with the Impressionists in Paris — becoming close friends with some of them — but moved very much in her own direction after that group splintered, coming to draw on such disparate inspirations as Symbolism and Japanese prints. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. She took up the cause of women's suffrage, and in 1915, she showed eighteen works in an exhibition supporting the movement. In recognition of her contributions to the arts, France awarded her the Légion d'honneur in 1904. Her influence on American art carried beyond her own work because she gave advice to American art collectors.

Marie Curie
November 7, 1867 - July 4, 1934
Polish

She was a pioneer in the early field of radioactivity, later becoming the first two-time Nobel laureate and the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences (physics and chemistry). She also became the first woman appointed to teach at the Sorbonne. Together with her husband, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the Prize. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry\, in recognition of her work in radioactivity.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886
American

Though virtually unknown in her lifetime, Dickinson has come to be regarded, along with Walt Whitman, as one of the two quintessential American poets of the 19th century. Dickinson lived an introverted and hermetic life. Although she wrote, at the last count, 1,789 poems, only a handful of them were published during her lifetime — all anonymously and some perhaps without her knowledge. Dickinson's poetry is quite often recognizable at a glance, and is unlike the work of any other poet. Her facility with ballad and hymn meter, her extensive use of dashes and unconventional capitalization in her manuscripts, and her idiosyncratic vocabulary and imagery combine to create a unique lyric style.

Amelia Earhart
May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926
American

She was an American aviator and noted early female pilot who set her first women's record by rising to an altitude of 14,000 feet. She later joined two pilots on the famous trans-Atlantic flight from Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland on June 17, 1928, arriving at Burry Port, Wales, approximately 21 hours later to make headlines worldwide. On May 20, 1932, she made her own transcontinental flight from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Paris, but was forced to land in a pasture near Londonderry, Ireland. President Herbert Hoover presented Earhart with a gold medal from the National Geographic Society. Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross-the first ever given to a woman. Earhart felt the flight proved that men and women were equal in "jobs requiring intelligence, coordination, speed, coolness and willpower." On January 11, 1935, she became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific from Honolulu to Oakland, California. In 1937, nearing her 40th birthday, Earhart was ready to attempt being the first woman to fly around the world. On June 1st, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan departed from Miami and began the 29,000-mile journey. At 8:45 Earhart reported, "We are running north and south." Nothing further was heard from Earhart as they mysteriously disappeared. Earhart will be remembered for her courage, vision, and groundbreaking achievements, both in aviation and for women. In a letter to her husband, written in case a dangerous flight proved to be her last, this brave spirit was evident. "Please know I am quite aware of the hazards," she said. "I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."

Ella Fitzgerald
April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996
American

Also known as Lady Ella (the First Lady of Song), was considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century. With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, near faultless phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. She is widely considered to have been one of the supreme interpreters of the Great American Songbook. Over a recording career that lasted fifty-seven years, she was the winner of thirteen Grammy Awards.

Christine Marie Evert
December 21, 1954
American

She is a former World No. 1 woman tennis player from the United States. During her career, she won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, including a record 7 at the French Open. She also won 3 Grand Slam doubles titles. Evert's career win-loss record in singles matches of 1,309-146 (.900) is the best of any professional player in tennis history. She is generally considered to be one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. Evert's domination of the women's game and her calm, steely demeanor on court earned her the nickname of the "Ice Maiden" of tennis. Evert retired from the professional tour in 1989. During her career, she won 157 singles titles and 8 doubles titles. Her record in finals was 157-72 (.686). She reached the semifinals in 273 of the 303 tournaments she entered. Evert won the WTA Tour Championships 4 times and helped the United States win the Fed Cup 8 times. Evert's last match was a 6-3, 6-2 win over Conchita Martinez in the finals of the 1989 Fed Cup. Evert won at least one Grand Slam singles title each year for 13 consecutive years from 1974 through 1986. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her career: 7 at the French Open, 6 at the US Open (3 on clay and 3 on hard courts), 3 at Wimbledon, and 2 at the Australian Open (both on grass). She reached the finals in 34 and the semifinals in 52 of the 56 Grand Slams events she entered. Her overall record in Grand Slam events was 297-38 .887 (72-6 at the French Open, 94-15 at Wimbledon, 101-13 at the US Open (most singles match wins in history), and 30-4 at the Australian Open). She reached the finals all 6 times she entered the Australian Open. Her prolific career and always classy demeanor showed that women could be athletes and remain feminine.

Aretha Louise Franklin
March 25, 1942
American

She is a soul, R&B, and gospel singer, songwriter, and pianist born in Memphis, Tennessee, but raised in Detroit, Michigan. She has been called for many years "The Queen Of Soul", but many also call her "Lady Soul," as well as the more affectionate "Sister Re". She is renowned for her soul and R&B recordings but is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, gospel, and even opera. She is generally regarded as one of the top vocalists ever, due to her ability to inject whatever she may be singing about with passion, soul and sheer conviction. Franklin is the second most honored female singer in Grammy history after Alison Krauss. Ms. Franklin has won nineteen competitive Grammys (including an unprecedented eleven for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, eight of them consecutive).

Betty Friedan
February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006
American

She was a feminist, activist and writer. Her most noted work, The Feminine Mystique, was published in 1963. It depicted the roles of women in industrial societies, and in particular the full-time homemaker role, which Friedan saw as stifling. The book became a bestseller, which some people suggest was the impetus for the second wave of feminism, and significantly spurred the women's movement. For her 15th college reunion in 1957, Friedan conducted a survey of Smith College graduates, focusing on their education, their subsequent experiences and satisfaction with their current lives. Her article on the survey, which lamented the lost potential of her female classmates and present-day female college students, was submitted to women's magazines in 1958. It was rejected by all editors to whom it was submitted, even after Friedan rewrote portions at the request of some of the editors. Friedan then decided to rework and expand the article into a book, which subsequently became The Feminine Mystique.

Althea Gibson
August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003
American

She was an African-American tennis player who won the first of 10 straight national black women's singles championships. She was the first African American to play in the U.S. grass court championships at Forest Hills, N.Y. (1950), and at Wimbledon, England (1951). In addition to many international tournament victories, she won the French women's singles championship in 1956 and the U.S. and British championships in both 1957 and 1958. She retired from competition in 1958. In 1971 she was named to the National Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame.

Caroline Herschel
March 16, 1750 - January 9, 1848
German-born; English

She was a mathematician and astronomer who worked with her brother, William Herschel, the court appointed astronomer to King George III. While working with her brother, she helped to discover the planet Uranus in 1781. She also is credited with discovering a comet, making her the first woman known to have done so. The comet, 35P/Herschel-Rigollet, bears her name. She later published her own work cataloguing stars and nebulae.

Rr. Adm. Grace Murray Hopper
December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992
American

She resigned a Vassar post to join the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) in December 1943. She was an American computer scientist and naval officer. A pioneer in the field, she was the first programmer of the Mark I Calculator and developed the first compiler for a computer programming language.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee
March 3, 1962
American

She is a retired American athlete, ranked amongst the all-time greatest heptathletes. She won three gold, one silver and one bronze Olympic medals. Named after Jackie Kennedy, she currently lives in East St. Louis, Illinois. Joyner-Kersee was the first woman to score 7,000 points in a heptathlon event (during the 1986 Goodwill Games). She was inspired to compete in multi-discipline events after seeing a 1975 television movie about "Babe" Didrikson. As of August 2006, Joyner-Kersee holds the world record in heptathlon along with six all time best results and her long jump record of 7.49 m is second on the long jump all time list. In addition to heptathlon and long jump, she was a world class athlete in 100 m hurdles and 200 meters being as of June 2006 in top 60 all time in those events.

Coretta Scott King
April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006
American

Known as the "First Lady of Civil Rights", she was the wife of the assassinated civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., and a noted community leader in her own right. While on a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music to study vocal performance in Boston, she met Martin Luther King Jr. They were soon caught up in the dramatic events that triggered the modern civil rights movement when, in defense of Rosa Park's arrest for refusing to yield her seat on a bus, the Kings led a protest and boycott of buses. The Montgomery bus boycott drew the attention of the world to the continued injustice of segregation in the United States, and led to court decisions striking down all local ordinances separating the races in public transit. Dr. King's eloquent advocacy of nonviolent civil disobedience soon made him the most recognizable face of the civil rights movement, and he was called on to lead marches in city after city, with Mrs. King at his side, inspiring the citizens, black and white, to defy the segregation laws. After her husband's death, Mrs. King concentrated her energies on fulfilling his work by building The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change as a living memorial to her husband's life and dream. In 1974, she formed the Full Employment Action Council, a broad coalition of over 100 religious, labor, business, civil and women's rights organizations dedicated to a national policy of full employment and equal economic opportunity; Mrs. King served as Co-Chair of the Council. In 1981, The King Center, the first institution built in memory of an African American leader, opened to the public. The Center is housed in the Freedom Hall complex encircling Dr. King's tomb in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of a 23-acre national historic site that also includes Dr. King's birthplace and the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he and his father both preached.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D.
July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004
Swiss

She was a psychiatrist and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying, where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model. As she began her practice, she was appalled by the hospital treatment of patients who were dying. She began giving a series of lectures featuring terminally ill patients, forcing medical students to confront people who were dying. Her extensive work with the dying led to On Death and Dying in 1969. She wrote over 20 additional books on the subject of dying. She also proposed the now famous "Five Stages of Grief" as a pattern of phases, most or all of which people tend to go through, in sequence, after being faced with the tragedy of their own impending death. The five stages of grief, in sequential order, are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The five stages have since been adopted by many as applying to the survivors of a loved one's death, as well.

Florence Nightingale, OM
May 12,1820 – August 13, 1910
British

She came to be known as "The Lady with the Lamp," was a pioneer of modern nursing, and a noted statistician. Florence Nightingale's most famous contribution came during the Crimean War, when reports began to filter back to Britain about the horrific conditions for the wounded. Nightingale continued believing the death rates were due to poor nutrition and supplies and overworking of the soldiers. She began collecting evidence before the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army from which she came to believe that most of the soldiers at the hospital were killed by poor living conditions. This experience would influence her later career when she advocated sanitary living conditions as of great importance. Consequently, she reduced deaths in the Army during peacetime and turned attention to the sanitary design of hospitals.

Sandra Day O'Connor
March 26, 1930
American

U.S. lawyer and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1981–2006). Graduating from Stanford law school (1952), she returned to practice in her home state of Arizona. There she was a state assistant attorney general (1965–69) and a Republican state senator (1969–74). Appointed a state judge in 1974, she was in 1979 named to the Arizona Court of Appeals. In 1981, President Reagan nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she became the first woman justice. Except in cases of sexual discrimination and states' powers under the federal system, she generally resisted judicial activism, emerging in the 1990s as a frequent swing vote between more and less conservative blocs.

Emmeline Pankhurst
July 14, 1858 – June 14, 1928
British

She was one of the founders of the British suffragette movement. In 1889, Pankhurst founded the Women's Franchise League. In 1903, she founded the better-known Women's Social and Political Union, an organization most famous for its militancy which began in 1905. Britain started to implement voting rights for women, in the same year as Ireland, in March 1918. While the Representation of the People Act 1918 only gave voting rights to women over 30, and that with a property qualification, while all men over 21 were enfranchised, the Suffragettes nevertheless saw it as a great victory. In November 1918, women over 21 were given the right to become Members of Parliament — meaning women could be MPs and not be allowed to vote. In 1928, women finally achieved equal voting rights to men in the UK. Pankhurst died at the age of 69, ten years after seeing her most ardently pursued goal come to fruition. Her efforts complimented the continuing American movement.

Rosa Parks
February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005
American

She was an African-American seamstress and civil rights activist whom the U.S. Congress dubbed the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement". Parks is famous for her refusal on December 1, 1955 to obey bus driver James Blake's demand that she relinquish her seat to a white passenger. Her subsequent arrest and trial for this act of civil disobedience triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history, and launched Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the organizers of the boycott, to the forefront of the civil rights movement. Her role in American history earned her an iconic status in American culture, and her actions have left an enduring legacy for civil rights movements around the world.

Sally Ride
May 26, 1951
American

She joined NASA in 1978 as part of the first astronaut class to accept women. On June 18, 1983 she became the first American woman in space as a crewmember on Space Shuttle Challenger for STS-7. She is also the first woman to complete two space flights. In 1987, Ride left to work at the Stanford University Center for International Security and Arms Control. In 1989, she became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego and Director of the California Space Institute. In 2003, she was asked to serve on the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Ride is the only person to serve on both of the panels investigating Shuttle accidents (those for the Challenger explosion and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster). She is currently on leave from the university and is the President and CEO of Sally Ride Science, a company that creates entertaining science programs and publications for upper elementary and middle school students, with a particular focus on girls. Ride has long been an advocate for improved science education and has written several children's books about space exploration, including The Third Planet, Exploring Earth from Space, To Space and Back, Voyager, and The Mystery of Mars.

the Riveter
World War II Era
American

Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the six million women who worked in the manufacturing plants which produced munitions and material during World War II while the men (who traditionally performed this work) were off fighting the war. This "character" is now considered a feminist icon in the US, and a herald of women's economic power to come. Rosie and her slogan were featured on newspapers, magazines and posters. When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, life changed for everyone. All the factories were literally begging for help. They desperately needed workers, and soon the meager reserve of men who had not gone to war was exhausted. The US Department of Labor declared a shortage of workers. To satisfy the demands, women were actively recruited for the work force. This change in the norms of society met opposition, so the government created the Rosie the Riveter propaganda campaign. The image most iconically associated with Rosie is J. Howard Miller's famous poster for Westinghouse, entitled We Can Do It! (above right), which was modeled on Michigan factory worker Geraldine Doyle in 1942. In 1942, just between the months of January and July, the estimates of the proportion of jobs that would be 'acceptable' for women was raised by employers from 29 to 85 percent. About half of the working women were married.

(Anna) Eleanor Roosevelt
October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962
American

She was an American political leader who used her stature as First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 to promote her husband's (Franklin D. Roosevelt's) New Deal, as well as Civil Rights. She was the most activist First Lady the country had ever seen. After her husband's death in 1945 she built a career as an author-speaker, a New Deal Coalition advocate and spokesperson for human rights. She was a suffragist who worked hard to enhance the status of working women, opposing the Equal Rights Amendment) because it would hurt them. In the late 1940s she became a leader in supporting the United Nations, the United Nations Association and Freedom House. She was appointed by President Truman to the United States Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, a position she held until 1953. She was chairman of the Human Rights Commission during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948. President Harry S. Truman called her the First Lady of the World in honor of her extensive human rights promotions.

Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross)
March 26, 1944
American

She is a Grammy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning and Oscar- nominated American performer and actress, who first gained prominence in the 1960s girl group, The Supremes. After she left the band, Ross established a hugely popular solo career in the 1970s & 1980s (second-only to Paul McCartney), gaining 18 #1's, making her the most successful female rock artist in history. She, in turn, accomplished her film career as Billie Holliday in Lady Sings the Blues.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton
November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902
American

She was a social activist and a leading figure of the early women's rights movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the first women's rights convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the organized woman's rights and woman's suffrage movements in the United States. Along with her husband, Henry Stanton and cousin, Gerrit Smith, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an active abolitionist before she settled on women's issues as her primary focus. She was also an outspoken supporter of the 19th century temperance movement. Unlike many of those involved in the women's rights movement, Stanton addressed a number of issues pertaining to women beyond voting rights. Her concerns included women's parental and custody rights, property rights, employment and income rights, divorce laws, the economic health of the family, and abortion.

Gloria Steinem
March 25, 1934
American

She is an American feminist icon, journalist, and women's rights advocate. She is the founder and original publisher of Ms. magazine. started freelancing full-time with the publication of her controversial undercover article, A Bunny's Tale: "Show's" First Exposé for Intelligent People. She became politically active in the feminist movement, and the media seemed to appoint Steinem as a feminist leader of sorts. Steinem brought other notable feminists to the fore and toured the country with lawyer Florence Rae ("Flo") Kennedy, and in 1971, co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus as well as the Women's Action Alliance. In 1972, she helped start the feminist Ms. magazine and wrote for the magazine until it was sold in 1987. The magazine was bought by the Feminist Majority Foundation in 2001, and Steinem remains on the masthead as one of six founding editors and serves on the advisory board. Steinem co-founded the Coalition of Labor Union Women in 1974, and participated in the National Conference of Women in Houston, Texas in 1977. She became Ms. magazine's consulting editor when it was revived in 1991, and she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.

Harriett Beecher Stowe
June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896
American

She was an abolitionist and writer of 30 books, the most famous being Uncle Tom's Cabin which describes life in slavery, and which was first published in serial form from 1851 to 1852 in an abolitionist organ, the National Era, edited by Gamaliel Bailey. The book was also the first major American novel with an African-American hero. Although Stowe herself had never been to the American South, she subsequently published A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, a non-fiction work documenting the veracity of her depiction of the lives of slaves in the original novel.

Mother Teresa
March 16, 1750 - January 9, 1848
Macedonian; Albanian

She was a noted religious missionary and nun who went on to establish her own religious order, The Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa's work has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding. In 1971, she was awarded the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and St. Gabriel award. Teresa was also awarded the Templeton Prize in 1973, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980. She was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1981. She was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985, was made an Honorary Citizen of the United States (one of only two people to have this honor during their lifetime) in 1996, and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. She was the first and only person to be featured on an Indian postage stamp while still alive. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in October 2003.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher (Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS)
October 13, 1925
British

She was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990.Thatcher was the longest-serving British Prime Minister since Lord Salisbury and had the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool in the early nineteenth century. She is also the only woman to have served as Prime Minister, one of only two women to have led a major political party in the UK, and one of only two to have held any of the four great offices of state (the second being Margaret Beckett in both cases). Perhaps the most significant British politician in recent political history, she is also one of the most divisive, and was both loved and loathed by citizens from across the political spectrum.