12 Women Who Shaped America: 1619 to 1920

Before the age of eight, Phillis Wheatley Peters was kidnapped, forced to endure the Middle Passage, and sold into slavery. By the age of 21, she was a published poet, lauded by the intellectual giants of the new American Colonies. Travel back in time to colonial Boston and discover the woman whose words made her one of the very first professional Black writers in the United States.

Was Martha Washington more than simply the first American First Lady? Was she more than an icon for 19th century opponents of women’s rights? Consider what we know today about her complicated life as a mother, wife, widow, partner, and architect of the preeminent female role throughout much of the history of the United States.

Who was the real Sacagawea? Was she the mythologized “Indian Princess,” guide, and helpmate to white explorers that you learned about in school? Was she something more than the stories? Meet Sacagawea of the Shoshone and explore how the stories about her life have often reflected changing American political and cultural landscapes.

American society in the early 1800s told women that they were not supposed to work on the lecture circuit or become political activists. Sojourner Truth did both. Learn how this undaunted, formerly enslaved woman advocated for herself and all women, using photographs to fight the limiting racist and sexist narratives of her day.

Catharine Beecher believed in traditional gender roles, but that did not diminish the value of women’s contributions to American life. In seeking to educate a new generation of women to fill the roles of mother, wife, and teacher, she also raised the ire of anti-slavery and women’s rights activists who wanted more for women than domesticity and compliance.

Come face to face with the complex and outspoken Victoria Woodhull: stockbroker, editor, politician, consummate feminist, and the first female candidate to run for the US presidency. Learn about the public speaking talent that led to her being embraced by American suffragists—and the controversial free love ideology that eventually forced them to reject her.

Mocked by cartoons depicting her and other suffragists as masculine and a threat to established gender norms, Susan B. Anthony fought back. Examine the photographs she used to control her public image and see how her editorial oversight of an influential book series defined the women's voting rights movement and its leadership.

The truth about Harriet Tubman is sometimes as extraordinary as the familiar myths about her. As a child, Tubman suffered a traumatic brain injury, but she did not let that stop her from escaping slavery and creating an exceptional life. Learn about her work as a nurse, domestic worker, mapmaker, spy, Underground Railroad conductor, and even military raider, as she tirelessly fought for equity and justice.

Born into an age when women across New England were blazing trails in both politics and art, Isabella Stewart Gardner dreamed of opening her own museum. Reveal how heartbreak over a child’s death provided the impetus to travel and finally manifest her dream of a museum that we still enjoy today.

Explore the extraordinary life of one of America’s first female professional photographers. From her earliest days in portraiture for the elite of Washington, DC, to her later years as a documentary, architecture, and landscape photographer, Frances Benjamin Johnston’s vision and talent paved the way for generations of female artists and photographers.

Dive into the life and work of the unusual Alice Paul, who was considered a radical by other American suffragist leaders. Well-educated for a woman in any era, Paul was exceptional in early 20th century America. Hear about her controversial protests, her historic leadership, and the fight for the 19th Amendment.

As the first president of the National Association of Colored Women, Mary Church Terrell understood the critical importance of public image. Find out more about her long life, from her birth into slavery in Tennessee to her education at Oberlin College, and her eventual fights to secure rights and freedoms for all people through politics, protests, and the law.