March is Women’s History Month and it’s important to remember the icons and figures who have paved the way for women’s rights and influenced so many #LadyBosses in our lives. Here’s to them, may we all aspire to live like them and make a difference in the world.
1. Ida B. Wells
Photo from idabwellsociety.
Ida B. Wells was a daughter of slaves and an African American journalist. Ida traveled around the south finding information about lynchings, which she tried to write about in a local newspaper but her information was stolen and destroyed. She then led an anti-lynching crusade and strived for justice of African Americans in the 1890s. She formed the National Association for Colored Women and was one of the founding members of the NAACP.
2. Rosalind Franklin
Photo from PBS.
Rosalind’s scientific findings were crucial to understanding the structure of DNA. James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA which would not have been possible without Rosalind’s findings. Although she was acknowledged by her peers for the discovery, James and Francis went on to win a Noble Prize for their discovery never giving credit to Rosalind. Today she can be seen as a champion for women in the STEM fields to pursue their goals and future discoveries.
3. Sonia Sotomayor
Photo from CNN.
Sonia was the first Latina supreme court justice in United States History. Sonia grew up in The Bronx and recieved her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, she later graduated from Yale Law School and passed the bar in 1980. She did a lot of pro bono or free work that caught the attention of Ted Kennedy and Daniel Moynihan, which got her appointed to the United States district court. She was appointed to the Supreme Court in May 2009, by Barack Obama.
4. Flossie Wong-Staal
Photo from Culturess.
Flossie was born in China in 1947, but moved to the United States to pursue her education at the University of California. She is a specialist in virology, the study of viruses, particularly HIV/AIDS. She has invented many protocols and tests surrounding the virus, including the invention of the world’s first HIV test and was the first scientist to clone HIV to determine the function of its genes. Her work has been a major step in proving HIV is the cause of AIDS.
5. Malala Yousafzai
Photo from Parade.
Malala is an advocate for girls education. In 2012 she was shot on her way to school by a member of the Taliban because of her support for girls education. She survived and continued to advocate for education. In 2014 she won the Noble Peace Prize for her struggle against the suppression of children and their right of education, making her the youngest person to ever recieve the award.