Showing results for "Who's" in Women

As a female Jewish physicist in Berlin during the early 20th century, Lise Meitner had to fight for an education, a job, and equal treatment in her field, like having her name listed on her own research papers. Meitner made groundbreaking strides in the study of radiation, but when Hitler came to power in Germany, she suddenly had to face not only sexism, but also life-threatening anti-Semitism as well. Nevertheless, she persevered and one day made a discovery that rocked the world: the splitting of the atom. 

Learn how Lady Diana Spencer became the People's Princess as she takes her place in the ranks of the Who Was? series. A shy twenty-year-old girl stepped out of a horse-drawn coach and into the world spotlight, capturing the imagination of millions as a real life fairytale princess. Although the...

Joan of Arc was born in a small French village during the worst period of the Hundred Years' War. For generations, France had been besieged by the British. At age 11, Joan began to see religious visions telling her to join forces with the King of France. By the time she was a teenager, she was...

Before Carl Linnaeus began classifying organisms, before John James Audubon drew birds from the wild, before Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution, there lived a 13-year-old girl named Maria Merian who loved to draw bugs. With no formal training or university education, Maria Merian took on the role of artist, adventurer, and scientist in 17th-century Europe - a time when women were rarely allowed responsibilities outside the home, and unusual interests led to accusations of witchcraft.  

Okay, readers, now let's get in formation! Learn about the life of the perfectionist performer known as Queen Bey and how she created her flawless discography of hit records like Renaissance and Cowboy Carter. In 2003, Beyoncé went solo after being in the popular girl group Destiny's Child and...

Born into slavery, Rebecca Crumpler became the first Black female physician in America. Stuntwoman Bessie Coleman was the first Black person in the world to obtain a pilot's license. The work of Harlem Renaissance sculptor Selma Burke can be found on the American dime. The calculations of NASA mathematician Katherine Goble Johnson were critical to the success of US manned spaceflight. These Black women and many more overcame tremendous obstacles and prejudices to make their mark on American history.

For a long time, the main role of First Ladies was to act as hostesses of the White House...until Eleanor Roosevelt. Born in 1884, Eleanor was not satisfied to just be a glorified hostess for her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Eleanor had a voice, and she used it to speak up...

Before the Internet, there was only one place where you could always find the exact time—the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, where people calculated the time by studying astronomy. This was a long distance away from London, though, so someone had to go there and collect the time for the shopkeepers who sold clocks. Learn about Maria Bellville, the woman who sold time!

The Revolutionary War created an opportunity for American women to have an impact on the changing world around them. Here's a look at some other women who filled important roles in their respective countries during the same time period.

Discover how a little girl raised on a dairy farm grew up to become the first woman ever to have an exhibition of their entire life’s work at the Museum of Modern Art in this addition to the #1 New York Times bestselling Who Was series. Georgia O'Keeffe is famously known for her colorful...

There is only one QUEEN OF SOUL! Discover why Aretha Franklin garners so much R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Aretha Franklin was a musical and cultural icon whose legacy spanned six decades! Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1942, Aretha got her start singing in front of her father's Baptist congregation and found...

The wife of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King was a civil rights leader in her own right, playing a prominent role in the African American struggle for racial equality in the 1960s. Here's a gripping portrait of a smart, remarkable woman. Growing up in Alabama, Coretta Scott King...

Born a slave in Maryland, Harriet Tubman knew first-hand what it meant to be someone's property; she was whipped by owners and almost killed by an overseer. It was from other field hands that she first heard about the Underground Railroad which she travelled by herself north to Philadelphia...

Discover why Selena, the Queen of Tejano music, became one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers of the twentieth century! As a young girl, Selena Quintanilla sang in a band called Selena y Los Dinos with her brother and sister. The family performed at fairs, weddings...

Abigail Adams was a strong woman far ahead of her time. She urged her husband, President John Adams, to "remember the ladies" and despite having no formal education herself, she later advocated for equal education in public schools for both boys and girls. She was also the first First Lady to...

Susan B. Anthony may be an international icon but her campaign for women’s rights had personal roots. Working as a school teacher in New York, Anthony refused to settle for less pay than her male colleagues which ignited her lifelong devotion to women’s equality. Anthony toured the United...

How did a little girl who loved horses become the longest reigning monarch in England? Find out in this addition to the #1 New York Times best-selling Who Was? series! In 1936, the life of ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth of York changed forever. Although she was a member of the British Royal...

The story of how a girl born into slavery became an early leader in the civil rights movement and the most famous Black female journalist in nineteenth-century America. Born into slavery in 1862, Ida Bell Wells was freed as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865. Yet she could see how...

Learn about the record-breaking career of basketball superstar Caitlin Clark in this Who HQ Now biography featuring newsmakers and trending topics. Point guard Caitlin Clark took the world of college basketball by storm when she began playing for the University of Iowa in 2020, earning 27 points...

Learn how a young girl who lived on a Christmas tree farm grew up to become one of the most celebrated musical artists of the twenty-first century in this addition to the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Taylor Swift always knew she wanted to be a country music artist, so at age thirteen...