Look back in the transcript of human history and you'll find a long list of notable women who left a unique and defining mark that made womankind stronger than it was before. Women pioneers such as Harriet Tubman, Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, and Maya Angelou. The list goes on and on.
There is no doubt in my mind the achievements of these women and many others like them will continue to be passed down from one generation to the next. However, we should always strive to discover more amazing women who unbeknownst to us left greater chapters in history than they're given credit for. Here are five women I have chosen to get us started.
1. Angela Davis
Angela Davis was on the front lines of the ongoing battle for civil rights during the 1970s. While working as a professor at UCLA, Davis joined the Black Panther Party and participated in several civil rights demonstrations including one that led to her serving jail time for a period of eighteen months. She was soon acquitted in 1972. Davis would spend the rest of her life traveling the country, giving lectures and publishing books that spoke out against the atrocities made in black communities in the United States.
2. Kate Warne
Careers available to women on the cusp of the American Civil War didn't progress past the porch of the family house. Any job of real substance was considered too demanding for women to handle. In 1856 23-year-old widow Kate Warne challenged that very notion and marched right into the office of Allan Pinkerton and convinced him to bring her on board as America's first female detective. Sadly she passed away in 1868, at the early age of 35, but Warne participated in many cases as a Pinkerton agent including one undercover mission where Warne and other Pinkertons protected presidential nominee Abraham Lincoln from rumored assassination attempts in Baltimore, Maryland.
3. Sadako Ogata
Japanese public servant Sadako Ogata has spent her whole life representing the welfare and prosperity of her country in relation to the United Nations. Let me run down her resume for you. Mrs. Ogata was elected as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1991 to 2000. From 1982 to 1985, Ms. Ogata was the Representative of Japan on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Ogata published several books in the 1990s highlighting the current state of refugees in Asia. These accomplishments only make up the mere tip of Ms. Ogata's career.
4. Nellie Bly
Arguably the world's first female investigative journalist, Nellie Bly is responsible for exposing the harsh conditions that plagued most psychiatric asylums in America. In 1887 she had herself committed to the asylum on Blackwell's Island for ten days. Once her seething expose was published in the newspaper and later compiled into the book "Ten Days in a Mad House," a large federal investigation was conducted on the asylum which led to better patient treatment for the following years.
5. Alice Roosevelt
Daughter of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, Alice Roosevelt wasn't one to abide by the strict standards and expectations set by the patriarchal American society of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. Alice smoked cigarettes, rode alone in cars with men, practiced taboo arts like Voodoo, and even took care of her pet snake named Emily Spinach.
Like I said in the beginning, these are only a handful of awesome women out of millions who have made great strides for the prosperity of their sex. I believe the recognition these women have garnered over the years doesn't even come to the respect they truly deserve.
Can you think of other unknown influential women in history? Sound off in the comment section below!
