Born: AD 625, ChinaDied: December 16, 705, ChinaWu Hou rose from concubinage to become empress of China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). She ruled effectively for many years, the last 15 (690-705) in her own name. Wu Zhao entered the palace of the second Tang emperor, Taizong (ruled 626-649), as a junior concubine in 638, […]
Born: Sept 28, 1839, Churchville, New York, U.S.Died: Feb 18, 1898, New York, N.Y. Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was a American educator and reformer, born in Churchville, New York, and educated at Northwestern Female College. In 1874, she gave up a successful teaching career to become secretary of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Born: Dec 23, 1867, near Delta, La., U.S.Died: May 25, 1919, Irvington, New York Sarah Breedlove Walker was a businesswoman and philanthropist generally acknowledged to be the first black female millionaire in the United States.Sarah Breedlove married at the age of 14, and at 20, then a widow, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri. She
Born: May 24, 1819, Kensington Palace, London, EnglandDied: January 22, 1901, Osborne,near Cowes, Isle of Wight Victoria was the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1837-1901) and empress of India (1876-1901).Born Alexandrina Victoria on May 24, 1819, in Kensington Palace, London, Victoria was the daughter of Victoria Mary Louisa, daughter of
Born: c. 497Died: June 28, 548, Constantinople [now Istanbul, Turkey]Theodora was a Byzantine empress (527-48), wife of Emperor Justinian I, probably born in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). According to the Byzantine historian Procopius, her father was a trainer of circus animals, and she was an actor and a courtesan before marrying Justinian in 523. Four years
Born: October 13, 1925, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England Thatcher, Margaret Hilda, née Roberts was the first woman to hold the office of prime minister of Great Britain (1979-90). She was born in Grantham and educated at the University of Oxford, where she earned degrees in chemistry; from 1947 to 1951 she worked as a research chemist,
Born: November 7, 1917, Germiston, South Africa Helen Suzman is a South African politician and outspoken opponent of apartheid, South Africa’s system of racial separation. Born Helen Gavronsky in Germiston, in what is now Gauteng province, northeastern South Africa, of Jewish immigrant parents, she was educated at the Parktown Convent until 1933 and then attended
Born: January 23, 1947, Jakarta, Indonesia Sukarnoputri is an Indonesian politician who was the fifth president of Indonesia (2001-04).The daughter of Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia, Sukarnoputri studied psychology and agriculture in college but did not take a degree. In 1987, she entered politics and was elected to the People’s Consultative Assembly (national parliament),
Born: August 3, 1941, Jersey City, New Jersey Stewart is an American entrepreneur and domestic lifestyle innovator who built a catering business into an international media and home furnishing corporation, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.Raised in Nutley, New Jersey, Stewart grew up in a Polish American household where the traditional arts of cooking, sewing, canning
Born: March 5, 1897, Shanghai, ChinaDied: October 23, 2003, New York, U.S.Soong Mei-ling or Soong May-ling was the third daughter of Chinese industrialist Charlie Soong, who became one of the most influential women in the 20th century as the wife of Kuomintang (KMT) leader Chiang Kai-shek. Born to a wealthy Christian family in Shanghai, Mei-ling
Born: January 27, 1893, Shanghai, ChinaDied: May 29, 1981, Beijing Song Qingling was the second wife of the Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan). She became an influential political figure in China after her husband’s death.A member of the prominent Soong family, Song Qingling was educated in the United States. She married Sun Yat-sen,
Born: February 4, 1952, Gore, New Zealand Shipley is a New Zealand politician who was New Zealand’s first female prime minister (1997-99).After graduating from Christchurch Teachers’ College in 1972, Jennifer married Burton Shipley, a farmer, and began teaching at a primary school. Active in the community, she joined the National Party (NP) in 1975. Shipley
Flourished 10th century BCQueen Sheba of, biblical character also figures in Islamic tradition-where she is named Bilqis-and in Ethiopian legend, where, as Makeda, wife of King Solomon, she is credited with founding the first royal line of the Kingdom of Sheba in southwest Arabia.In the biblical Book of Kings, the Queen of Sheba (or Saba’,
Born: October 11, 1884, New York, U.S.Died: November 7, 1962, New York City Eleanor Roosevelt was a social activist, author, lecturer, and United States representative to the United Nations. She was the wife of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt.Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 11, 1884, to Elliott Roosevelt and
Born: May 21, 1944, Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland Mary Robinson is an Irish lawyer and politician, president of Ireland (1990-1997). The first woman to serve as Irish president, Robinson worked to transform the largely ceremonial office into a platform from which to campaign for peace, social reforms, and environmental causes.She was born Mary Bourke in