Died: June 3, c. 545, Tours, France; feast day June 3 Saint Clotilda (circa 470-545), was the daughter of Chilperic, king of Burgundy. In 493, she became the wife of Clovis I, king of the Franks. Clotilda was responsible for the conversion of her husband to Christianity. After he had died in 511 she entered […]
Born: October 26, 1947, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Democratic member of the United States Senate from New York (2001- ) and wife of United States president Bill Clinton (1993-2001). During her husband’s presidency, she became a powerful symbol of the changing role and status of women in American society. Her election
Born: 69 BCDied: August 30, 30 BC, Alexandria Cleopatra was an ill-fated queen of Egypt (51-30 BC), celebrated for her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Cleopatra, or more precisely, Cleopatra VII, was the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes, king of Egypt. On her father’s death in 51 BC Cleopatra, then about 17
Born: February 26, 1950, Hamilton, New ZealandClark was a New Zealand politician who became prime minister in 1999. She was the first woman in New Zealand to hold the office of prime minister immediately following an election.Clark, the oldest of four children of George and Margaret Clark, was raised on a sheep and cattle farm
Born: November 29, 1835, Beijing, ChinaDied: November 15, 1908, Beijing Cixi or Tz’u-hsi, née Yehonala was a Chinese empress dowager, born in Beijing. A consort of Emperor Xianfeng, she gave birth in 1856 to a son, later the Emperor Tongzhi (reigned 1861-1875). On the death of Xianfeng, Cixi became the virtual ruler of China, acting
Born: 1946, Istanbul, Turkey Tansu Çiller was the first female prime minister of Turkey (1993-1996). Born in Istanbul, Çiller studied economics at University of the Bosporus in Istanbul, obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Connecticut, and carried out postdoctoral studies at Yale University. She served in academic posts at several Turkish universities before
Born: Dec 8, 1626, Stockholm, SwedenDied: April 19, 1689, Rome [Italy] Christina in Swedish, Kristina (1626-89), was the queen of Sweden (1632-54). The sole heir of Gustav II Adolph, Christina succeeded her father at the age of six, a regency under Axel Oxenstierna ruling until she assumed full royal power in 1644. Throughout her reign,
Born: November 30, 1924, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.Died: January 1, 2005, Ormond Beach, Florida Shirley Chisholm was an American legislator, who in 1968, became the first black woman elected to the Congress of the United States. Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at Brooklyn College and Columbia University.
Born: May 15, 1919, Pointe Michel, DominicaDied: September 6, 2005, Fort-de-France, Martinique Eugenia Charles was a lawyer and politician who served as prime minister of Dominica from 1980 to 1995. She was the country’s first woman lawyer and the first woman prime minister to serve in the Caribbean. Charles was the grand-daughter of slaves. Her
Born: October 18, 1929, Rivas, Nicaragua Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was the president of Nicaragua (1990-1997) and newspaper publisher. Born in Rivas, Nicaragua, and educated in the United States, she married Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Cardenal in 1950. Two years later he took over his family-owned newspaper La Prensa and turned it into a leading opposition
Born: Dec 16, 1485, Alcalá de Henares, SpainDied: Jan 7, 1536, Kimbolton, Huntingdon, England Catherine of Aragón was the queen consort of England (1509-33), who, as the first wife of King Henry VIII, occupies a prominent place in history because the question of her marriage to Henry was a factor in the Reformation in England.
Born: April 13, 1519, FlorenceDied: January 5, 1589, Blois, France Catherine de Médicis was the queen of France (1547-1559) and mother of the last three Valois kings of France. She was a major force in French politics during the 30 years of Roman Catholic-Huguenot wars and an instigator of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day.Catherine
Born: April 21 [May 2, New Style], 1729, Stettin, Prussia [now Szczecin, Poland]Died: November 6 [November 17], 1796, Tsarskoye Selo [now Pushkin], near St. Petersburg, Russia Catherine the Great, empress of Russia the second of that name, who continued the process of Westernization begun by Peter the Great and made Russia a European power.Originally named
Born: Feb 1, 1878, near Bakerville, Tenn., U.S.Died: Dec 21, 1950, Falls Church, Va.Hattie Caraway was a American politician who became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. Hattie Wyatt grew up in her native Bakerville, Tennessee, and in nearby Hustburg. She graduated (1896) from Dickson Normal School and for a time thereafter taught
Born: March 10, 1947, Port Alberni, British Columbia, CanadaAvril Phaedra Campbell was the 19th prime minister of Canada (1993) and first woman to hold the office. Born Avril Phaedra Campbell in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Campbell received degrees in political science (1969) and law (1983) from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She also