Born: c. 1797, Ulster County, New York, U.S.Died: Nov. 26, 1883, Battle Creek, MichiganSojourner Truth was an American abolitionist and advocate of women’s rights. She was born into slavery in Ulster County, New York, to James and Elizabeth Bomefree, who named her Isabella. She first spoke Dutch because her parents were Dutch-speaking. She and a […]
Born: March 28, 1515, Ávila, SpainDied: October 4, 1582, Alba de Tormes;canonized 1622; feast day October 15 Saint Teresa of Ávila was a Spanish mystic, influential author, and founder of the religious order of Discalced, or Barefoot, Carmelites, also known as Teresa of Jesus.Teresa de Cepeday Ahumada was born in Ávila on March 28, 1515.
Born: August 27, 1910, Skopje, Macedonia, Ottoman Empire [now in Republic of Macedonia]Died: September 5, 1997, Calcutta [Kolkata], India; beatified October 19, 2003 Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity. For her humanitarian work, she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu or Mother Teresa
Born: March 25, 1934, Toledo, Ohio, U.S. Gloria Steinem is an American writer and political activist, a leading figure in the women’s rights movement. Born in Toledo, Ohio, Steinem graduated from Smith College in 1956. She also studied in India at the universities of Delhi and Calcutta (now Kolkata). Seeking work in journalism, in 1960
Born: Nov 12, 1815, Johnstown, New York, U.S.Died: Oct 26, 1902, New YorkElizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social reformer, who, along with Susan B. Anthony, led the struggle for woman suffrage. Elizabeth Cady was born on November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, New York, the fourth of six children. Although she never went to college,
Born: March 10, 1847, Liverpool, EnglandDied: July 13, 1934, Christchurch, New Zealand Sheppard was an English-born activist, who was a leader in the woman suffrage movement in New Zealand. She was instrumental in making New Zealand the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote (1893).Raised and educated in Scotland, she
Born: Sept 14, 1879, Corning, New York, U.S.Died: Sept 6, 1966, Tucson, Arizona Margaret Sanger was an American leader of the birth-control movement.Sanger was born in Corning, New York, on September 14, 1879, and trained as a nurse at the White Plains (New York) Hospital. Her work among the poor in New York City convinced
Born: c. 182 Died: March 7, 203, feast day March 7, Carthage [now a residential suburb of Tunis, Tunisia] Carthage in the 2nd century AD had a vibrant Christian community that included the Church Father Tertullian. Among those drawn to the growing church was a young mother, Perpetua, the daughter of a prosperous provincial family.
Born: February 4, 1913, Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S.Died: October 24, 2005, Detroit, Michigan Rosa Louise Parks was an African American civil rights activist. In 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. Her action led to the Montgomery bus strike, which was the first large-scale, organized protest against
Born: July 14, 1858, ManchesterDied: June 14, 1928, London Emmeline Pankhurst was a British suffrage leader, who led the movement to win the vote for women in Britain. Born Emmeline Goulden in Manchester, she studied (1873-77) at the École Normale in Paris. In 1879, she married Richard Marsden Pankhurst, a barrister, who worked with her
Born: Sept 22, 1880, Manchester, EnglandDied: Feb 13, 1958, Los Angeles, California, U.S. Christabel Pankhurst was a British suffrage leader, born in Manchester, England, eldest daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and joint founder with her mother of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Christabel Pankhurst became secretary of the union in 1906 and was one
Born: 1500, Kudaki, IndiaDied: 1550, Dwarka, Gujarat Mira Bai or Meera Bai was a princess of Rajasthan, an area in northwest India, celebrated for her lyrical poetry and compositions of bhajans (songs of worship) devoted to the Hindu god Krishna. She formed part of the bhakti movement, which advocated complete devotion as the path to
Born: Oct 9, 1890, near Ingersoll, Ontario, CanadaDied: Sept 27, 1944, Oakland, California, U.S. Aimee Semple McPherson was a controversial Canadian-born American evangelist and early radio preacher, who founded the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Originally named Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy, she was born near Ingersoll, Ontario. Daughter of a Methodist farmer and a Salvation
Flourished 1st century AD, Palestine; feast day July 22 Saint Mary Magdalene in the New Testament was a saintly woman so named from Magdala, a town near Tiberias (now in Israel). Jesus healed her of evil spirits and, following her vigil at the foot of the cross, he appeared to her after his resurrection. Mary
Flourished beginning of the Christian Era Mary (Virgin Mary), also the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, has been venerated by the Christians since apostolic times. The Gospels give only a fragmentary account of Mary, mentioning her chiefly in connection with the beginning and the end of Jesus’ life. Matthew speaks of Mary as