Random Famous American Women Who Deserve Their Faces On Money (24 items)

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  (#1) Harriet Tubman

  Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) was born into slavery, from which she escaped. Eventually, she became a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad - a system developed by a secret group of free blacks and sympathetic whites to help enslaved people get to free northern states.

  She was also a scout and a spy during the American Civil War, helping the Union Army liberate hundreds of slaves.

   
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  (#2) Clara Barton

  • Dec. at 91 (1821-1912)

  Clara Barton (1821-1912) began tending to the needy and wounded during the Civil War. She later became the founder and first president of the American Red Cross. 

   
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  (#3) Eleanor Roosevelt

  • Dec. at 78 (1884-1962)

  Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States. She broke the mold of a traditional first lady by being outspoken about causes close to her heart, including civil rights and women's right to work.

   
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  (#4) Susan B. Anthony

  • Dec. at 86 (1820-1906)

  Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) was one of the most famous female suffragists in the country. Along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she founded the American Equal Rights Association and, later, the American Woman Suffrage Association. She also fought on behalf anti-slavery groups.

  She's already got her face on dollar coins, but it's about time we see her on some actual bills!

   
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  (#5) Ruby Hirose

  Ruby Sakae Hirose (1904-1960) was an American biochemist and bacteriologist whose groundbreaking research helped create a vaccine for polio. In 1940, she was one of 10 women recognized by the American Chemical Society for her contributions. During WWII, her family was sent to internment camps, though she escaped internment because she was living in Ohio at the time.

   

   
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  (#6) Rosa Parks

  In 1955, Rosa Parks (1913-2005) refused to give up her seat to a white person on a crowded bus in Montgomery, Alabama, thus setting in motion the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a cornerstone of the civil rights movement. She continued to be a strong advocate for human rights issues.

   
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  (#7) Helen Keller

  • Dec. at 88 (1880-1968)

  A childhood disease left Helen Keller (1880-1968) deaf and blind. As a result of her teacher Anne Sullivan's hard work in helping Keller learn to communicate, Keller went on to become an expert author, lecturer, and teacher. She often spoke on behalf of others with similar disabilities.

   
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  (#8) Amelia Earhart

  Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She's credited with opening the skies to other female pilots. Her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 while she was attempting to become the first person to fly around the equator.

   
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  (#9) Hedy Lamarr

  • Dec. at 86 (1914-2000)

  Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000) was an actress during MGM's "Golden Age." She was also among the 20th century's most important inventors, coming up with an improved traffic stoplight. Along with co-inventor George Antheil, she devised a "Secret Communications System" that was used to help combat the Germans during WWII. 

   
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  (#10) Elizabeth Blackwell

  • Dec. at 89 (1821-1910)

  Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was the first American woman to receive a medical degree. She attended Geneva College in New York after being rejected by all the major medical schools in the nation because of her gender.

  She went on to found a women’s medical college to train other women physicians.

   
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  (#11) Nellie Bly

  • Dec. at 58 (1864-1922)

  Nellie Bly (1864-1922) was the pen name of writer, inventor, and journalist Elizabeth Cochran Seaman. One of her most famous works was Ten Days in A Mad-House, in which Bly went undercover at the Women's Lunatic Asylum to document allegations of neglect. Her investigative research was groundbreaking, leading to hospital and patient care reform.
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  (#12) Elizabeth Cady Stanton

  • Dec. at 87 (1815-1902)

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) was an American suffragist and abolitionist who helped launch the women's rights movement in the United States. She worked closely with Susan B. Anthony and advocated for many women's causes beyond the right to vote, including access to education and divorce.
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  (#13) Ida B. Wells

  • Dec. at 69 (1862-1931)

  Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) was an African-American civil rights leader whose work was varied and wide-ranging, though she was particularly well-known for her skills as an investigative journalist and editor. She often documented lynchings in the United States. Wells was also one of the founders of the NAACP.

   
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  (#14) Sally Ride

  • Dec. at 61 (1951-2012)

  Sally Ride (1951-2012) was the first American woman in space. At the time, she was also the youngest American astronaut ever to orbit Earth.

   
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  (#15) Alice Paul

  Alice Paul (1885-1977) was an American suffragist and women's rights activist. She organized the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession, during which roughly 5,000-10,000 protestors marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, campaigning for women's right to vote. The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits voter discrimination on the basis of sex, was ratified in 1919, thanks in no small part to Paul's work.
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  (#16) Mary McLeod Bethune

  Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) was an educator dedicated to providing better access to education for African Americans. She founded a private school for African-American girls in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1904.

   
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  (#17) Victoria Woodhull

  • Dec. at 89 (1838-1927)

  Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927) ran for president before women could actually even vote! She was a member of the Equal Rights Party that supported labor rights, women's rights, and social welfare.

  She was also an advocate of free love, meaning the freedom to marry, divorce, and bear children without government interference.

   
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  (#18) Maya Angelou

  • Dec. at 86 (1928-2014)

  Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was an American author, poet, dancer, actress, and singer. She was active in the civil rights movement and worked along Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In 1993 she recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration.

   
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  (#19) Betty Ford

  Elizabeth Ann "Betty" Ford (1918-2011) was first lady of the United States and wife of the 38th president, Gerald Ford. As first lady, she was active in social policy and gained fame as one of the most candid first ladies in history, speaking out about feminism, gun control, and abortion.

   
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  (#20) Claudette Colvin

  • 79

  In 1955, when Claudette Colvin (b. 1939) was 15, she refused to move and give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white person. This was nine months before Rosa Parks mounted a similar protest. 

   
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  (#21) Rachel Carson

  Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964) was an American marine biologist and conservationist. She was an early advocate of the environmental movement, which she documented in her book Silent Spring.
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  (#22) Pearl S. Buck

  • Dec. at 81 (1892-1973)

  Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) was a novelist who wrote about American and Asian culture, including in her literary masterpiece, The Good Earth. She was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

   
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  (#23) Billie Holiday

  • Dec. at 44 (1915-1959)

  Billie Holiday (1915-1959) was an American jazz singer. Often called the “First Lady of the Blues,” Holiday is considered by many to be the greatest and most expressive jazz singer of all time. 

   
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  (#24) Betty Friedan

  • Dec. at 85 (1921-2006)

  Betty Friedan (1921-2006) was an American social activist and leading feminist figure of the 1960s. She wrote the best-selling book The Feminine Mystique. She also campaigned for an extension of female rights and the end of sexual discrimination.

   

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