Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Norah O’Donnell frames her book as an act of “historical recovery” to bring “hidden heroines” into the light. How did this mission-driven approach shape your reading experience compared to a more traditional history book?

2. How did you react to the book’s narrative style, which blends journalistic storytelling with historical accounts? Did you find it more engaging than other works of popular history you may have read, such as Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures?

3. Which woman’s story was the most surprising or memorable to you? What was it about her life or contributions that stuck with you after you finished reading?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. O’Donnell begins by wondering how her “sense of self, power, and courage” might have been different if she had learned these stories as a girl (7). How did reading about these women affect your own perspective on US history or your sense of what is possible?

2. The book highlights women who took immense personal and professional risks to challenge the status quo. Think about the different strategies they used, from Frances Perkins’s quiet legislative work to Susan B. Anthony’s confrontational protests. Which approach connects most with you, and why?

3. Mary McLeod Bethune was inspired to pursue an education after a white girl told her she couldn’t read. Can you think of a moment when a negative experience or a limitation placed upon you fueled your determination to succeed?

4. Many women in the book, like the Blackwell sisters or Maggie Lena Walker, built their own institutions when they were excluded from existing ones. Think about a time when you may have had to create your own path or community when the established ones weren’t welcoming. What did you learn from that experience?

5. How do you think personal experiences of injustice, such as Patsy Mink being denied entry to medical school, shape a person’s desire to create broader social change? Does this personal connection make an activist more effective?

6. The 19th Amendment’s ratification hinged on a letter from a mother to her son. Have any of your family or close friends had a notable influence on your political beliefs? How have they changed your perspective?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The narrative shows how the early women’s rights movement was deeply connected to the abolitionist movement, yet it also frequently excluded women of color. Where do you see similar dynamics of collaboration and exclusion playing out in social-justice movements today?

2. Frances Perkins’s lifelong mission for labor reform was ignited by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. What contemporary events or tragedies have you seen spark similar widespread calls for government regulation and social change?

3. Why do you think it often takes decades, or even centuries, for the contributions of groups like the “Hello Girls” or the “Six Triple Eight” to be formally recognized (216)? What does this say about how a nation chooses what and who to celebrate in its official history?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. What is the significance of the Declaration of Independence as a recurring symbol in the book? How does its meaning shift as the text tells the stories of different women, from Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Elizabeth Freeman, using its language to demand their own rights?

2. What were some of the direct impacts of women physically “taking the stage” or “claiming a seat” in the book? How does O’Donnell use this recurring motif to illustrate the tangible fight for inclusion in spaces designed to keep women out?

3. In what ways does the structure of the book itself, with its series of short biographical chapters, serve as a direct answer to the theme of women’s erasure from historical memory?

4. What is the significance of the written word—in the form of letters, diaries, and pamphlets—in the stories of women like Mercy Otis Warren and the Grimké sisters?

5. Compare the strategies of two different figures—for instance, Constance Baker Motley’s methodical legal work versus Alice Paul’s militant protests that led to the “Night of Terror” (192). What does the book reveal about the necessity of different, sometimes conflicting, approaches to achieve social change?

6. How did O’Donnell’s role as both the author and a figure in the narrative, connecting the history to her own life and her grandmother’s story, shape your connection to the material?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Imagine you’re tasked with designing a new national monument to honor one of the “hidden heroes” from this book. Who would you choose, and what form would the monument take to best capture the spirit of her contributions and story?

2. If We the Women were adapted into a documentary series, which section or group of women do you think would make the most compelling episode? Who would you want to see interviewed as an expert to help tell that story?

3. Choose one of the women profiled, such as the spy Patience Lovell Wright or the orator Anna Dickinson. If she were alive today, what modern cause or profession do you think she would be most drawn to, and why?