Born in 1875 to formerly enslaved parents in South Carolina, educator and civil-rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune was the first in her family to be born free. A key childhood experience, where a white girl told her that she couldn’t read, fueled her lifelong determination to pursue education. In 1904, with only $1.50, she founded the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, which eventually became Bethune-Cookman College, a historically Black university. Voting barriers such as literacy tests were enforced in the South to disenfranchise Black citizens who had previously had less access to education, so her efforts were crucial in ensuring equal representation.

Bethune’s activism extended to politics; on the eve of the 1922 mayoral elections, she faced down a Ku Klux Klan march intended to intimidate her for registering Black voters. Her influence grew nationally when she became a trusted advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. As the head of President Roosevelt’s informal “Black Cabinet” and the Director of Negro Affairs for the National Youth Administration, she was the highest-ranking Black woman in the federal government and fought to ensure that New Deal programs reached Black youth. During WWII, she successfully lobbied for the inclusion of Black women in the military, personally recruiting the first 40 Black women to serve in the Women’s Army Corps. In 1935, she founded the National Council of Negro Women to empower Black women nationally. After her death in 1955, her legacy was cemented in 2022 when her statue became the first of a Black American sponsored by a state in the US Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.

Eleanor Roosevelt transformed the role of first lady from a ceremonial position into an influential platform for social and political advocacy. Born into a wealthy New York family, her childhood was marked by tragedy, leaving her an orphan at a young age. After marrying her distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), she discovered his infidelity. When FDR contracted polio in 1921 and withdrew from public life, his absence allowed her to build an independent public identity, keeping his political career alive by representing him at public events.

As first lady, Eleanor served as her husband’s “conscience,” pushing him on controversial issues like civil rights. She held her own press conferences exclusively for female reporters, wrote a popular syndicated newspaper column called “My Day,” and traveled extensively. In a famous act of protest, she resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939 when they barred Black opera singer Marian Anderson from performing at their hall, helping to arrange Anderson’s historic concert at the Lincoln Memorial, though Eleanor was not present at the event. During WWII, her extensive travels to visit US troops in Great Britain and the South Pacific earned her the Secret Service code name “Rover.” After FDR’s death, President Harry Truman appointed Eleanor to the first US delegation to the United Nations, where she chaired the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and was instrumental in drafting the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, earning her the title “First Lady of the World” (244).

Frances Perkins was a pioneering labor reformer whose career was defined by the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. As a witness to the horrific event where 146 garment workers, mostly young Italian and Jewish immigrant women, died, she dedicated her life to improving workplace safety. This tragedy, she later stated, directly led to the New Deal. Following the fire, Perkins became a key investigator for the New York State Factory Commission, helping to pass dozens of state laws that became a model for the nation.

Her work caught the attention of FDR, who appointed her as New York’s Industrial Commissioner when he was governor. In 1933, President Roosevelt nominated her as labor secretary, making her the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet. Before accepting, she secured his commitment to a sweeping reform agenda. As a result, she became a primary architect of the New Deal, responsible for landmark legislation including the Social Security Act, unemployment insurance, a minimum wage, the 40-hour workweek, and the abolition of child labor. Throughout her 12-year tenure, the longest of any labor secretary, she faced significant sexism but was a steadfast champion for workers’ rights and worked to help Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. The US Department of Labor headquarters was renamed the Frances Perkins Building in her honor in 1980.

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, known as the “Six Triple Eight” (216), was the only all-female, all-Black battalion to serve overseas during WWII. Formed after advocacy from civil-rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the unit of 855 women was deployed to Europe in 1945 to clear a massive backlog of over 17 million pieces of mail for US troops, some of which had been sitting for two years. Morale was plummeting because soldiers had lost contact with their families, and previous units had failed at the seemingly impossible task.

Led by Major Charity Adams Earley, the women worked in harsh conditions in unheated, rat-infested airplane hangars in England and later France. They developed a highly efficient indexing system to track soldiers and redirect mail, working in three shifts around the clock. Their motto was “No Mail, Low Morale” (255). Despite facing sexism and racism, including a threat of court-martial against Major Adams for standing up to a condescending general, the battalion completed the job in half the time expected. Upon their return to the US, their service went largely unrecognized, and they received no parades or public honors. Decades later, their story was rediscovered, and on April 29, 2025, they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for their critical contribution to the war effort.

On November 14, 1960, four six-year-old Black girls—Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, Tessie Prevost, and Ruby Bridges—became the first students to desegregate public elementary schools in the Deep South. Six years after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, a federal court order forced New Orleans to integrate. Escorted by US marshals, the girls walked through violent, screaming mobs of white protestors to enter two previously all-white schools. Tate, Etienne, and Prevost attended McDonogh 19 Elementary School, while Bridges attended William Frantz Elementary.

The backlash was immediate. White parents withdrew their children, leaving the girls to learn in isolation. At McDonogh 19, the three girls were the only students for the entire year, taught by a single brave teacher and forced to play indoors for their safety. Bridges spent her first day alone in the principal’s office after all 500 students were withdrawn. The girls and their families faced constant threats, requiring police protection at their homes. While Bridges became an icon of the civil-rights movement, largely due to Norman Rockwell’s painting The Problem We All Live With, the stories of the other three girls were often overlooked. In later years, the women reunited, sharing their story to ensure that the collective courage of all four girls was recognized. Tate’s foundation later purchased the McDonogh 19 building and transformed it into an educational center about the civil-rights movement.

Romana Acosta Bañuelos was an entrepreneur and public servant who became the first Latina to hold a senior US government post. Born in Arizona in 1925 to Mexican immigrants, she was a US citizen but was deported with her family to Mexico during the Great Depression at age seven. She returned to the US as a young single mother and, with only a middle-school education and $400 in savings, founded a small tortilla business. This grew into Ramona’s Mexican Food Products, a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

Recognizing that the Latino community was underserved by mainstream financial institutions, Bañuelos co-founded the Pan American National Bank in East Los Angeles, California, in the 1960s, eventually becoming the chairperson of its board. Her business acumen and community leadership caught the attention of President Richard Nixon, who nominated her as US treasurer in 1971 as part of an effort to reach out to Latino and women voters. Despite a controversial confirmation hearing following an immigration raid on her factory, she was confirmed, becoming the highest-ranking Mexican American in government. Her signature appeared on all US currency printed during her tenure. Bañuelos served until 1974 before returning to her business, leaving a legacy of economic empowerment and paving the way for other Latinas to serve in high-level government positions.

Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias was a pioneering multi-sport athlete who shattered records and challenged conventional ideas of femininity in the mid-20th century. Known for her supreme confidence and versatility, she excelled in every sport she tried. At the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, she won two gold medals and one silver medal in track and field. She also played professional basketball, pitched in Major League Baseball exhibition games, and was skilled in numerous other sports.

In 1935, Didrikson discovered her greatest passion, golf, and quickly dominated the sport. She became the first woman to compete in a men’s Professional Golfers’ Association Tour event and was the most accomplished female golfer of her era, once winning 13 consecutive tournaments. In 1950, she co-founded the Ladies Professional Golf Association, creating professional opportunities for women in the sport. Throughout her career, she faced criticism from commentators who called her “mannish” and suggested she should stay home. 

In 1953, she was diagnosed with colon cancer and became one of the first prominent athletes to speak openly about her illness, helping to reduce its stigma. After surgery, she defied expectations by quickly returning to golf and winning the 1954 US Women’s Open by 12 strokes. She passed away from cancer in 1956 at age 45, leaving a legacy as one of the greatest all-around female athletes in history.

Patsy Mink was a trailblazing politician and the principal author of Title IX, the landmark 1972 law that transformed education and athletics for women and girls in the US. Born in Hawaii in 1927, Mink experienced discrimination firsthand when she was denied entry to medical school because she was a woman. She instead pursued a law degree and, after struggling to find employment at male-dominated law firms, became the first Japanese American woman to practice law in Hawaii.

In 1964, Mink became the first woman of color and the first Asian American woman elected to the US Congress. As one of only a handful of women in Washington, she felt a special responsibility to advocate for women’s rights. Drawing on her own experiences, she championed legislation to ensure equal opportunity in education. The result was Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or education program that receives federal funding. The law had a revolutionary impact, particularly on women’s sports, leading to a massive increase in participation and scholarship opportunities. For her key role, the law was posthumously renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act after her death in 2002. She was also a strong supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and a fierce opponent of the Vietnam War.

Pat Schroeder was a pioneering feminist legislator who served in Congress for 24 years, where she championed issues of family leave, women’s health, and gender equality. Elected in 1972, she was one of only 14 women in the House and immediately faced blatant sexism; the chairman of the Armed Services Committee initially forced her to share a single chair with the committee’s only Black member. Undeterred, Schroeder became known for her sharp wit, jokingly dismissing questions about how she balanced work and motherhood.

Schroeder was a co-founder of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, a bipartisan group that successfully advocated for major policy changes. Her signature legislative achievement was the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the first law that President Bill Clinton signed, which guaranteed job-protected leave for family and medical reasons. She was also instrumental in passing the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Violence Against Women Act, and legislation mandating the inclusion of women in federally funded medical research. In 1987, she explored a run for president, but her emotional announcement that she would not seek the nomination drew criticism that highlighted the double standards faced by female politicians. Schroeder retired in 1996 as the longest-serving woman in the House at that time, leaving a legacy of transformative legislation.

Constance Baker Motley was a key civil-rights lawyer who worked alongside Thurgood Marshall and sat on the platform with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech. That same year, she served as King’s defense counsel in Birmingham, Alabama, after he was jailed following the Good Friday march. During the trial, when a prosecutor dismissively referred to her as “she,” Motley insisted on being addressed as “Mrs. Motley.” Despite the strength of her argument, the judge ruled King in contempt of court and jailed him for another five days. Later, when Birmingham officials expelled over 1,000 students for participating in the nonviolent protests known as the “Children’s Crusade,” Motley filed a federal lawsuit and won their reinstatement in the US Court of Appeals.

Born in 1921, Motley was the second Black woman to graduate from Columbia Law School and became the only female lawyer at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) for many years. She helped write the brief for Brown v. Board of Education and won nine of the 10 cases she argued before the Supreme Court; her only loss was later overturned on the same argument she had originally made. Despite her qualifications, she faced sexism; when Marshall became a judge in 1961, he chose a white man, Jack Greenberg, as his successor as the LDF’s director-counsel rather than Motley.

Motley then entered politics, becoming the first Black woman elected to the New York State Senate and the first female borough president of Manhattan. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to a federal trial court, making her the first Black woman on the federal bench. As a judge, she ruled in landmark cases, refusing to recuse herself for being a woman in a gender-discrimination suit and ruling in favor of reporter Melissa Ludtke’s lawsuit against Major League Baseball, granting female reporters access to locker rooms. Her career inspired future generations, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

O’Donnell frames the period from 1976 to the present as one she has personally witnessed, in which women moved from the margins to the center of US power. The 1970s marked a major turning point, as the second wave of feminism led to landmark legislation that addressed many grievances from the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments. These laws included Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, which mandated equal access to education, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, which made it illegal for banks to deny a woman credit because of her sex or marital status.

This legal revolution was spearheaded by figures like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who, as a lawyer in the 1970s, won five of six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court, establishing that the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause applied to women. This work helped pave the way for her and five other women to serve on the court: Sandra Day O’Connor, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Jackson, the first Black woman on the court, was inspired as a child by the career of Constance Baker Motley.

In recent decades, women also gained significant economic and cultural power. They now control over half the wealth in America and lead major corporations, such as Jane Fraser at Citigroup, while artists like Taylor Swift and director Greta Gerwig have dominated the entertainment industry. In sports, Billie Jean King’s 1973 victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” was a watershed moment that helped normalize female athleticism (318). Women also transformed traditionally male institutions like the military, where Admiral Lisa Franchetti became the first woman to lead the Navy in 2023, and medicine, where women now outnumber men in medical school. The author concludes that while the fight for full equality continues, this era represents the normalization of female leadership in America.