# data[].attributes.body
American tennis great Billie Jean King broke down barriers by pushing for equal prize money for women and becoming one of the first well-known openly gay athletes.

Born on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California, Billie Jean King became the top-ranked women's tennis player by 1967. In 1973, she formed the Women's Tennis Association and famously defeated Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes." The first prominent female athlete to admit her homosexuality, King continued her work as an influential social activist after retiring from tennis.

Questions to ponder:
1. How do you think Billie Jean was received as an openly gay female athlete in the 1970s?
2. How do you think Billie Jean King influenced women athlete's in the 70s?
3. What kind of impact do you think the infamous "Battle of the Sexes" had on men during the time period?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Day at Night: Billie Jean King, tennis champion

# data[].attributes.body
American educator Helen Keller overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf to become one of the 20th century's leading humanitarians, as well as co-founder of the ACLU. Helen was the first deaf/blind person to graduate from college in 1904. She went on to become and world famous advocate for political, and social movements. She lead the charge for women's suffrage as well as birth control. Between the 30s and 50s she traveled the world to shed new light on perceptions about individuals with Vision and Hearing problems. Many countries set up their first support systems for the vision impaired due to her visits. Broadway and Hollywood have both made depictions of her life.
Below is a college graduation photo of Helen Keller.

Questions to ponder:
1. How were individuals with hear ad vision loss viewed prior to the emergence of Helen Keller
2. What kind of impact do you think Helen Keller had on women of her time?
3. Why do you think other countries were so far behind us in understanding the possibilities of individuals with disabilities?

# data[].attributes.body
an American publisher and the first female publisher of a major American newspaper. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period: the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Her memoir, Personal History, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

Questions to ponder:
1. What kind of impact on women in journalism did Katharine Graham have?
2. What kind of impact on the country did Katharine Graham's journalism have?
3. What kind of barriers do you think she faced a female journalist in Washington during her time?

# data[].attributes.body
an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. She is the second female justice (after Sandra Day O'Connor) to be confirmed to the court, and one of four female justices to be confirmed (with Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who are still serving). Following O'Connor's retirement, and until Sotomayor joined the court, Ginsburg was the only female justice on the Supreme Court. During that time, Ginsburg became more forceful with her dissents, which were noted by legal observers and in popular culture. She is generally viewed as belonging to the liberal wing of the court. Ginsburg has authored notable majority opinions, including United States v. Virginia, Olmstead v. L.C., and Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc.

Questions to ponder:
1. Why did it take so long to get women on the Supreme Court?
2. What kind of barriers do you think she faced coming up as a judge?
3. What is the impact of Supreme Court judges being appointed for life?

# data[].attributes.body
was an American writer, activist, and feminist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century. In 1966, Friedan co-founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men."

Questions to ponder:
1. How did Betty influence American feminism in the 60s?
2. How do you think she would be received today?
3. What kind of barriers do you think she faced in the 60s bringing up such issues.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
One of America's great feminists Betty Friedan | CBC

# data[].attributes.body
was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician who served in the United States House of Representatives. In 1984, she was the first female vice presidential candidate representing a major American political party.

Questions to ponder:
1. How do you think she was received being the first female vice presidential candidate?
2. Do you think her being a female had something to do with their defeat in the election? Why?
3. What did her nomination tell young women in the 80s about the role they can play in government?

# data[].attributes.body
an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the United States Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. In 1935, Earhart became a visiting faculty member at Purdue University as an advisor to aeronautical engineering and a career counselor to women students. She was also a member of the National Woman's Party and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.

During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career, and disappearance continues to this day.

Questions to ponder:

1. How did Amelia change the aviation world?
2. If Amelia's plane lands and never disappears, is she still this famous? Why?
3. How do you think president Roosevelt felt about this letter send by Ameila?

Amelia Earhart's Letter to Roosevelt regarding world flight

# data[].attributes.body
was an American politician, educator, and author. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, and she represented New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1972, she became the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Questions to ponder:
1. What kind of barriers did Shirley face as an African American female politician during the civil rights movement?
2. How much did Shirley influence young black women in the 70s?
3. How did the presence of minority women in congress change the landscape of conduct in congress in the 70s?

# data[].attributes.body
was a pioneering nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and patent clerk. Nursing education was not very formalized at that time and she did not attend nursing school, so she provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work at a time when relatively few women worked outside the home. Below is a letter she wrote to president Lincoln during the Civil War.

Questions to ponder:
1. What kind of system was set up before the American Red Cross?
2. How did Clara change the attitude about women being around the battlefield?
3. How did Clara impact the nursing field during her time?

# data[].attributes.body
was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to social equality, she collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17. In 1856, she became the New York state agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Question to ponder:
1. Where do you think womend rights would be without the work of Susan B?
2. What kind of barriers do you think she faced on her way?
3. How do you think she would feel about the progress of women's rights today?

Below is a letter written to the president by Susan. It read as follows:

The one purpose of my life has been the establishment of perfect equality of rights for women – civil and political – industrial and educational. We have attained equal chances in nearly all of the colleges and universities – equal chances to work – but not equal pay. We have school suffrage in half the states, taxpayers’ suffrage in a half-dozen states – Municipal suffrage in one state – Kansas – and full suffrage in four – Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho – and hope and work in faith till the end.

In good cheer
Susan B. Anthony

Nov. 7. 1901 –                                     Rochester, N.Y.

# data[].attributes.body
was an American singer. Anderson was one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall. The incident placed Anderson into the spotlight of the international community on a level unusual for a classical musician. With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. She sang before a crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions. Anderson continued to break barriers for black artists in the United States, becoming the first black person, American or otherwise, to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 7, 1955. Her performance as Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at the Met was the only time she sang an opera role on stage.

Questions to ponder:
1. How did Anderson's performance below change perceptions of African Americans in the 30s?
2. How did the first lady Elanor Roosevelt impact this performance.
3. Do you think artist today have been influenced by Marian? Why? Why not?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
"Marian Anderson Sings at the Lincoln Memorial" Newreel Story

# data[].attributes.body
known as the "mother" of social work, was a pioneer American settlement activist/reformer, social worker, public philosopher, sociologist, public administrator, protestor, author, and leader in women's suffrage and world peace. She co-founded, with Ellen Gates Starr, an early settlement house in the United States, Chicago's Hull House that would later become known as one of the most famous settlement houses in America.

Questions to ponder:
1. What is the role of a settlement house?
2. How did Jane's work effect women's suffrage?
3. What kind of barriers do you think she faced in inner city Chicago in the early 1900s?