IMPACTFUL WOMEN

If you looked at a museum exhibit of the first woman to run for president, the first woman to write a play featuring an all African American cast, one who helped break gender barriers on banking, and one that is a famous poet would you know it?[1] If I were venturing a guess, I would assume you would not be able to tell me an answer to a single one of them. While women like Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Stanton get well deserved credit, some of the other impactful women along the way are overlooked. These women are the likes of Victoria Woodhull, Tennessee Claufield, Angela Weld Grimke, and Frances E. W. Harper. There are many women that we should know more about who have been forgotten as the sands of time have slowly ticked away day by day for 100 years. We should continue to study these forgotten women to show that there is more than just three or four people in a life changing shift like the 19th amendment, there are smaller figures along the way who may be overlooked, and we have to try and remember them. The impactful and influential mentioned all have very important qualities and attributes in common. They are that they were gifted with their words, made changes in the world by accomplishing something for the first time as a women or an African American women, and challenged the patriarchy put in front of them.