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Nancy Pelosi

Learn more about women who've ruled as queens (or empresses or pharaohs, etc.), been elected to leadership positions, or influenced history as queen consorts or first ladies.

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Women's History Spotlight10

Women's Quotes for Black History Month

Saturday February 11, 2012
This quotation from educator Mary McLeod Bethune is one in a new collection of visual quotes from African American women, in honor of Black History Month. Share on Facebook.

Mary McLeod Bethune Quote

Lil Hardin Armstrong, Jazz Pioneer

Thursday February 9, 2012
The first major woman jazz instrumentalist, Lil Hardin Armstrong can still be heard performing on some vintage jazz albums. She also made a lasting contribution to jazz when she took a young Louis Armstrong under her guidance, taught him to dress better, talked him into moving on from a band where he played second cornet, and helped launch his career. Their marriage didn't last, and her fame faded, but her role in his career and in early jazz is being recognized more in recent years.

Mother of Black History Month?

Wednesday February 8, 2012

Mary McLeod Bethune was the founder of Bethune-Cookman College, originally opened as the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute in 1904, serving African Americans at a time when most schools admitted only white students. Because the local hospital was whites-only, the school hosted its own hospital from 1911-1921. In addition to playing a key part in other organizations, Bethune served as president for the Study of Negro Life and History from 1926 - 1951, an organization founded by black history pioneer Carter G. Woodson, who founded what became Black History Month.

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Image: Getty Images / Archive Photos

Traveling Preacher Turned Abolitionist

Tuesday February 7, 2012

Sojourner Truth - from Narrative of Sojourner TruthBorn into slavery in New York at the end of the 18th century, the woman who would take the name Sojourner Truth became a traveling preacher, and then a popular speaker for the growing abolitiionist movement. She also advocated for women's rights.

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