Women's History

Fannie Lou Hamer was born October 6, 1917. Hamer never knew she, as an African American, could register to vote, and never tried until 1963. She then became a leader in the voting rights and civil rights campaigns in Mississippi. Learn more about the woman called "the spirit of the civil rights movement":

• Fannie Lou Hamer - basic facts
• Fannie Lou Hamer Biography
• Fannie Lou Hamer Quotes
• Women and the Civil Rights Movement
• African American Women 1950-1999
• Rosa Parks
• Famous Black Women

American politics question: can you name the five women who've served longest as cabinet members? And yes, who's included depends a bit on how you define "served longest" -- it's a different answer if you combine separate terms in two cabinet positions, or are interested in time served in a single cabinet position. Can you also guess who served the very longest (hint: she just held one office). Check your guess, and see how you did:

• Longest-Serving Women in the Cabinet

Are women people according to the US Constitution? Do the equal protections clauses apply to situations where men and women are treated differently? The history of court decisions on what sound like simple questions is quite interesting. If you want to explore that, I've assembled some resources to see some of this history:

• Sex Discrimination and the Constitution
• Women's Reproductive Rights and the Constitution
• Women's Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment

In the 16th century, Mirabai's willingness to sacrifice family respect and traditional gender, family, and caste restrictions, and to devote herself completely and enthusiastically to Krishna, made her an important role model in a religious movement that stressed ecstatic devotion and that rejected traditional divisions based on sex, class, caste, and creed. Learn more: Mirabai: Bhakti Poet and Saint

Born into a family with connections to both Transcendentalism and abolitionism, Louisa May Alcott associated as a child with Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, Theodore Parker, Julia Ward Howe, and Lydia Maria Child. She's best known for writing the semi-autobiographical Little Women, which was first published on September 30, 1868, but she was also a Civil War nurse and advocate of social reform such as temperance and women's rights. Read more about this 19th century American woman writer: Louisa May Alcott

At age 87, Rebecca Ann Felton became the first woman to take a seat in the US Senate. But her appointment was only symbolic, and she only served for two days. Read more: Rebecca Ann Felton

Yesterday's women's history image was of a 15th century painting of three then-popular saints. Did you guess any of them correctly? Here's more about these three women:

• Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
• Saint Catherine of Alexandria
• Saint Rosalie

When women like Abigail Adams found themselves playing very active roles in managing businesses, farms, and other financial matters, while their husbands were away at war or creating the new American government, they began to ask whether women were going to be included in the new "rights of man." Read more: About Abigail Adams

Do you recognize any of the women in this medieval image? Answer tomorrow....

© 2008 Jupiterimages Corporation.

• Notable Women of Medieval Europe

For Talk Like a Pirate Day, remember that not all the pirates were men. Mary Read and Ann Bonny had quite an interesting story, too.

And then there's thealogian Mary Daly who called herself a Radical Feminist Pirate ...