February 4: Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan, sometimes called the mother of modern feminism, died on her 85th birthday. She helped many women in the 1950s put their finger on their "problem that has no name," their dissatisfaction with housewifery in the modern American suburb. Later, she was a founder of the National Organization for Women.
February 24: Octavia Butler
African American woman writer Octavia Butler made an impact in a field dominated by white males: science fiction. Her science fiction work, "Kindred," told the story of women in slavery with a time travel plot. She was a 1995 winner of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius grant."
