Pocahontas was a real person, not much like the Disney cartoon portrayal of her. Her role in the early English settlement of Virginia was key to survival of the colonists. Did she save John Smith? Maybe, maybe not.
Amelia Earhart, a pioneer aviator (aviatrix), set many records before her 1937 disappearance during an attempt to fly around the world. As a daring woman, she became an icon when the organized women's movement had virtually disappeared.
Marie Curie was the first well-known
woman scientist in the modern world, and is known as the "mother of modern physics" for her research in radioactivity. She won two Nobel Prizes: for physics (1903) and chemistry (1911).
17. Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black was a child actress who charmed movie audiences. She later served as an ambassador.Lucille Ball is best known for her television shows, but she also appeared in dozens of films, was a Ziegfeld Girl, and was a successful businesswoman -- the first woman to own a film studio.
Hillary Clinton, First Lady as wife to President Bill Clinton (1994-2001), was an attorney and reform advocate before moving to the White House. She then made history by being elected to the Senate and running for President herself -- barely missing getting the Democratic nomination in 2008, but celebrating "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling."
The story of Helen Keller has inspired millions: though she was deaf and blind after a childhood illness, with the support of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, she learned signing and Braille, graduated from Radcliffe, and helped change the world's perception of the disabled.
Rosa Parks is best known for her refusal to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and her subsequent arrest, which kicked off a bus boycott and accelerated the civil rights movement.
Maya Angelou, a poet and novelist, is known for her beautiful words and big heart.
Harriet Tubman, Underground Railroad conductor during American slavery, was also a Civil War nurse and spy, and an advocate of civil rights and women's rights.
