Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter whose primitive-like style reflected Mexican folk culture, her own pain and suffering, both physical and emotional.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, from Yugoslavia, decided early in her life that she had a religious vocation to serve the poor, and went to India to serve. She won the
Nobel Peace Prize for her work.
Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, is also one of America's most successful business people, and a philanthropist.
Joan of Arc was burned at the stake afer she helped restore the King of France to his throne. She was later canonized.
Emily Dickinson, who published little during her lifetime and was a noted recluse, revolutionized poetry with her verse.
Diana, Princess of Wales -- known as Princess Diane -- captured hearts around the world with her fairy-tale romance, her marital struggles, and then her untimely death.
Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl in the Netherlands, kept a diary during the time she and her family were hiding from the Nazis. She did not survive her time in a concentration camp, but her diary still speaks of hope in the midst of war and persecution.
Cleopatra, the last Pharaoh of Egypt, had infamous liaisons with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, while trying to keep Egypt out of Rome's clutches. She chose death rather than captivity when she lost this battle.
Marilyn Monroe, actress who was discovered while working in a World War II defense plant, epitomized a certain image for women in the 1940s and 1950s.
Madonna: Which one? The singer and sometimes actress -- and very successful self-promoter and businesswoman? The mother of Jesus? The image of Mary and other saintly mothers in medieval paintings? Yes, Madonna is the number one woman of history searched for year after year on the Net -- even if the searches are certainly for more than one woman.
