This section began as a celebration of March and Women’s History Month; it continues as a regular feature because there are so many unrecognized women who have made major contributions to history.
Welcome to America Comes Alive!, a site I created to share little-known stories of America’s past.
These stories are about Americans—people just like you—who have made a difference and changed the course of history. Look around the site and find what inspires you.
0
Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964), Educator, Scholar, and Activist
One of the most prominent African-American scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries- gave voice to African-Americans, from the end of slavery to the civil rights movement
- Only woman of any color to be quoted in the current edition of the U.S. Passport
Anna Julia Cooper was born in 1858 to an enslaved woman in Raleigh, North Carolina. Anna and her siste were thought to have been fathered by their mother’s white master.
In 1867, two years after the end of the Civil War, Anna was able to attend Saint Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute, a coeducational school for former slaves. She received the equivalent of a high school education and taught for a couple of years.
In 1877 she married George A.G. Cooper, who had been a teacher at the school. As was the custom, Anna Cooper was no longer able to teach once she married. When her husband died unexpectedly two years later, Cooper needed to regroup. She decided the best plan was to pursue a college degree. She attended Oberlin College in Ohio on a tuition scholarship, earning a BA in 1884 and a Masters in Mathematics in 1887.
CONTINUE READING…
Susie King Taylor (1848-1912), Educator, Author, Activist
- First woman to openly teach former slaves at a school in Georgia.
- Only African-American woman to publish a memoir of her work during the Civil War: Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers.
Susie King was born in August1848 to a slave family in rural Georgia. When she was seven years old, her owners permitted her to move to Savannah to live with her grandmother who had been given her freedom.
Jessie Field Shambaugh (1881-1971)
Implemented program for young people that became 4-H
Though most of us currently live in urban or suburban areas, our country’s roots are rural.
Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)
African-American artist who broke racial barriers
Building a successful career as an artist is a difficult challenge for anyone.
Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927)
Founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA
Juliette Gordon was born into a well-off family in Savannah, Georgia.
Katy Payne (1937- )
American Acoustical Biologist
A week’s observation of baby elephants at the Washington Park Zoo in Portland, Oregon led scientist Katy Payne to leave her 15-year study of the sounds of humpback whales to begin studying elephants.
Louise A. Boyd (1887-1972)
Arctic Explorer
Louise Boyd was born into a wealthy California family but instead of using her inherited wealth to live grandly in a stately home, she used it to explore the Arctic.
