Tell me about an amazing woman in history that I may not have heard about?

[AwfulMaureen]

There are LOADS of women in history who've done incredible things or had amazing careers but have been forgotten...like an amazing singer from the twenties/thirties who also worked as a prostitute and who wrote and sang some of the most shockingly filthy songs in addition to having a stunning voice.

She began singing professionally as a child having been singing on the street for money...she was offered work in bars. ...I love Lucille Bogan...WARNING...don't play the song in the link if the kids are around!

Tell me your favourite unknown women?

Two more women from the American Civil Rights Movement, one of whom died as a result of her activism:

Viola Liuzzo

Virgina Durr

Vijaya Laxmi Pandit, first woman president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1953. Her husband died in jail supporting Indian independence.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijaya_Lakshmi_Pandit
Vasundhera Raje, democratically elected by more than 71 million people, current Chief Minister of Rajasthan, and a great modern administrator.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasundhara_Raje

Ooh has anyone mentioned Hannah Arendt?

German-born philosopher, writer and professor, she covered the Eichmann trial and coined the phrase, 'the banality of evil'.

Ida and Louise Cook. Ida was a prolific Mills and Boon author in the 1930s. The sisters were keen opera fans and on their travels across Europe they discovered the plight of the Jews, and using Ida's money they began to smuggle refugees out of Austria and Germany. Before they went the Nazis would rob them and impose huge taxes on fleeing Jews, so anything taken out would have to be portable. Ida would wear a family's entire fortune in a brooch openly pinned to her Woolworths cardie. Then put the money in a British bank so the family would have money to survive on when they reached England. (Because back then the UK Govt were just as 'welcoming' to refugees even when it became clear that Hitler was intent on genocide). The border guards never stopped or questioned these two little spinster ladies. They only stopped when war broke out. Ida and Louise were recognised as Righteous Gentiles by Yad Vashem in 1963.

She's not historical, but I'm an admirer of Jane Goodall. Back when women still weren't thought to think she went out to middle of nowhere in Africa and quietly set about revolutionising primatology and now works in conservation.

Historically I'm also interested in Eleanor of Aquitaine!

Define "historical" though - her work certainly goes back a long way.

Prof Jane Somerville. cardiac prof and mother of 4

Rosalind Franklin, worked on the discovery of DNA, and horribly over looked by Watson and Crick (both men!)

While we're mentioning janes, I will add that little remembered English poet, Jane Taylor. Author of twinkle twinkle little star.

I read that poem only yesterday to DD3! DD3 assured me that I was quite wrong and that there was only the first verse to the song/poem.

Jocelyn Bell

Rosalind Franklin

You have probably never heard of her.

Micaela Bastidas en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micaela_Bastidas_Puyucahua She and her husband led a rebellion against the Spanish Crown.
Tomasa T'ito Condemayta, another woman who fought with them against the Spanish crown.

Flora Tristán en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_Tristan French- Peruvian feminist.
María Jesús Alvarado Rivera en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Jes%C3%BAs_Alvarado_Rivera

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sor_Juana_In%C3%A9s_de_la_Cruz

Maria Elena Moyano en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Elena_Moyano

I heart this topic, OP.

Can I nominate Nelly Bly , an american journalist in the late 1800s who faked insanity so she could go undercover in a mental asylum and report on conditions there.

You could if I hadn't nominated her on Saturday . But you can certainly second her...

Ooops sorry, I really thought I had trawled the whole thread to avoid duplication, turns out I missed a big picture right there on page one.

Sorry!

I saw a clip on The Antiques Roadshow featuring an amazing sampler, stitched by a workhose inmate, Lorina Bulwer, who sounded like a fascinating woman. The museum curator, Ruth Burwood, looks a pretty fantastic, intelligent and passionate person too!

Wow, I've found a transcript of Lorina's embroidered rant- hear her roar!

Phoolan Devi. A rebel from India. The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian Woman's Amazing Journey From Peasant to International Legend,

I have Ada Roddick whose work on radiochemistry directly preceded Lise Meitner's work. she observed some unusual contamination in a chemical solution and hypothesized that they were fragments from heavy elements which had undergone fission.

Also Marie-Anne Pirette Paulze the wife of Antoine Lavoisier.
Originally his child bride her interest and innate skill at science was a meeting of minds. Her skill at languages lead her to seek out foreign research papers which were of interest which she would translate. She wrote up much of Antoine's research and used what would be described as Design of Experiment methods to ensure that experiments were repeatable and consistent. During the French Revolution she fled with as much of the original research documents that she could carry.

Martha Gelhorn.

There's a great biography of her that I highly recommend.

I know she's been mentioned a few times but Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. I'm actually distantly related to her on my mothers side.

Bof How fascinating is that!? Amazing....it reminds me of those artists now who stitch Feminist thoughts onto traditional samplers....