Frida Born in Mexico in the early 1900’s, Frida Kahlo had a difficult childhood, contracting Polio at only 6 years old – this left her with a limp and one leg thinner than the other. She was inspired to paint after watching another famous Mexican artist, Diego Rivera, paint a mural in the auditorium of the school at which she was a pupil.
On September 17th 1925, Frida was badly injured in a bus crash and put in a full-body cast for three months. She began painting as a way to pass the time. Information sourced from: www.biography.com www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org
Kahlo As well as art, Frida became very interested in politics. She had Leon Trotsky (the Russian Communist leader) stay with her for two years after he was exiled from the USSR by Joseph Stalin. Frida began painting bright, dramatic paintings and self-portraits which made her famous around the world. She was even taken to dinner by Picasso and put on the front cover of Vogue magazine.
After Frida died in 1954 her fame and influence grew and grew and in 1995 one of her self-portraits was sold for $3.2 million.
HARRIET HARRIET T Harriet Tubman was an African-American woman born in to slavery in 1820.
At 27 years old she escaped through the ‘Underground Railway’ which was a network of safe houses used to lead runaway slaves to the safety of the Northern states of America where slavery was illegal. After she escaped she made it her mission to help as many other slaves in America as she could, by leading them through the Underground Railway. Information sourced from: www.biography.com www.history.com www.ducksters.com
The
Un
d roun derg
way
Rail
TUBMAN TUbMAN She had to be incredibly brave and clever, using disguises and the cover of night to avoid capture. She once disguised herself with a bonnet and carried two live chickens to pretend that she was a slave running errands. When she found herself face to face with an ex-master, she yanked the strings around the chickens’ legs making them flap and squawk to distract him!
Harriet risked her life and freedom to help others. She helped around 300 slaves escape and was never caught!
Agno Whether she was real or simply a part of Greek Mythology, there is no doubt that Agnodice was a hugely influential woman in history. It’s said she was inspired to be a doctor in Athens after seeing women dying needlessly during child birth - but she wasn’t allowed to become a doctor because she was a woman, so she cut her hair, put on men’s clothes and went to study in Egypt. After she qualified, she continued to dress like a man so she could work as a doctor in Athens - gaining the trust of women by secretly revealing her identity.
Information sourced from: exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu
odice Unfortunately, she was so effective that men suspected this new male doctor was seducing their wives and she was put on trial! She had to reveal her real gender by lifting her tunic, but this just made the men angry that she had lied about being a man.
According to the legend, the women she had treated arrived at the trial just in time to praise her for all the incredible care Agnodice had given and wouldn’t allow their husbands to execute her. Because of this Agnodice’s ‘crimes’ were forgotten and women were given the opportunity to practice medicine in Athens from then on!
MARY Mary Seacole was born in 1805 in Jamaica to a Scottish soldier and a Jamaican ‘doctress’ who used Caribbean and African herbal remedies. Mary learned her nursing skills by watching her mother who ran a boarding house tending to invalid soldiers. Her goal was to help soldiers in the Crimean War after hearing about the outbreak of disease, but the British Government refused to help her because she was black. She was so committed to helping others that in spite of this, she funded her own trip.
Information sourced from: www.bbc.co.uk www.spartacus-educational.com
SEACOLE Eventually she set up a boarding house for wounded soldiers called The British Hotel.
Her bravery even stretched to treating soldiers under fire on the battlefield! This earned her the nickname ‘Mother Seacole’ for her kindness, courage and selflessness.
Alexandra Born in the Eastern suburbs of Paris in 1868, Alexandra David-Neel gave up a promising career as an opera singer to pursue her love of travel and at the age of 18, she had already left France to visit England, Switzerland and Spain on her own. Her passion for travel and the pursuit of knowledge found her learning about Buddhism from the Dalai Lama in India in a way nobody from Europe had ever done before. She even lived in a cave in North India for over a year; she spent this time meditating, learning to speak Tibetan and continuing her quest for Buddhist enlightenment. Information sourced from: N
www.encyclopedia.com www.mysteriouspeople.com www.huffingtonpost.com
W
E
S
david-nĂŠel At 55 years old she trekked across a 19,000 foot Himalayan mountain pass to become the first European ever to visit the forbidden city of Lhasa. To achieve this feat she hiked for 19 hours straight in the middle of winter disguised as a beggar to avoid detection by the authorities. She even boiled and ate her boots to avoid starvation!
When she reached 100 years ago she once again felt compelled to visit Tibet and applied to have her passport renewed, but died before she could return.
Hi, my name’s Katie Lucke, I’m 17 years old and I’m from Cornwall. I created this booklet with the help of Fixers in order to celebrate the achievements of women through history, especially those who may be less well know or covered by mainstream media. The reason I wanted to create this booklet was because I feel there are not enough strong female role models for young women. My aim is to inspire women to achieve great things. To find out more about the subjects covered in this booklet then visit these websites: historynet.com/famous-women-in-history feminist.com history.ac.uk