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Kickass Women

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In the 18th century, Anne Bonny and Mary Read were the two most feared pirate queens of the Caribbean. Here they're shown brandishing their cutlasses in an illustration from the 1724 book <em>A General History of the Pyrates</em>.
pirates

9 Female Adventurers Who Journeyed Into the Unknown

From the Inupiat seamstress who killed polar bears to the Black motorcycle queen of Miami, these daring women lived life on their own terms.
Sarah Durn March 10, 2022
Women of the Indigenous Purépecha community, here shown in line for local elections, have always taken an active role in the politics of Cherán, Mexico. Local legend even tells of a woman named Eréndira, who stole horses from Spanish invaders and led a rebellion against the colonialists.
literature

14 Women Activists Whose Names You Should Know

These feminist editors, swimming suffragists, and renegade cooks reshaped the world.
Sarah Durn March 3, 2022
"It takes years to perfect Kalinga tattooing," says Oggay.
kickass women

A 105-Year-Old Tattoo Artist Is Teaching Girls to Ink for Independence

Filipino tribal tattooist Fang-od Oggay has built an economy on the back of skin art.
Lynzy Billing March 2, 2022
politics

The Forgotten Female Revolutionaries Behind Latin American Independence

Perhaps fiercest of all was Manuela Sáenz—spy, archivist, prankster, and companion of Simón Bolívar.
Sarah Durn March 1, 2022
Courtesy of the Penn Museum, image no. 251051
ancient cults

The Most Lavish Mesopotamian Tomb Ever Found Belongs to a Woman

And her clothing tells an important story, says archeologist Rita Wright.
Sarah Durn February 10, 2022
Unlike her contemporary Queen Melisende of Jerusalem, Empress Matilda would never rule as Queen of England and instead was known only as the "Lady of the English."
royalty

The Forgotten Women Who Ruled the Medieval Middle East

A new book tells the tales of the queens of Jerusalem.
Sarah Durn January 25, 2022
Anne Bonny and Mary Read were both "convicted of piracy at a Court of Vice Admiralty [and] held at St. Jago de la Vega on the Island of Jamaica, 28th November 1720," according to the inscription accompanying this 1724 Benjamin Cole engraving from <em>A General History of the Pyrates</em>, by Daniel Defoe and Charles Johnson.
pirates

Women Plundered and Swashbuckled With the Best (and Worst) of Them

The new book "Pirate Women" uncovers the stories of the women who sailed their way into history, cutlass in hand.
Sarah Durn January 4, 2022
Nubian Queen Amanitore and King Natakamani carved brutal reliefs of themselves killing their enemies onto the walls of the lion temple at Naqa.
pyramids

Remembering the Remarkable Queens Who Ruled Ancient Nubia

Scholar Solange Ashby is uncovering the once-revered, now little-remembered female leaders of the Kushite kingdoms.
Sarah Durn December 15, 2021
Russian Empress Elizabeth used cross-dressing to cement her power. She's shown here in a traditionally male guard uniform.
royalty

The Weekly Cross-Dressing Balls of 18th-Century Russian Royalty

How empresses used "metamorphosis" to show their male courtiers who’s the boss.
Sarah Durn October 4, 2021
architecture

Podcast: Josephine Baker’s Chateau

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team July 19, 2021
TK
kickass women

Two Women Are Trying to Make India’s Bad Words a Little Less Bad

Is it possible to take the misogyny and bigotry out of cursing?
Reem Khokhar March 25, 2021
A model of Daisy Lampkin's house is the latest addition to the Miniature Railroad & Village at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.
miniatures

The Tiny Building That Pays Tribute to a Larger-Than-Life Civil Rights Leader

Daisy Lampkin's brick house is the newest addition to a beloved, shrunken cityscape in Pittsburgh.
Rossilynne Skena Culgan February 23, 2021
Video

Meet Ms. Showtime: Motorcyclist, Poet, Trailblazer

6:33
Sally Snowman has served as the keeper of Boston Light for 17 years, and relishes the tradition it involves.
lighthouses

Meet the United States’s Only Female Lighthouse Keeper

Sally Snowman belongs to a tradition of freedom, loneliness, and pride.
Natasha Frost July 17, 2020
Laura Smith Haviland Statue.
Adrian, Michigan

Laura Smith Haviland Statue

This life-sized effigy commemorates the dedicated abolitionist and social reformer.
"La Pasionaria."
Glasgow, Scotland

'La Pasionaria'

Glasgow's memorial to the International Brigade volunteers from Great Britain who fought and died in the Spanish Civil War.
Gravestone of Deborah Sampson Gannett.
Sharon, Massachusetts

Deborah Sampson's Gravestone

She become one of the first women to serve in the United States military by secretly dressing like a man.
Annie Brassey on the deck of <em>Sunbeam</em>. She wrote a famed account of her time at sea.
sailors

The Adventurous Seafaring Women of the Age of Sail, in Their Own Words

Answering the call of the sea.
Kyle Hoekstra November 25, 2019