“Cautious, careful people, always casting
about to preserve their reputations …
can never effect a reform.”
— Susan B. Anthony
Limited in their legal rights and accepted customs of society at the time, women mostly honored their husbands’ demands and spent their time cooking meals, tending to children, watering the horses, and taking care of the household chores.
But, that was not always the case. There are hundreds of women who stand out in American History due to their strong characters, contributions to society, or plain old interesting personalities. From the hardy pioneers who crossed the vast prairies and mountains heading westward, to nurses, abolitionists, stagecoach drivers, and even a few doctors and soldiers, you’ll find their stories here.
For those less fortunate, forced by circumstance, need, and sometimes adventure, you’ll also find female outlaws, gamblers, powerful Madams, their brothels, and a bevy of soiled doves. In the days when the West was ruled by the gun, it took a woman of great character and a strong resolve to survive.
Full Articles:
Susan “Doc Susy” Anderson – Frontier Physician
Susan B. Anthony – Political Activist
Mary Bickerdyke – A Civil War Hero
Big Nose Kate – Doc Holliday’s Sidekick
Lizzie Borden – Killer of Fall River, Massachusetts?
Sarah A. Bowman – Camp Follower of the American West
Calamity Jane – Rowdy Woman of the West
Cattle Kate – Mystery of a Lynching
Kate Carmack – Discovering Gold in the Klondike
Nellie Cashman – Pioneering the Mining Camps of the Old West
Mary Ann Shadd Cary – Activist, Teacher, & Writer
Mary Colter – Architect of the West
Diamond Lil Davenport – Madam of Skagway, Alaska
Deadlier Than the Male – Female Spies During the Civil War
Lottie Deno: Queen of the Paste Board Flippers
Eleanore Dumont – Madame Mustache Plays the West
Fannie Echols – First Woman Sentenced to Hang at Fort Smith
Pearl Hart – Lady Bandit of Arizona
Josephine “Chicago Joe” Hensley – Queen of Helena, Montana
Heroines in the Rocky Mountains
Zee James – Jesse’s “Poor” Wife
Lady Marshals of Indian Territory
Leading Madams of the Old West
Kitty Leroy – Lady Gambler & Gunfighter
Queen Liliuokalani – Last Royal Ruler of Hawaii
Lozen – Apache War Woman & Prophet
Susan Magoffin – Recording the Santa Fe Trail
Monument to a Prostitute in Lusk, Wyoming
Painted Ladies of the Old West
Painted Ladies of Deadwood Gulch
Susan La Flesche Picotte – First Native Physician
Typhoid Mary Mallon – Spreading the Fever
Etta Place – Hanging With the Sundance Kid
Pocahontas – Legendary Indian Princess
Fannie Porter – San Antonio’s Famous Madam
Annie Rogers and the Bank Dick
Betsy Ross & the Nations First Flag
Poker Alice – Famous Frontier Gambler
Sacagawea – Leading Lewis & Clark
The Journal of Sedona Schnebly
Sally Skull – The Scariest Siren in Texas
Some Remarkable Women in Pennsylvania & Kentucky
Belle Starr – The Bandit Queen
Helen J. Stewart: First Lady Of Las Vegas
Baby Doe Tabor & the Tabor Triangle
Texas Madam, Squirrel Tooth Alice
Timeline of American Women in History
Harriet Tubman – Moses of the Underground Railroad
Pearl de Vere – Madam of Cripple Creek, Colorado
Sarah Rosetta Wakeman – Fighting in the Civil War
C.J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) – Blazing a Path in Business for Women
Mary E. Walker – Brave Surgeon of the Civil War
Laura Ingalls Wilder – Celebrated American Author
Cathay Williams – Female Buffalo Soldier
Victoria Woodhull – First Woman to Run For President
Women of the Klondike Gold Rush
Women on the Move: Overland Journeys to California
Women’s Suffrage in the United States
The Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913
See our Women in History Photo Gallery HERE
Also See:
Nine Important Women in American History You May Not Have Heard of