Women have been silenced and oppressed all throughout history. With this month being Women's History Month, I have decided to shine a light on three very important, but lesser known, American women who have helped to shape our history.

Madam C.J. Walker

Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919) was the first self-made female millionaire in America. She was born to two former slaves on a plantation in Louisiana and was the first child out of her five siblings to be born into freedom. She was an orphan by 8, married to her first husband by 15, and was a widow at 20. She created a hair growth tonic after her hair started to fall out in the 1890's and got her third husband, a newspaper sales agent, to help her in advertising her new product. Her business, Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing company, took off from there. Not only was she known for her amazing business skills, she was also an activist, patron of the arts and philanthropist.

Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) was the first black woman to be elected into the United States Congress in 1968. Not only was she a congresswoman for seven terms, but, in 1972, she became the first black woman to run for a presidential nomination. In 1938, she left Congress to teach at Mount Holyoke College and become a public speaker. She wrote two books: “Unbought and Unbossed” (1970) and “The Good Fight” (1973). She was such a big deal she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2015.

Sally Ride

Sally Ride (1952-2012) was the first American woman to go into space when she went in 1983 at the age of 32. She was only the third woman to go and is still the youngest American to have ever gone into space. She has a PhD. in physics, which she used to teach at both Stanford University and the University of California. Although she left NASA in 1987, she continued to work with them for many more years until her death, mostly working with children and even co-founding her own company, Sally Ride Science, to help educate children about science.