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Maya Angelou
By Ahmad Abdel-Azim
As an esteemed poet, activist, storyteller, Maya Angelou has received many acknowledgements throughout
her life for her influential nature. She has been awarded
more than 50 honorary degrees as well as the medal of
honor throughout her life for achievements and influence
on civil rights. Her works were influenced by black au-
thors such as Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois, and
Paul Laurence Dunbar. Angelou’s most known work,
written in 1969, I KnowWhy the Caged Bird Sings, is the
first of six autobiographies dealing with her childhood on
Long Beach, St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. This work
is controversial as it displays some instances of racism,
sexual abuse and violence. However, it is doubtless that
her work was well-crafted and inspirational. Inspired by
words from Martin Luther King Jr., Angelou decided to join the civil rights movement in the 1950’s. She
worked for influential men such as Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Malcolm X during the struggle for civil
rights. She wrote to inspire people to fight for their rights. Her poems usually address topics such as race and
sex in the large society. Her works definitely portrayed her hardships, oppression, and loss. When she died in
2014, she left behind a legacy of inspiration to stand up against any hardships or oppression they face.
Eleanor
By Ahmad
As the first lady of the United States, a politician, an
nor Roosevelt was an empathetic and admirable woma
was the longest serving first lady of the United States
served four terms in office. She believed in a great hu
and was appointed as a delegate to the United Nations
bly. In 1946, she became the first chairperson of the pre
Nations Commission on Human Rights and stayed chai
when the commission was officially established. She al
ate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR
lieved in these rights and thought that everyone every
them. Eleanor Roosevelt also supported many organizat
Encampment for Citizenship, which organizes summer
youth of diverse backgrounds. Roosevelt really believe
these types of organization and publicly defended them
famed in any way. She advocated for women’s rights a
husband’s death in 1945, she took his place as the chair
Women. This commission protected working women in
tation there. When she died in 1962, she was regarded
was a model for a futur
Deciding at the age of 15 that she would be a world c
Rosalind Elsie Franklin battled impediments, one aft
fight to get her education and then in scientific com
tending and graduating from Cambridge in 1941, Fran
British Coal Utilization Research Association to study
ite microstructures where she then earned her doctorat
1945. She then began to study DNA, in which she made
and fundamental discoveries. Her lab partner Wilkins
technical assistant at first because she was a female. Wh
mistake he did not correct his actions and his treatme
of her gender progressively got worse. The dining roo
men-only and this was where her colleagues would go
clude Franklin. This only made her more defiant and de
the structure of DNA. In the end however, her partne
crystallographic portrait of DNA and presented it to ano
solved it and published his findings, making her resear
The debate on who receives the credit on this research
she worked on the Tobacco Mosaic Virus and the Poli
genetic fields.
Marie Curie
By Yasmeen Ashour
Nobel Prize winner twice over and nuclear physicist, Marie Curie unveiled the
advantages of radiation, saving millions of lives and progressing studies in space.
Born and raised in Poland, she was taught science by her father and upon the Rus-
sian domination, she finished her education in Paris. Here she met Pierre Curie,
her husband and also the head of the physics laboratory at Sorbonne and suc-
ceeded him in an era where women scientists were extremely frowned upon. Earn-
ing science, medical and law degrees, Marie Curie defied social expectations and
made medicinal and celestial use of polonium possible. Polonium is a rare earth
metal with radioactive properties. It is currently used on satellites, and x-ray and
chemotherapy. Curie was nominated five times for a Nobel prize for her research
in physics and chemistry. She assisted in the development of x-rays and discov-
ered not only a new element on the periodic table, but proved that there were more
than that were documented, inspiring scientists everywhere to set out for discovery.
Marie Curie is remembered for her remarkable work in a setting where she faced many obstacles regarding
and gender as the first person to get awarded two nobel Prizes and her ability to overcome these obstacles.
Susan B. Anthony
By Sarah Fleming
The story of Susan B. Anthony is one
well known by most. President and
founder of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association from
1892-1900, according to History.
com. Susan B. Anthony was a key
instrument to implementing the nine-
teenth amendment, otherwise known
as the amendment that gives women
the right to vote. Anthony started her
political career in the abolitionist
movement, or the movement to end
slavery according to Biography.com.
Along with ending slavery, Anthony
also wanted to stop the sale
and production of alcohol. Anthony
later met Elizabeth Cady Stanton at an anti-slavery conference. Stanton was a
fellow women’s rights advocate and Anthony’s companion through most of her
women’s rights endeavours. Together, this duo would later establish and lead the
National American Woman Suffrage Association along with the New York State
Woman’s Rights Committee, American Equal Rights Association, the Women’s
New York State Temperance Society, and the Revolution, a weekly publication
produced in 1866 about women’s rights.
Once the Civil War had concluded, Susan B. Anthony started to focus
almost exclusively on the rights of women. Anthony’s favorite target for women’s
rights was the right to vote. Anthony was so passionate about the right for women
to vote, she voted for a presidential election illegally in 1872; Anthony was ar-
rested and fined $100 for it
(Although, she never ended up paying for it).
Susan B. Anthony died March 13, 1906. Perhaps the most tragic thing
about her life was the fact that she never saw the right for women to vote. The
19th amendment was only added in 1920, 14 years after her death. According to
Biography.com, on her deathbed Anthony told her friend Anna Shaw: “To think
I have had more than 60 years of hard struggle for a little liberty, and then to die
without it seems so cruel.”
Snapshots of infl
and the legacy t
March is women
commemorate and c
contributions wom
world in all fields. W
most influential
Jake Zajkowski
“Marie Curie because
her scientific
discoveries were
revolutionary.”
Madi Lewis
“The most important wom-
an to me is MalalaYousafzai
because she works to make
sure children get proper
education and she’s really
young which I think is re-
ally inspiring that someone
so young can make such a
big difference.”
Logan Gruber
“Amelia Earhart because
she was very influential
and determined but also
didn’t let people get to her.
She was the first lady pilot
to fly across the Atlantic
and was the first lady to at-
tempt around the world.”
Rosalind
By Yasme
F
w
hi
Photo by National Library of
Medicine
Photo by National Library of Medicine
Photo by National Archives
Center Spread Designers: Salma