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Move over, Hermes Conrad!
Shemika Charles: Limbo Queen
(what's a "Modern Worthy"? click here to find out!)
Annie Edson Taylor
Heroine of Niagara Falls
Annie Taylor marked her 63rd birthday in uncommon fashion: going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.Maria Toorpakai Wazir
The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight
Toorpakai, from the Waziristan region of Pakistan, pretended for years to be a boy named Genghis Khan so she could play sports. She's now an internationally-ranked squash player.Ashley Callingbull-Burnham
Pageant Winner Turned First Nations Activist
Callingbull became the first Canadian and first indigenous woman to win the Mrs. Universe pageant in 2015. She used that to launch a campaign advocating for First Nations rights.Willie Murphy
The strongest septuagenarian you've ever seen
Willie Murphy is 105 pounds. 105 pounds of pure rippling muscle that can deadlift 215 pounds and her own groceries, thank you very much. Not gonna lie. You kinda suck compared to Willie Murphy.Martha Matilda Harper
Inventor of the Hair Salon
Harper was an entrepreneur who essentially created the modern hair salon, which she grew into a franchise of hundreds of stores across the world.Cheryl Perera
A Fighter Against Child Prostitution
When she was 16, Perera took several months off from school to investigate child prostitution in Sri Lanka, even participating in a police sting. At 19, she founded OneChild to raise awareness of and combat the issue.Annie Jean Easley
Engineer, mathematician, and rocket scientist
Annie Easley was given literacy tests. Annie Easley was told she didn't go to a good enough school. Annie Easley became a goddamn rocket scientist. Annie Easley did not listen to the haters.Betty James
Savior of the Slinky
Betty James named the Slinky in the 1940s. Years later, she saved it from bankruptcy.Vera Rubin
The Astrophysict Who Shined a Light on Dark Matter
Pioneering dark matter astrophysicist and trailblazing feminist icon, Rubin once wrote "There is no problem in science that can be solved by a man that cannot be solved by a woman."Shemika Charles
Limbo Queen
Shemika Charles has broken world records for limbo--the latest for limboing under a car.Related Posts
Esther Morris
50 years before women got the federal right to vote, Esther Morris became America's first female justice of the peace. A contemporary newspaper called her “the terror of all rogues” and said she offered “infinite delight to all lovers of peace and virtue."
Lee Meng
When Singaporean guerrillas tried overthrowing British rule, they turned to this gangster to run their communications. The cat-and-mouse game in which she was caught by a female police officer is riveting stuff.
Gertrude Jeannette
New York's first licensed female cabbie didn't let racism, sexism, or a speech impediment slow her down.
Maureen Mancuso
Without training, this 13-year-old shattered world records for running in 1967 -- unfortunately, it happened shortly after Kathrine Switzer's headline-making Boston marathon entry, and Mancuso's feat was all but forgotten.
Tammie Jo Shults
One of the US Navy's first female fighter pilots took a job with a commercial airline - and then saved the day when an engine exploded mid-flight.
Regina Anderson
Her apartment, which she dubbed Dream Haven, was a “who’s-who of the Harlem Renaissance: artists, poets, writers, songwriters, intellectuals, and activists” - everyone from Zora Neale Hurston to Langston Hughes to W.E.B. Du Bois.
Beate Klarsfeld
Together with her husband Serge, this woman has spent her life tracking down war criminals and bringing them to justice.
Millie Veasey
Part of a WW2 unit that untangled a logistics nightmare, she lived to a hundred and helped run a chapter of the NAACP.
Franca Viola
In the 60s, an Italian woman was abducted and raped - and then pressured to marry her rapist. She instead took him to court and got him tossed into jail.
Georgia Gilmore
She organized the Club From Nowhere - a collection of chefs who helped the effort in anonymity, to avoid reprisals in their personal and professional lives.
Random Princesses
Cut Nyak Dhien
When her (second) rebel husband was killed, this heroine of Indonesian revolution took over the fight against the Dutch.
Wungala
When she came face-to-face with a great monster, this mother saved her child and herself through bravery, quick thinking, and great culinary skills.
Mary Patten
When her husband became deathly ill, this pregnant teen took the reins to become America's first female boat commander - all while fighting off a mutiny and keeping her husband alive.
Jigonhsaseh
This Native American clan mother brought together 5 tribes under the Haudenosaunee Confederacy - and helped make the document that inspired the United States Constitution.
Tamar of Georgia
Saint, sovereign, and fiercely independent woman, she quashed two rebellions from her ex-husband, expanded her nation's borders, and ushered in a golden age.