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Stephanie St. Clair
This audacious black gangster fought the Italian mob for control of Harlem and won, taunting them in full-page newspaper ads as she went.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The godmother of rock and roll, this black bisexual singer fused gospel and pop to blaze her own way across the Jim Crow-era south.
Micaela Almonester
After decades of gaslighting and emotional abuse at the hands of her in-laws, this iron-willed woman survived being shot four times point blank, won a separation from her husband, and became one of the most respected business icons in New Orleans.Collection: Mothers >
Vitka Kempner
Spy, smuggler, saboteur, partisan: this Jewish woman refused to go like a lamb to the slaughter, and fought the Nazis tooth and nail... even after the war, when she, alongside others, poisoned thousands of Nazi POWs in a revenge plot.
Mother Lu
When a government magistrate unjustly killed her son, this unassuming middle-aged wife spent years raising an army to topple that same government.
Benazir Bhutto
The exiled daughter of a deposed ruler, she could have been a fairytale bridge between worlds - but fairy tales are not real. Benazir, whose name means "without flaw," was anything but.Collection: Dancers >
Anacaona
When Columbus and his crew ravaged her land, this native Haitian poet gave all to keep the peace.
Mekatilili wa Menza
When colonial powers went too far, she rebelled in the most stylish way possible: dancing from town to town. It was surprisingly effective.
Mata Hari
This amateur dancer escaped a life of abuse by pretending to be an Indonesian princess - and eventually became a victim of the maniacal world of espionage.Random Princesses
Cornelia Sorabji
One of the first Indian women to practice law, she fought against -- and inside of -- a system that held no room for her.
Chiyome Mochizuki
Recruited widows, orphans, and prostitutes into an all-woman ninja spy group, the largest in Asia at the time.
Josefina Guerrero
Let her leprosy go untreated for years to make herself the perfect spy in the Japan-occupied Philippines - soldiers wouldn't touch her, so she could slip right through.
Gertrude Bell
Tossed off the expectations of Victorian society to become an expert mountaineer and archaeologist, traveled the Middle East by herself…
Labotsibeni Gwamile LaMdluli
When her husband inadvertently sold the country to colonial forces, this queen spent the rest of her life getting it back.
Black Agnes
When the English laid siege to her castle home, this Scottish woman bedeviled them until they gave up.
Banu Goshasp
This superhero of early Iranian mythology starred in her own stories, and plenty of them.
Emmy Noether
Revolutionized the field of mathematics, yet was persecuted for being Jewish and paid a pittance for her visionary teaching work.
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.
Agontime
The world's fiercest all-female fighting force, and the incredible legend of how they rescued their deposed queen from slavery in Brazil.
Trung Trac and Trung Nhi
Sisters who led an army on elephant-back to overthrow oppressive Chinese rule and establish a short-lived Vietnamese kingdom.
Mary Seacole
One half of the odd couple of Crimean nursing - the jolly black businesswoman who swore by folk remedies, in stark contrast to Florence Nightingale's by-the-book Victorian approach to medicine.
Tatterhood
This goat-riding, spoon-wielding princess fought trolls to save her sister.
Sophie Morigeau
The only use this Canadian badass had for pretty pink bows was to adorn her own rib — which she amputated from her own body after an accident.
Vasilisa Vasilyevna
When the Tsar became hellbent on nailing down her gender, this clever gender-nonconforming heroine kept him guessing to the end.