History That's More Than 2-Dimensional.

Content Warning: None

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852)

The Enchantress of Numbers

History’s first computer programmer, who invented algorithms for the first computer – which didn’t even exist during her lifetime, so she had to do it all in her head.

Wallada bint al-Mustakfi (c.1000-1091)

Andalusian Slam Poet

Spirited poetry-spouting princess who lived an audacious life and put her cheating lover on blast with her expert slam poetry.

Rani Lakshmibai (1828-1858)

The Rebel Queen of Jhansi

Widowed young queen who led a fearsome rebellion against the British with her child tied to her back.

Tomoe Gozen (c.1157-1247)

The Samurai Who Made Samurai Flee

Fearsome undefeated samurai warrior who was “a match for any god or demon,” and is one of Japan’s greatest heroines to this day.

Xtabay (Mesoamerican myth)

Siren of the Yucatan

Chaste and virtuous woman spends life assuming she’s better than her more sex-positive neighbor, and for this haughtiness becomes in death a demonic woman who lures wayward men to their death – a stunning indigenous inversion of the Madonna/whore complex.

Nanny of the Maroons (c.1680-1750)

The Mother of Us All

Led colony of escaped slaves and protected them from the English using borderline supernatural abilities.

Nana Asma’u (1793-1864)

The Princess Who Loved Learning

Massively educated princess who started all-female gang of itinerant teachers, who would roam the land and educate unsuspecting passersby.

Chiyome Mochizuki (16th century)

The Widow Who Ran a Ninja Academy

Recruited widows, orphans, and prostitutes into an all-woman ninja spy group, the largest in Asia at the time.

Josefina Guerrero (1918-1996)

Leper Spy of the Philippines

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.

Mary Lacy (1740-1801)

The First Female Shipwright

This self-described “undutiful daughter” posed as a man to become the world’s first female shipwright.