Blessings and Peace: I am a writer, who often uses famous persons for point of illustration. Today I was struck by how very few truly famous women are heralded in American culture. I would like to know and honor the worthy women who should be just as famous as Edison, Carver and Einstein. I am especially interested in those who enjoyed an expanded concept of who we are in essence. Can you please inform me of such individuals and some references that underline their "expandedness". In Service and Respect, Rafiki Cai

Thanks for your note to FEMINIST.COM and for your commitment to presenting a more accurate look at American Culture. Here is a sampling of some of the women I would recommend. These are women who created change, change that has literally changed our history and our future.

• Victoria Woodhull--a pioneer on Wall Street--and the first woman to run for president in the last 1800s.
• Sojourner Truth--an abolitionist who claimed "Ain't I A Woman."
• Harriet Tubman--who made it possible for many slaves to reach freedom
• Jeanette Rankin--the first woman in the U.S. Congress.
• Amelia Earhart--an incredibly accomplished pilot who made it possible for many more...

• Black Women in America: An Encyclopedia edited by Darlene Clark Hine.
• Herstory: Women who changed the World edited by Ruth Ashby and Deborah Gore Ohrn (This includes: Artemisia Gentileschi; Jane Austen; the Grimke Sisters; Golda Meir; Mother Jones; Mary Bethune; Rachel Carson.
• Women Imagine Change: An Anthology of Women's Writings on Resistance from 600 BCE to the Present edited by Jean O'Barr, and others (Rutledge Press, 1998). This includes many incredible women whose resistance paved the way for many others who could safely avoid those road blocks.

Of course there are so many more that could be added to this list. I hope that you can easily find them and re-write them into history. Good luck.

—Amy