There have been many influential leaders who have shaped our history through their courageous actions to better the society around them. These powerful figures go unnoticed, specifically, women who made an impact during a time when women were considered inferior in the eyes of society. International Women’s day is recognized on March 8th because of the 1908 protest when women workers in the needle trade marched for women’s suffrage through New York City to stop child labor and sweatshop working conditions. Before this date, the change women were making in medicine, mathematics, and politics was going unappreciated. Even now, students are not being educated on these powerful women.
Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, or her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist who was a pioneer in her field. She was known for her record-breaking 72-day trip around the world like the fictional character Phileas Fogg written by Jules Verne. She initiated a new kind of investigative journalism. She focused her life on writing the lives of working women and factory workers. She also traveled to Mexico to become a foreign correspondent and reported on the customs of the Mexican people. Her information was published in Six Months in Mexico. She had to flee the country after authorities caught her criticizing the government. She accused Porfirio Diaz, the dictator of Mexico, of tyranny and controlling the press. Bly talked her way into the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper. She was undercover to feign insanity to investigate neglect and brutality at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum. She revealed the reports and prompted the asylum to implement reforms which brought her fame. She used her status to get an interview with allegedly insane serial killer Lizzie Halliday. Her journalism work shed light on injustices women faced in society and created a lasting impact on the world of press.
Margaret Hamilton led the MIT team that developed code for Apollo 11’s onboard flight software. Her calculations were legendary due to their accuracy. Her main impact was when she urged her male superior to code a backup in case the mission went astray. They disagreed and criticized her suggestion because astronauts “were trained never to make a mistake.” She ended up programming the code and defying orders. She ended up saving the mission because when Apollo 11 did land on the surface of the moon, something went wrong. The mission was in peril, but her code saved the moon landing.
Margaret Jessie Chung was the first known American-born Chinese female physician. In San Francisco’s Chinatown during the 1920s she established one of the first Western medical clinics. She graduated from USC at 17 and enrolled in the medical school to be called “the first Chinese girl to enter a medical school in this state.” After college, she opened an office to treat the local Chinese American population, and she also treated Navy reserve pilots and became a Military “Mom”. They began calling themselves “Mom Chung’s Fair-Haired Bastard Sons” to pay tribute to her. Another story gave her the nickname “Mom Chung” where eight pilots came to her to volunteer their services for China against Japan, but she turned them down and fed them instead. Chung would give her ”adopted son” pilots a jade Buddha to wear which became a token for the pilots to recognize each other throughout the world. Non-aviation naval officers “adopted” by Chung were called “Golden Dolphins”. In 1937 when Japan invaded China, she volunteered as a front-line surgeon. But she was assigned to secretly recruit pilots for the 1st American Volunteer Groups, known as the “Flying Tigers”. During the war, she served 175 people at Thanksgiving and gave out 4,000 gifts at Christmas. Her guests were high-ranking officers, senators, and congressmen. She established the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. She was not allowed to join it since the government suspected she was gay. “Mom Chung” adopted the entire VF-2 squadron, known as “The Rippers”. They set an American record by shooting down 67 Japanese planes in one day in June 1944 during the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.
These three women helped shape society through their courageous and brilliant actions. Their history goes unnoticed in history books even though their determination should inspire future generations to fight for a more equitable and fair world.
