# Kids & famous women in history **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 5, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446 "2003-07-05T21:17:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/1 "2003-07-05T21:17:03Z")
Next week I’m going to be playing “Famous People in History” with a group of 12 2nd through 5th graders. It’s kind of a 20 Questions game: each kid has the name of a historical figure stuck on their forehead with a Post-It note, and they have to ask the other kids questions to figure out who they are. It’s been pretty easy to come up with famous men–George Washington, Christopher Columbus, etc.–but I’m having a hard time thinking of female historical figures that 7 to 11 year olds would know. So far, I’ve come up with Pocahontas and Harriet Tubman. Amelia Earhart? Laura Ingalls? I want them to be easy enough that the kids don’t get too frustrated. Any thoughts would be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/2 "2003-07-05T21:28:34Z")
For 2nd through 5th graders, you kind of have to hit what popular American myth is supported by the curriculum, you know? A couple women I thought of: Betsy Ross Susan B. Anthony Sacajawea (maybe?) Queen Isabella ? Helen Keller Florence Nightingale Rosa Parks Virginia Dare Martha Washington Actually, with the way Black History Month seems to be taught as “The Lives of Famous Black Americans”, they may know more black women than white women. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/3 "2003-07-05T22:06:01Z")
I think many would have heard of Joan of Arc. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/4 "2003-07-05T22:44:28Z")
Not to be harsh, but why are you trying to create history? If the title were “Famous women in history”, I could understand. But why take a sexist slant to “famous people in history”? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/5 "2003-07-05T23:02:03Z")
Mother Teresa Queen Elizabeth I Queen Elizabeth II Queen Victoria Indira Ghandi Margaret Thatcher Charlotte and Emily Bronte mil Emily Dickenson Mary Shelley ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/6 "2003-07-06T00:27:05Z")
Marie Curie. Nice to have a scientist in there. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/7 "2003-07-06T00:34:11Z")
Irene Curie Hyppathia (spelling?) Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space Simone de Boivier(sp?), philosopher ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/8 "2003-07-06T01:38:49Z")
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Sally Ride Billie Jean King Jane Goodall Dian Fossey Jane Austen I give up, who is _mil_? ---
**Author:** ![\_ceQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b9bd4f/32.png) [@\_ceQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_ceQueen)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/9 "2003-07-06T01:48:50Z")
Mother in law? As in, the generic mother-in-law? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/10 "2003-07-06T01:54:31Z")
Clara Barton Jane Addams Eleanor Roosevelt Amelia Earhardt Margaret Sanger ( birth control advocate) Elizabeth Blackwell: First female medical school graduate in 1849. (She is one of the personal heroines I adore.) Martha Graham Amelia Bloomer Elizabeth “Nelly Bly” Cochrane: daring female investigative journalist. (1887ish) Elizabeth Peratrovich > [@](#): > > Elizabeth Peratrovich > > “I would not have expected,” Elizabeth said in a quiet steady voice, “that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind gentlemen with five thousand years of recorded civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights. When my husband and I came to Juneau and sought a home in a nice neighborhood where our children could play happily with our neighbors’ children, we found such a house and had arranged to lease it. When the owners learned that we were Indians, they said ‘no.’ Would we be compelled to live in the slums?” Her intelligence was obvious, her composure faultless. After giving a potent, neatly worded picture of discrimination against the Indians and other Native people, Mrs. Peratrovich said, “There are three kinds of persons who practice discrimination. First, the politician who wants to maintain an inferior minority group so that he can always promise them something. Second, the Mr. and Mrs. Jones who aren’t quite sure of their social position and who are nice to you on one occasion and can’t see you on others, depending on who they are with. Third, the great superman who believes in the superiority of the white race.” Discrimination suffered by herself and her friends, President Peratrovich told the assembled body, “has forced the finest of our race to associate with white trash.” There was awesome silence in the packed hall, you could hear a pin drop. Just a few of the bigger names. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/11 "2003-07-06T01:57:01Z")
If you want a wonderful compendeum of women who made a difference across the country, I cannot recommend more: [Susan B. Anthony Slept Here: A guide to American Women’s Landmarks.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812922239/qid=1057456949/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-3447793-0765525?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) It opened my eyes to the small things done greatly by the woman who walked before me. ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/12 "2003-07-06T01:57:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bill H. \* > \*\*Not to be harsh, but why are you trying to create history? If the title were “Famous women in history”, I could understand. But why take a sexist slant to “famous people in history”? \*\* I have just experienced my first “whoosh”, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Necromancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@Necromancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necromancer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/13 "2003-07-06T03:04:03Z")
Mata Hari Cleopatra Florence Nightingale ---
**Author:** ![miscee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@miscee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miscee)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/14 "2003-07-06T03:28:39Z")
Oprah Alice Walker Maya Angelou Hilary Clinton Betsey Ross Madonna etc… ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/15 "2003-07-06T14:50:19Z")
Good suggestions, y’all! (You’ve listed some of my personal heroines.) **Zsofia** , you’re exactly right about hitting on what they already know. (Do schools still teach about Betsy Ross?) Part of the problem is that while I know a fair bit about American women’s history, I can’t expect 8-year-olds to know about the Grimke sisters, Victoria Woodhull, etc. **Shirley** , Elizabeth Blackwell is a great idea. She lived here in Asheville for awhile, so I bet they’ll have heard of her. But while Margaret Sanger is an admirable woman, I’m not sure I want to explain “birth control advocate” to 2nd graders, y’know? 😉 **Bill H.** , I’m trying to “create history.” I’m going to be working with a group of boys _and_ girls, so I want to have a mix of famous men and women. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/16 "2003-07-06T14:54:17Z")
Oops! Should have been “I’m **hardly** trying to ‘create history.’” ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/17 "2003-07-06T19:35:43Z")
Ingrid Bergman. ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/18 "2003-07-07T00:56:57Z")
Anne Frank. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/19 "2003-07-07T03:39:13Z")
Um, the Statue of Liberty is a woman… I’ve been trying to come up with some famous kids. Laura Ingalls Wilder and Anne Frank are excellent suggestions though. Maybe Shirley Temple? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446/20 "2003-07-07T03:46:18Z")
Why not let each kid come up with his/her own favorite person? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-famous-women-in-history/186446.md?page=2)