Penelope Barker, Protest Organizer

Portrait of Penelope from 1774, at the age of 46, via WikiCommons. What does it mean to be loyal to one’s beliefs, even when it is challenging? This question is particularly tough to answer After all, displaying your allegiance to one cause or another was...

Nanye’hi, Cherokee Peacemaker

Photo of Nanye’hi’s tomb in Tennessee honoring her life as a “constant friend of the American Pioneer”, via WikiCommons. Growing up as an indigenous person in wartime America was incredibly tough. Not only did the people witness the battle for...

Patience Wright, American Wax Sculptor and Spy

Painting of Patience Wright by Robert Edge Pine, via WikiCommons. Unfortunately, reflection on famous female artists pre-1960 yields quite limited results. For many centuries, art was considered to be a “man’s profession,” and while there were women...

Lydia Darragh, Super Spy

Painted portrait of middle-aged Lydia Darragh in a bonnet, artist unknown, via WikiCommons When people imagine spies today, they typically envision sauve agents, decked out in the most innovative gadgets their time could offer or dressed up in an outfit that perfectly...

Prudence Cummings Wright, Minutewoman

A modern bridge in Pepperell Massachusetts, approximately where the minutewoman ambushed the British, via WikiCommons. The word “prudent” means to be cautious and careful, and in turn the name “Prudence” intends to invoke the same...

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