8 Of The Most Famous Women In History

Throughout history, there have been some fiercely intelligent, powerful, and inspiring women who have pioneered for women's rights and racial equality and defined the worlds of science, mathematics, aviation, and literature.

Whether they were inventors, scientists, leaders, politicians, or literal Queens, these 8 powerful women changed the world for the better.

The famous women on this list are remembered as rule-breakers and trailblazers who demonstrated to their male counterparts what it means to be a role model.

Here are the 8 women who changed the world

1. Jane Austen (1775 – 1817)

Jane Austen, the original rom-com queen, defined an entire literary genre with her astute social observations and wit. Austen, who was born in England to an eight-child family, began writing her now-classic novels, such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, in her teens.

Her novels are amusing and endearing, and they question women's roles in society. Austen had to conceal her identity as the author of some of the most popular novels of the time, and it wasn't until her death that her brother, Henry, revealed her true identity to the public. Her literary influence lives on, and the themes and lessons she taught in her novels are still relevant today.

2. Anne Frank (1929 – 1945)

The Diary of Anne Frank, written by a German teenage girl, is one of the most honest, powerful, and moving accounts of World War II. Throughout Hitler's rise to power and World War II, the Franks were a Jewish family who lived in Germany, then Austria. Throughout the war, the family hid in a secret annex with four other people, but they were discovered and sent to concentration camps in 1944. Only Anne's father survived the Frank family, and he made the decision to publish Anne's diary.

The Diary of Anne Frank has been translated into nearly 70 languages and is an intimate depiction of one of history's most inhumane moments, capable of educating us on universal human qualities such as emotion, passion, love, hope, desire, fear, and strength.

3. Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014)

Maya Angelou was a poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist whose award-winning memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller written by an African-American woman.

Angelou had a difficult upbringing. Maya, a black woman growing up in Stamps, Arkansas, faced racial prejudice and discrimination her entire life. Angelou was assaulted at the age of seven by her mother's boyfriend, who was then killed by her uncles in retaliation. Angelou was so traumatized by the incident that she became a virtual mute for many years.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, as well as her other works, have been one of the most outspoken voices in the civil rights movement, exploring topics such as identity, rape, racism, and literacy, and demonstrating how character strength and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma.

4. Queen Elizabeth I (1533 – 1603)

Elizabeth was dubbed "The Virgin Queen" because she chose to marry her country rather than a man. Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most successful monarchs in British history, and under her reign, England became a major European power in politics, commerce, and the arts.

Elizabeth had a difficult path to the throne and should never have been allowed to reign, both because she was a woman and because her mother was Henry VIII's despised ex-wife, Anne Boleyn.

Elizabeth I, on the other hand, proved all the skeptics wrong and went on to become one of the greatest female leaders of all time. Known for her intelligence, cunning, and fiery temper, ‘The Virgin Queen' was truly one of history's great women.

5. Catherine the Great (1729 – 1796)

Catherine the Great is one of the world's most famous historical figures, and the Prussian-born Queen is one of the list's most ruthless women.

Stuck in a loveless marriage to Russia's King, Catherine staged a coup to depose her wildly unpopular husband Peter III, and then declared herself Empress of the Russian Empire in 1762.

Catherine is credited with modernizing Russia, establishing the first state-funded school for girls, limiting the power of the church within the state, and encouraging economic, trade, and artistic development.

She is also known for having a voracious sexual appetite, having numerous lovers up until her death, whom she would lavishly reward with jewels and titles before sending them on their way to make room for their replacement. Now there's a lady who knows exactly what she wants.

6. Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883)

Sojourner Truth is one of the most inspiring black women in American history, and her words are included in one of the most famous speeches given by any woman. Truth, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist, delivered the now-famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron in 1851.

Truth was taken from her family when she was nine years old and sold as a slave for $100 along with a flock of sheep. Truth escaped to freedom in 1829 with her infant daughter Sophia, but her other two children were forced to remain behind.

Truth began advocating for women's and African American rights in the late 1840s and was known for giving passionate speeches about women's rights, prison reform, and universal suffrage. Truth, who died in Michigan in 1883, was a key figure in the abolitionist movement and one of the first advocates for women's rights.

7. Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005)

In 1955, Rosa Parks was riding a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, when the bus driver asked her to stand up and give her seat to a white man. Parks, a black seamstress, refused, igniting an entire civil rights movement in the United States.

Parks, who was born in 1913, moved to Alabama when she was 11 years old and attended a laboratory school at the Alabama State Teachers' College for Negroes until she had to leave in 11th grade to care for her ailing grandmother.

Parks was a member of Montgomery's African-American community prior to 1955, and she joined the NAACP Montgomery chapter in 1943, where she became chapter secretary.

Alabama was still governed by segregation laws in 1955, with a policy for municipal buses requiring white citizens to sit in the front and black men and women to sit in the back. On December 1st, there were no more seats available in the white section, so the bus conductor instructed the four black passengers to stand and give the white man an entire row. Three of the four people obeyed, but Parks did not.

Parks was later arrested, and her actions sparked a wave of protests across the United States. When she died on October 24, 2005, at the age of 92, she became the first woman in American history to lie in state at the United States Capitol.

8. Malala Yousafzai (1997 - Present)

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Pakistan. Yousafzai's father was a teacher who ran an all-girls school in her village, but when the Taliban took over, they banned all girls from attending school. Malala, then 15, publicly spoke out on women's rights to education in 2012, and as a result, a gunman boarded her school bus and shot her in the head.

Malala made it through.

Yousafzai moved to the United Kingdom, where she has established herself as a formidable presence on the global stage, becoming the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, at the age of 17. Malala is currently a student at the University of Oxford, where she is studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

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