Collection of Great Women to Study

I was recently asked by a friend how I helped my girls through the "princess" stage. She was concerned that her five-year old would develop the "princess attitude" that seems to be so prevalent in today's culture. In my mind's eye, I could picture my girls pretending to be Good Queen Bess and Sacagawea instead of the popular icons promoted by film companies, so I suggested that she introduce her daughter to some of these "strong women" who accomplished great things AND actually existed. Of course, she promptly asked me to provide a list of these women. So here is a list of women we've encountered in our studies.

We've only studied the Middle Ages to the Industial Revolution, so I've looked at our history books to find some of the women my daughters, in particular, took to. Many of these women did things that were less admirable which we did either gloss
over or ignored completely. I'll try to remember to update this list as we come across more

Empress Theodora
Eleanor of Aquatine
Wu Ze Tian, Empress of China
Joan of Arc
Queen Isabella
Elizabeth I (Good Queen Bess)
Mary Stuart
Queen Nzinga (of Angola)
Catherine the Great
Sacagawea

There is also a series of books that I enjoyed reading when I was
growing up that I have recently introduced to my children: Childhood
of Famous Americans. Although mostly what can be found are the newer
paperback editions, I prefer the older editions which include a
timeline, questions, activities and a glossary. Some of the women
(many of which I have read) include

Babe Didrickson
Amelia Earhart
Virginia Dare
Sacagawea
Abigail Adams
Dolly Madison
Eleanor Roosevelt
Elizabeth Blackwell
Clara Barton
Molly Pitcher
Louisa Alcott
Dorothea Dix
Jane Addams

Others we have read or read about:

Laura Ingalls Wilder
Mulan
Ruth
Esther
Harriet Tubman
Marie Curie

Some books we have referenced or have been suggested to us:

Outrageous Women of the Renaissance
Heroines: Great Women Through the Ages
Ten Queens: Portraits of Women of Power
Don't Know Much About the Kings and Queens of England
Kings and Queens of West Africa
Mathematicians Are People, Too (Vol. 1 and 2)
The Experimenters: Twelve Great Chemists

Some of them I read and then just retold the stories to my kids. I've
found, too, that as we'e explored different cultures, many of the
fairy tales we've read do have girls who are in poor situations
actually finding strength to climb out of them (i.e., they aren't as
pitiful as portrayed by modern films). Sometimes pre-empting popular
interpretations of stories helps prepare the girls against some of the
pop icons they will eventually encounter.


I hope this helps. I know I was pleasantly surprise at how much
exposure my children have had to some of these people.