• Women’s History Month Quiz
• Women Who Worked for Peace Quiz
• Women in Math and Science Quiz
• Test Your Women’s I.Q. Quiz
• Black Women’s History 40 Question Challenge
• NWHP Women’s Equality Day Quiz
• Mexican-American Women’s History Quiz
• Men Who Supported Women’s Rights Quiz

Women’s History Month Quiz

Created by Margaret Zierdt, National Women’s History Alliance Board member

Can You Identify These Women of Great Vision and Achievement Whose History Is Our Strength

1. Who became the first female Secretary of State of the United States, appointed by President Clinton in 1997?
2. Who took over management of Columbia Sportswear Company in the late 1930’s, when it was near bankruptcy, and turned it into the largest American ski apparel company worth $4 billion in 1972?
3. Who was the first woman in modern history to lead a major Native-American tribe, the Cherokee Nation?
4. Who was the first American woman poet whose poetry was published in London in 1650?
5. Who is considered the first American woman to be ordained by full denominational authority in 1864, and who also campaigned vigorously for full woman suffrage?
6. Who was the first woman of color elected to the U.S. Congress and was a founding member of the National Women’s Political Caucus?
7. Who was the ecologist writer whose path breaking book, “Silent Spring” in 1962 initiated the environmental movement?
8. Who was the first black woman and the youngest poet laureate in American history when she was appointed in 1993?
9. Who was imprisoned and then hanged for her Quaker faith in Boston in 1660, and 400 years later her statue was placed in front of the state House?
10. Who was the female lawyer who worked for equal rights and suffrage, co-founded the ACLU in 1910, and helped write the Equal Rights Amendment?
11. Who led the fight to criminalize lynching, helped form the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and aided many black people who migrated from the South to Chicago?
12. Who became the first female president of Harvard University when she was named its 28th president in 2007?
13. Who became the first woman vice-president candidate on a major political party ticket when selected in 1984?
14. Who volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War, earning the nickname “Mother,” and after peace became an attorney advocating for veterans?
15. Who was the United States delegate to the United Nations who championed and won approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948?
16. Who earned a graduate degree from Oberlin College in 1888, was the first black woman to serve on a Board of Education (in D.C.), sued to integrate restaurants in the 1950’s, integrated the American Association of University Women at age 85, and was a founding member of NAACP?
17. Who wrote “The Feminine Mystique” in 1968 and became a leading figure in the Women’s Movement?
18. Who was the first woman promoted to brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force (1971) and the first female major general in any armed forces in 1973?
19. Who was a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy credited with developing the COBOL computer language, and with coining the phrase “debugging” to fix a computer?
20. Who was one of the first black physicians in New York City and the first black woman to graduate from Bellevue Hospital medical school in 1926?
21. Who was the free-thinking woman who was forced out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and sought sanctuary in Roger Williams’ Rhode Island in 1637?
22. Who is the architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which she designed when she was only 21 years old?
23. Who wrote the path-breaking book, “On Death and Dying” in 1969 which educated and supported helpers who provide compassionate care?
24. Who was the American founder and leader of the Shakers in the 1770’s who advocated equality, individual responsibility and peace?
25. What woman ran for president on the National Equal Rights Party, receiving 4,149 votes in 6 states in 1884?
26. Who was the first woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1983 for her discovery that genes can change positions on the chromosome?
27. Who led the fight to integrate military nursing services in WW II and then achieved the integration of the American Nurses Association in 1948?
28. Who was the U.S. president’s wife who saved historic paintings when the British army burned the White House in 1814?
29. Who is the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics in 1963 after she discovered the structure of atoms?
30. Who is the longest-serving female U.S. senator, elected in 1986?
31. Who was the astronomer who discovered a comet, named for her, on October 1, 1847, and who was the first woman elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1850), and the first professor of astronomy at Vassar College?
32. Who was first black woman lawyer in the United States and the first woman admitted to District of Columbia bar in 1872?
33. What woman met Elizabeth Cady Stanton at the International Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 and worked with her for women’s equality for the next half century?
34. Who worked with W.E.B. DuBois’ Niagara Movement and was one of the few white co-founders of NAACP in 1910?
35. What woman attended the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, signed the Declaration of Sentiments, and lived to see women win the vote in 1920?
36. Who ran a plantation in South Carolina and successfully introduced the cultivation of indigo as a commercial staple?
37. Who was the first black prima donna soprano at the Metropolitan Opera, starring from 1961 to 2007, the first black singer to earn the top fee of $2750 for each performance (second only to Birgit Nilsson who got $3000), and winner of 19 Grammy awards?
38. Who became the first female rabbi in the U.S. and the second in the world when she was ordained in Cincinnati in 1972?
39. Who sculpted the full scale marble statue of Lincoln which is in the Capitol Rotunda, becoming the first female and youngest artist to receive a commission from the government for a statue?
40. Who was the first black woman symphonic composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra – her Symphony in E Minor was performed in 1933 by the Chicago Symphony?
41. Who was the Zionist leader who founded Hadassah, an organization working on health issues for Jewish people in Palestine, and also rescued thousands of children from Germany in the 1930’s?
42. Who was the female Brigadier General who was the driving force behind the establishment of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Building in Arlington Cemetery which opened in 1997?
43. What woman wrote the first novel by an American to sell more than a million copies, “The Wide, Wide World”?
44. Who was the friend of Abigail Adams who fostered political agitation with her satirical plays and then a three-volume history of the American revolution in 1805?
45. Who was the first Native American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 for her work in decreasing infant mortality and decreasing tuberculosis?
46. Who was the author of “Our Nig,” published in 1859, the first novel by a black person in English, which described racism in the treatment of free blacks in the North by abolitionists?
47. Who was the first woman mountaineer to climb over 23,000 feet on Nun Kun in the Himalayas in 1906, a record unbroken until 1934?
48. Who is the first woman conductor of a large orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, appointed in 2007?
49. Who introduced America to French cooking in her books and television series from 1963 through the 1990’s?
50. What woman has won a total of 56 Grand Slam tennis competitions events and 9 Wimbledon women’s singles titles?

Women Who Worked for Peace Quiz

1.  Who was branded a traitor when she begged the British and the Colonials to lay down their arms instead of waging a revolution?

2. Who was active in American Society of Peace in 1828  and served as  President of the Pennsylvania Peace Society from 1870 to 1880, and tried to get  military training out of public schools and argued that  arbitration is the proper means to settle disputes?

3. Who joined William Garrison in founding the New England Non-Resistant Society in 1838 and latter became a famous lecturer for women’s rights?

4. Who started “Mother’s Day” as an annual event when  women could demonstrate against war; first event was a women’s peace festival on June 2, 1873?

5. Who ran for US President on Equal Rights Party in 1884 and  1888 and was  an American delegate to the first world peace Congress in Paris in 1889?

6. Who created peace materials for schools as head of WCTU’s Department of Peace and Arbitration from 1887 to 1916 – the largest peace movement of the 19th Century, against military drills, martial toys and conscription?

7. Who organized and led the 1914 peace parade in New York City in 1914 and aided conscientious objectors and refugee relief programs in World War I?

8. Who wrote international best-seller  “Lay Down Your Arms” in 1889, was president of Austrian Society for the Friends of Peace  and was the first woman to be granted the Novel Peace Prize in 1905?

9. Who co-founded the American School Peace League in 1908 after supporting the international court proposed at the Hague Conference on 1899?

10.  Who was the famous suffragist who joined Jane Addams in 1915 in founding the Woman’s Peace Party at a meeting of 3000 women in Washington DC?

11. Who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, was first president from 1919 to 1935 of the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom and was called an unpatriotic subversive by press and the US government?

12.  Who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 after being secretary-treasurer of the WILPF from 1919-1937 and being called with other pacifists by Wilson “amoral”  in 1915 although all the ideas of the Woman’s Peace Party became his 14 points without acknowledging authorship.?

13. Who developed a peace curriculum used  in all public  schools from 1913 to 1950  and co-founded  the American School Peace League in 1908?

14.  Who was a charter member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1915;  founded the War Resisters League in 1923 and in 1940 the Pacifist Teachers League?

15.  Who joined 49 other Congress members in voting against entry into World War I;  was the only member to vote against World War II  and organized a Brigade which demonstrated against the Vietnam War in 1968?

16.  Who was an organizer of the Woman’s Peace Party, a leader of American Union Against Militarism, and latter co-founded the ACLU?

17.  Who suggested achieving  World Peace Through a  Peoples Parliament – a  group of 60  from different economic ranks  and professions  in 1944?

18. Who was executive secretary of he Pennsylvania branch of WILPJ for 40 years. organized conferences and build a huge membership; served on the board of SANE, working  against nuclear proliferation?

19.Who attacked the Catholic “just-war” theory with pacifist views , supported draft-card burning, opposed the Vietnam conscription and war and profoundly impacted “The Challenge of Peace” in 1983?

20.  Who protested nuclear weapons with the Committee for Nonviolent Action in 1983, and was imprisoned where she “Prison Notes”?

21.  Who helped found Women Strike for Peace in 1961 which opposed the Vietnam War – the first woman elected to Congress on a women’s rights peace platform?

22.  Who was a founder of the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press in 1972 and an activist in Women Strike for Peace?

23.  Who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 with a friend for their efforts against violence in Northern Ireland?

24.  Who is the Canadian woman who founded Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND) focusing on women’s  priorities as mothers and supporting continuous lobbying actions.?

25.  Who was founder of FREEZE in early 1980s which became SANE/FREEZE in 1987 and then Peace Action in 1993?

Women in Math and Science Quiz

Created by Margaret Zierdt, NWHP Board Member

1. Who turned to the study of ancient climates and cosmology after teaching at the University of Colorado (1963-1972) and working with Enrico Fermi on the nuclear reactor for the atomic bomb (1943-45) ?

2. Who photographed wildlife in Africa and worked for preservation of animals, especially in the Congo, in her books on conservation?

3. Who earned more than 27 patents including a safety feature for sharp shuttles in textile mills, improved window sashes, and perfected a machine to create square bottoms in paper bags?

4.  Who spurred the rise of molecular biology using mathematical techniques and published 192 monographs while lecturing at Smith College for 30 years?

5.  Who was a famous and highly respected mathematician, astronomer and neo-Platonic philosopher in Alexandria who designed an astrolabe, a plan sphere, and a method of distilling water; and was tortured and torn apart by a mob because she would not convert to Christianity?

6. Who was the first African-American woman to earn a degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1890?

7. Who was an army surgeon in the Civil War and won the Congressional Medal of Honor; and worked for dress reform, declaring “corsets are coffins”?

8.  Who studied the life history of the song sparrow after authoring The Birds of Oklahoma  in 1920?

9.   Who received patents – probably the first American woman – for cleaning and curing Indian corn in 1715, and for staining palmetto leaves and straw for hats and bonnets in 1716?

10. Who expanded the theory that the Appalachian area was where plants survived during the Ice Age and wrote the classic Deciduous Forests of EasternNorth America in 1950?

11. Who joined the Office of Naval Research in 1946 to promote government funding for scientific research and encouraged women to engage in math research as Dean of Graduate Studies at CUNY?

12. Who studied societies in the South Pacific and published popular accounts of her work from 1925 to 1939?

13. Who was the first computer programmer (1833), largely self-taught in math, for whom the programming language  ADA was named by the Department of Defense in 1977?

14. Who discovered a comet named for her in 1847, taught astronomy at Vassar, and   was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences?

15. Who became the first African-American graduate of a nursing school in 1879 – New England Hospital for Women and Children?

16.  Who explored and unearthed ancient Mexican art as well as examples of religious rites and military exploits of original people in 1902?

17.  Who studied damage done by crustacea to ships and wharves, and also the dangers of pesticides and radioactive materials in the ocean?  After serving as chair of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1973, she was governor of Washington State in 1976.

18.  Who has been named the founder of the profession of home economics? She worked for better nutrition, and set up balanced meals at Chicago’s 1893 World Fair.

19.  Who was the first woman to earn a dental degree in 1866 from Ohio College of Dental Surgery?

20. Who was the first Native American to graduate from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1890?  She returned to the Omaha reservation in Nebraska to serve 1,300 patients and helped set up a hospital in 1913.

21.  Who patented a vacuum process of preserving food in 1872, an improved oil burner in 1880, and three more objects in 1904, 1912 and 1914?

22. Who originated the concept of a cotton gin and helped solve the mechanical problems Eli Whitney encountered?

23. Who was the biophysicist who developed standards for radiation protection, and established techniques for treating tumors with radiation and X-rays?

24.  Who developed the computer programming language COBOL in 1960 for the Navy, and rose to rank of Admiral?

25.  Who collected more than 12,200 sets of plants in the western world after attending the Chicago Exposition in 1893, and improved disease-resistant grasses?   An avid suffragist, she was arrested and force-fed for her advocacy.

26.  Who improved war-time gas masks, invented “invisible” (nonreflective) glass, received other military patents, and was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge University in 1926?

27.  Who was probably the first woman in America to perform major surgery when she successfully removed an ovarian tumor in 1875?

28.  Who produced a lipstick that would not rub off or stain in 1950, with sales over 10 million dollars in 1953?

29.  Who used spectroscopy to analyze organic compounds at Mt. Holyoke as head of chemistry department from 1914-1946? In 1937 she was the first recipient of the Garvan Medal for service in chemistry.

30.  Who is the author of Silent Spring and other books on the environmental protection of the world?

Test Your Women’s History I.Q.

Fifteen women to identify by their achievements.

1. Which mother led a 125–mile march of child workers all the way from the mills of Pennsylvania to President Theodore Roosevelt’s vacation home on Long Island?

2. One of the most important Union spies and scouts during the Civil War was a Black woman who had escaped from slavery. Can you name her?

3. Before the 1960s, farm workers in the U.S. were not paid even the minimum wage, and had no influential representatives to fight for their rights. What part did Dolores Huerta play in changing this situation?

4. The line of beauty products she created for African–American people made her the first Black woman millionaire in the United States. Who was she, and when did she do this?

5. She came to the U.S. when she was a teenager to study science and stayed to become “the world’s foremost female experimental physicist.” Her most famous experiment disproved what had been thought to be a fundamental scientific law. Who is this outstanding Asian–American scientist?

6. She took her job as “First Lady” seriously, traveling the country and the world to gather information about the problems and concerns of workers, children, minorities, and the poor. She wrote a daily newspaper column and made frequent radio broadcasts. Who was this active wife of a president?

7. When the Mexican Revolution of 1910 reached the Texas border, she and her friends organized La Cruz Blanca, The White Cross, to take care of the wounded. They nursed people from both sides of the fighting. She was also known as a journalist and community activist. Who was she and where did she live?

8. Who was the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Islands, deposed when American business and military interests wanted to annex Hawaii to the U.S.?

9. She opened “Hull House” in a run–down Chicago neighborhood, a community center to improve conditions for poor immigrants. The program of English–language classes, childcare, health education and recreational opportunities soon inspired hundreds of other settlement houses throughout the country. Her name?

10. Daughter and granddaughter of Paiute Indian chiefs from Nevada, she lobbied Congress, wrote extensively, and traveled across country during the late 1800s lecturing on the hardships brought upon Native Americans by the U.S. Government. Her name?

11. Her 1939 Easter Sunday concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial drew a crowd of 75,000. Who was she, and why was she singing there?

12. Who printed the first copy of the Declaration of Independence that included the signers’ names?

13. Clara Barton (1821–1912) is best known for founding the American Red Cross, but she also played a vital role during the Civil War. What did she do?

14. She is regarded as the greatest ballerina born in America. Her father was the Chief of the Osage Indians. Can you name her?

15. Why is Rachel Carson (1907–1964) considered the mother of the environmental movement?

Black Women’s History 40 Question Challenge

Created by Margaret Zierdt, National Women’s History Project Board Member

1. Who was head of National Council of Negro Women for 40 years and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal for her work for social equality?
2. Who was an advocate for civil rights, a fund raiser for NAACP, and the first black person to sign a long-term Hollywood contract in 1942?
3. Who was member of Harlem Renaissance, an anthropologist, and author of many books, including “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
4. Who was the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field – in the 1960 Olympics for the 100 and 200 meters and the 400 meter relay?
5. Who was denied permission to sing in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) auditorium because of her race in 1939, but later became the first black person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955?
6. Who is the dancer, singer, actor, fund raiser, author, and poet who read a specially-composed poem at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993?
7. Who was a nightclub and cabaret idol of Paris in the 1920’s and a freedom fighter during World War II?
8. What black woman chemist developed an extract from the Awa Root which relieved leprosy symptoms when injected and which was widely used until sulfa drugs were invented in the 1940’s?
9. Who was a civil rights activist and President of the Arkansas NAACP who advised the nine high school students who integrated the Little Rock public schools in 1957?
10. Who founded the college that became the Bethune-Cookman University in Florida and founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935?
11. Who was the first black female newspaper publisher and editor in North America (in Ontario, Canada), and the first black woman to enroll in law school ( Howard University)?
12. Who was the first black woman in the world to earn a pilot’s license, and was a barnstorming aviator who performed daredevil tricks?
13. Who was the first black Congresswoman, beginning in 1968; and who in 1972 ran for President and won 151 delegates at the Democratic Convention?
14. Who was America’s first great black choreographer, dancer, and teacher who formed the first black dance troupe in the 1940’s?
15. Who founded the Children’s Defense Fund in 1973, a group focusing on helping millions of children living in poverty?
16. Who was first black woman to win a tennis championship at Wimbledon and at the U.S. Open?
17. Who was the first black woman to write a Broadway play (1959) which was made into a movie (1961), “A Raisin in the Sun”?
18. Who was the first black concert pianist to play with a European orchestra in 1904?
19. Who was first woman of color to go into space on the shuttle Endeavor in 1992?
20. Who was the first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Cabinet – as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Carter in 1977, and then served as Secretary of Health and Human Services in 1979?
21. Who was the first woman bank president in America?
22. What slave named Isabella became a fiery orator supporting anit-slavery and woman suffrage after gaining her freedom?
23. Who is considered the first black woman journalist who advocated for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery?
24. Who was an award-winning poet who penned “For My People” in 1942, and a novelist who wrote “Jubilee” in 1966?
25. Who was the black educator who founded the National Training School for Girls about 1909 in Washington, D.C. which was re-named in her honor after her death?
26. What woman was the first African-American in New England to serve as Master of a public high school which position she held for 40 years?
27. Who was the first black woman lawyer in the U.S. and the first woman admitted to the District of Columbia bar (1872)?
28. Who won the 2-day, seven-event heptathlon competition at the Goodwill Games in July, 1986 and won a gold medal in the heptathlon at the Olympics in 1988 and 1992?
29. What educator was the fourth African American woman to earn a doctoral degree (from the University of Paris-Sorbonne in 1924)?
30. Who was first African-American woman to earn a BA degree in United States – from Oberlin College in 1862?
31. Who was the first black president of an Ivy League University and the first female president of Brown University?
32. What abstract painter was the first fine arts student to graduate from Howard University, and the first woman to have a solo exhibit at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City?
33. What female athlete is considered “the fastest woman of all time” and set the record for the 100 and 200 meters in 1988?
34. Who was a conductor on the Underground Railroad and secured the freedom of at least 300 enslaved people, making 19 trips into the South over 10 years, and served as a spy and scout for the Union Army?
35. Who helped black artists and disadvantaged children while winning 13 Grammys and being honored as the “First Lady of Song”?
36. What anthropology professor became the first African-American woman president of Spelman College in 1987?
37. What actress appeared in “Gone With the Wind,” received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1975, and won an Emmy for her role on television in 1979?
38. Who became a self-made millionaire philanthropist after creating a hair product sold house-to-house, and later held what may be the first national meeting of businesswomen in the U.S. in 1917?
39. Who was the first African-American woman to become an ordained minister, a lawyer who helped found the first legal periodical about women’s rights, and co-founded the National Organization of Women?
40. What African-American woman was born enslaved, gained her freedom in 1856, became a entrepreneur and philanthropist, and co-founded the first black church in Los Angles?

Women’s Equality Day Quiz

To help celebrate Women’s Equality Day, the National Women’s History Alliance developed a quiz to use at your events, or just around your office, or in conversation with friends. It took 72 years for women to win the right to vote.

1. August 26th is celebrated as Women’s Equality Day to commemorate

a. the work women did during the Second World War
b. the anniversary of women winning the right to vote
c. the flappers of the 1920’s
d. the contemporary women’s rights movement

2. In what year did Congresswoman Bella Abzug introduce legislation to ensure that this important American anniversary would be celebrated?

a. 1992
b. 1984
c. 1971
d. 1965

3. In what year did women in the United States win the right to vote?

a. 1776
b. 1848
c. 1920
d. 1946

4. How many years did it take for women to win the right to vote in the United States?

a. 72 years
b. 120 years
c. 20 years
d. 51 years

5. Women in most of the western states won the right to vote years before the Federal Amendment was secured. 2010 is the 100th anniversary of women in Washington State winning the vote. California will celebrate the 100th anniversary of women winning he vote in 2011. Oregon will celebrate the 100th anniversary in 2012. What other state will celebrate the 100th anniversary of women in this state winning the right to vote in 2012?

a. New York
b. Florida
c. Maine
d. Arizona

6. What was the name given to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which guaranteed women’s right to vote in the United States.

a. Abigail Adams Amendment
b. Sojourner Truth Amendment
c. Susan B. Anthony Amendment
d. Gloria Steinem Amendment

7. Women who worked for women’s right to vote were called

a. radical
b. immoral
c. suffragist
d. all of the above

8. The term suffragist is derived from

a. one who suffers
b. a voting tablet in ancient times
c. the Constitution
d. the Bill of Rights

9. How many other countries had already guaranteed women’s right to vote before the campaign was won in the United States?

a. 6
b. 2
c. 1
d. 16

10. What was the first country that granted women the right to vote?

a. Canada
b. Germany
c. New Zealand
d. United Kingdom

Mexican-American Women’s History Quiz

Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations bring our history into sharper focus.  What have you learned about the courageous women leaders from the last 150 years of our history?  Try this quick quiz about Mexican-American/Chicana women!  The answers are at the end of this page.

1. She was just 20 years old when she became a popular, outspoken leader of the thousands of pecan shellers who went on strike in Texas in 1938. Although many women were thrown in jail, they held their ground.  After four months, they won their raise.  Who was this inspiring leader?
2. During the Mexican Revolution of 1910, she was a leading force in La Cruz Blanca, nursing the wounded on both sides of the battle. She was also instrumental in organizing a large educational and cultural conference, el Primer Congreso Mexicanista, in Laredo in 1911.  Later that same year, she helped organize La Liga Feminil Mexicanista.  Can you name her?
3. In New Mexico, a young woman was elected Superintendent of Schools of Santa Fe in 1918, and ran for the U.S. House of Representatives four years later. Was this woman Graciela Quintera, Adelina Otero-Warren, or Maria Martinez?
4. The first Hispanic woman elected to a state legislature was Concha Ortiz y Pino. Which state did she live in, and what year was she elected?
5. The first woman to hold an elected national LULAC office not designated specifically for women, she eventually held three national LULAC offices. Can you name this outspoken feminist?
6. During World War II, Mexican-American women were not hired to be “Rosie the Riveters.” True or false?
7. When the feminist movement began, Mexican-American women were quick to organize conferences focused on their particular issues. True or false?
8. Who organized the Welfare Rights Organization in East Los Angeles during the 1960s, and for two decades remained an influential voice for humane treatment of welfare recipients?
9. Which former nun, activist and educator took a post with the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare and developed the Bilingual Education Act?

Men Who Supported Women’s Rights Quiz

1. In 1775, this Revolutionary-era patriot published wrote an essay supporting women’s rights. In An Occasional Letter on the Female Sex, h e wrote “[T]he women, almost — without exception — at all times and in all places, adored and oppressed.  Man, who has never neglected an opportunity of exerting his power…”
2. At a time when married women did not have any property rights, he introduced a bill to grant married women the right “to hold and control property” in the New York State Legislature in 1837.
3. This Quaker father was an important role-model for his famous daughter, and provided her with financial and moral support in her work for abolitionism and women’s rights.
4. A Unitarian minister, he was one of the most a well-known abolitionist and reformers on the national scene. He preached the first women’s rights sermon in 1845.
5. As early as 1847, as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives, he supported women’s right to vote; and in 1868 as a member of U.S. House of Representatives, he introduced a constitutional amendment conferring the right to vote on women.
6. The patriarch of one the wealthiest and most prominent Black families in Philadelphia, this 19 th century activist used his considerable wealth to support progressive causes including abolitionism and women’s rights.
7. One of the strongest voices for abolitionism, this free Black man attended the first women’s rights conference in 1848 and supported the controversial issue of woman suffrage. He continued working for woman’s suffrage throughout his life, including a speech at a women’s rights conference on the day he died in 1895.
8. In 1850, as a member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention he was instrumental in securing to widows and married women control of their property, and later succeeded in passing a state law giving greater freedom to women in divorce.
9. He preached a sermon, Women’s Right to Preach the Gospel, in 1853 at the ordination of Antoinette Brown, the first woman to be ordained a minister in the United States.
10. On February 26, 1861, this self-made man presented a college board with half of his fortune and a deed for 200 acres of land to be used to build one of the first women’s colleges in the United States.
11. A Cayuga chief, while addressing the New York Historical Society in 1866, he encouraged white men to use the occasion of Southern reconstruction to establish universal suffrage, “even of the women, as in his nation.”
12. He helped draft the constitution of the feminist American Equal Rights Association in 1865, and served as vice-president of the New Hampshire Woman Suffrage Association. In 1868, he was co-editor with Elizabeth Cady Stanton of The Revolution, published by Susan B. Anthony.
13. This man, who represented California in the U.S. Senate, introduced a joint resolution proposing an amendment that would enfranchise women on January 10, 1878.  He was good friends with both Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
14. A Native American who served as director of the Rochester Museum of Arts and Science, he gave a brief argument for modern American women to consider in 1909: “…that the red woman that lived in New York state five hundred years ago had far more political rights and enjoyed a much wider liberty than the twentieth century woman of civilization. . . ”
15. He helped found the Men’s Equal Suffrage League in 1910 and was President of the Men’s Equal Suffrage League of New York State when he delivered his famous commencement address at Bryn Mawr in 1913, titled Woman Suffrage and Why I Believe in It.
16. To help women in California win the right to vote in 1911, this wealthy Pasadena banker founded the Political Equality League. He was very successful in recruiting prominent business men to join the California Woman Suffrage campaign which mobilized thousands of local supporters.
    
17. In the 1920 U.S. presidential campaign leaflets addressed “To the Woman Voter” were distributed that praised this imprisoned Socialist Party presidential candidate for his long time commitment to women’s rights including his support of votes for women, equal pay in the workplace, and a stance against the criminalization of prostitution.
18. In 1972, this world-famous singer-songwriter recorded a song with his wife that includes these lyrics:
    “We insult her every day on TV
    And wonder why she has no guts or confidence
    When she’s young we kill her will to be free
    We put her down for begin dumb . . . “
19. A famous sport journalist, he wrote an article, “Why I Support the ERA” that appeared in the October 1975 issue of Ms.Magazine.
    
20. A poet and community organizer, he has been credited with creating the foundation for Chicano letters and literature. He wrote An Open Letter to Carolina, in which he reflected on relations between women and men from his perspective as a Chicano.
21. At the Equal Rights Amendment rally in Washington, DC in 1981, this award- winning actor gave an impassioned speech calling on the American people to take action to protect the rights of their daughters, wives, sisters and mothers by working to make the ERA the 27th Amendment to the US Constitution.
22. A gender equity specialist since 1985, he has hosted a national anti-sexist men’s conference, served on the board of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism, and served as a volunteer at the Tucson Rape Crisis Center.
23. Founder of the Woman Suffrage Media Project in 1993, he spent nearly 20 years researching and writing about the drive for equal rights, resulting in his landmark book, Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement.
24. A contemporary American sociologist, he is editor of Men and Masculinities, spokesperson for the National Organization for Men Against Sexism, and the co-author of Against the Tide: Pro-Feminist Men in the U.S., 1776–1990.
    
25. This award-winning documentary film maker combines the art of the visual medium with an investigation of social issues. He received an Academy Award nomination for Documentary Short Subject for his first film, Sewing Women, an oral history of his mother testifying to her extraordinary tenacity, inner strength, and courage.
26. Co-founded Monumental Women Organization which succeeded in getting the first statue honoring women in Central Park in 2020. His lifelong work has always supported women’s rights and women’s place in history. Currently, he is working with his wife, Myriam Miedzian, to get a statue honoring of Ellen Browning Scripps built in San Diego, CA.

0%

How much do you know about the men who've fought for women's rights throughout American history?

Historical marker for the Rochester Women's Rights Convention of 1848

1 / 20

One of the strongest voices for abolitionism, this free Black man attended the first women’s rights conference in 1848 and supported the controversial issue of woman suffrage. He continued working for woman’s suffrage throughout his life, including a speech at a women’s rights conference on the day he died in 1895.

 

Henry Box Brown (c.1815–1897)

William Cooper Nell (1816–1874)

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)

Willis Augustus Hodges (1815–1890)

Oh no. Not quite!

In 1848, Frederick Douglass was the only African American to attend the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton asked the assembly to pass a resolution asking for women's suffrage. Douglass stood and spoke in favor of women's suffrage,  saying that the world would be a better place if women were involved in the political sphere.

Hooray!

In 1848, Frederick Douglass was the only African American to attend the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton asked the assembly to pass a resolution asking for women's suffrage. Douglass stood and spoke in favor of women's suffrage,  saying that the world would be a better place if women were involved in the political sphere.

2 / 20

While addressing the New York Historical Society in 1866, this Cayuga leader encouraged white men to use the occasion of Southern reconstruction to establish universal suffrage, "even of the women, as in his nation."

 

Dr. Peter Wilson (1761–1837)

Lewis Bennett (1828–1897)

William Fowler (1815–1862)

Ely S. Parker (1828–1895)

Oops! Good guess!

Peter Wilson, a member of the Cayuga Nation, was the First Native American graduate of Geneva Medical College. He went on to practice medicine, served as an interpreter and was a noted orator. He frequently spoke in front of the New York Historical Society about topics related to Native American issues. In 1866 he spoke in favor of universal suffrage, admonishing the members that Reconstruction was a good opportunity to extend the vote to all Americans.

Well done!

Peter Wilson, a member of the Cayuga Nation, was the First Native American graduate of Geneva Medical College. He went on to practice medicine, served as an interpreter and was a noted orator. He frequently spoke in front of the New York Historical Society about topics related to Native American issues. In 1866 he spoke in favor of universal suffrage, admonishing the members that Reconstruction was a good opportunity to extend the vote to all Americans.

This caring father named his second child after his own sister, Susan Anthony Brownell, reversing a couple of the names.

3 / 20

This Quaker father was an important role-model for his famous daughter, and provided her with financial and moral support in her work for abolitionism and women’s rights.

 

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)

Daniel Anthony (1794–1862)

Samuel Joseph May (1797–1871)

Thomas Paine (1737–1809)

Opps! Good try!

Susan Brownwell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts. She was the second of seven children born to Daniel and Lucy Read Anthony.

Well done!

Susan Brownwell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts. She was the second of seven children born to Daniel and Lucy Read Anthony.

He was the Socialist Party presidential candidate in 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920. In 1920, he ran from a prison cell, where he was serving a 10-year sentence for sedition after giving a speech in Canton, Ohio, urging resistance to the military draft of World War I. He received no electoral votes, but his total of 913,693 votes still remains the all-time high for a Socialist Party candidate.

4 / 20

In the 1920 U.S. presidential campaign leaflets addressed “To the Woman Voter” were distributed that praised this imprisoned Socialist Party presidential candidate for his long time commitment to women’s rights including his support of votes for women, equal pay in the workplace, and a stance against the criminalization of prostitution.

Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926)

John Hyde Braly (1839–1923)

Max Eastman (1883–1969)

Arthur Caswell Parker (1881–1955)

Oops! Not quite.

Eugene V. Debs was serving a 10-year sentence in prison during the 1920 election, but his decades-long commitment to women's rights helped him earn nearly 1 million votes, a record for the Socialist Party candidates that still stands today.

Debs first met Susan B. Anthony in 1879, when he invited her speak in his hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana. His friendship with Ida Husted Harper was also quite formative in his early years as a writer and socialist thinker, and he always included full equality for women in his platform.

Yes! Good job!

Eugene V. Debs was serving a 10-year sentence in prison during the 1920 election, but his decades-long commitment to women's rights helped him earn nearly 1 million votes, a record for the Socialist Party candidates that still stands today.

Debs first met Susan B. Anthony in 1879, when he invited her speak in his hometown of Terre Haute, Indiana. His friendship with Ida Husted Harper was also quite formative in his early years as a writer and socialist thinker, and he always included full equality for women in his platform.

Photo by Carl LaVO

5 / 20

The patriarch of one the wealthiest and most prominent Black families in Philadelphia, this 19th century activist used his considerable wealth to support progressive causes including abolitionism and women’s rights.

 

Wentworth Cheswell (1746–1817)

James Forten (1766–1842)

Robert Purvis (1810–1898)

George Middleton (1735–1815)

Oops! Good try!

Robert Purvis supported many progressive causes in addition to abolition. With Lucretia Mott, he supported women's rights and suffrage. When Mott was president, he was a member of the American Equal Rights Association. Purvis also attended the founding meeting of the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association.

Well done!

Robert Purvis supported many progressive causes in addition to abolition. With Lucretia Mott, he supported women's rights and suffrage. When Mott was president, he was a member of the American Equal Rights Association. Purvis also attended the founding meeting of the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association.

6 / 20

Founder of the Woman Suffrage Media Project in 1993, he spent nearly 20 years researching and writing about the drive for equal rights, resulting in his landmark book, Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement.

 

Timothy Wernette (1947–)

Robert P. J. Cooney, Jr. (1950–)

Michael Messner (1952–)

Michael Scott Kimmel (1951–)

Oops. Not quite!

Robert P. J. Cooney, Jr. (1950–) is the author of Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement, a widely praised and beautifully illustrated history of this important movement. Director of the Woman Suffrage Media Project since 1993, he has spent years delving deep into the nation’s photographic archives and has also consulted on numerous documentary films, books, and special projects. And he's a member of the NWHA Board!

Good job!

Robert P. J. Cooney, Jr. (1950–) is the author of Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement, a widely praised and beautifully illustrated history of this important movement. Director of the Woman Suffrage Media Project since 1993, he has spent years delving deep into the nation’s photographic archives and has also consulted on numerous documentary films, books, and special projects. And he's a member of the NWHA Board!

Image from Long Island Wins

7 / 20

In 1850, as a member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention he was instrumental in securing to widows and married women control of their property, and later succeeded in passing a state law giving greater freedom to women in divorce.

 

Samuel Joseph May (1797–1871)

Robert Dale Owen (1801–1877)

Daniel Anthony (1794–1862)

Rev. Luther Lee (1800–1889)

Oops! Not quite!

Robert Dale Owen served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1835–38 and again from 1851–53. He was instrumental in introducing legislation and argued in support of widows and married women's property rights. He also proposed laws granting women greater freedom of divorce.

In addition to serving in the state legislature, Owen was elected as a delegate to the Indiana Constitutional Convention in 1850. At the convention, he initiated a proposal to include provisions for women's property rights in the state constitution. Although it was not approved, this early effort to protect women's rights led to later laws that were passed to secure women's property, divorce, and voting rights.

Yes!

Robert Dale Owen served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1835–38 and again from 1851–53. He was instrumental in introducing legislation and argued in support of widows and married women's property rights, but the bill was defeated. He also proposed laws granting women greater freedom of divorce.

In addition to serving in the state legislature, Owen was elected as a delegate to the Indiana Constitutional Convention in 1850. At the convention, he initiated a proposal to include provisions for women's property rights in the state constitution. Although it was not approved, this early effort to protect women's rights led to later laws that were passed to secure women's property, divorce, and voting rights.

8 / 20

He helped draft the constitution of the feminist American Equal Rights Association in 1865, and served as vice-president of the New Hampshire Woman Suffrage Association. In 1868, he was co-editor with Elizabeth Cady Stanton of The Revolution, published by Susan B. Anthony.

 

Samuel Gordon Daily (1823–1866)

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)

Aaron A. Sargent (1827–1887)

Parker Pillsbury (1809–1898)

Not quite!

Parker Pillsbury was an American minister and advocate for abolition and women's rights. Pillsbury lectured widely and earned a reputation for successfully dealing with hostile crowds through non-resistance tactics. The American Equal Rights Association was formed by prominent leaders in the anti-slavery and women's rights movements, such as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Frederick Douglass, and Susan B. Anthony, with the goal of bringing together abolitionists and women's rights advocates in the fight for universal suffrage, and Pillsbury joined their effort.

Good job!

Parker Pillsbury was an American minister and advocate for abolition and women's rights. Pillsbury lectured widely and earned a reputation for successfully dealing with hostile crowds through non-resistance tactics. The American Equal Rights Association was formed by prominent leaders in the anti-slavery and women's rights movements, such as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Frederick Douglass, and Susan B. Anthony, with the goal of bringing together abolitionists and women's rights advocates in the fight for universal suffrage, and Pillsbury joined their effort.

Image from Nevada City Foursquare

9 / 20

This man, who represented California in the U.S. Senate, introduced a joint resolution proposing an amendment that would enfranchise women on January 10, 1878. He was good friends with both Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

 

Parker Pillsbury (1809–1898)

Rev. Luther Lee (1800–1889)

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)

Aaron A. Sargent (1827–1887)

Oops! Not quite!

In January 1878, Senator Aaron A. Sargent introduced the 29 words that would later become the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote. Sargent's wife, Ellen Clark Sargent, was a leading voting rights advocate and a friend of such suffrage leaders as Susan B. Anthony. The bill calling for the amendment would be introduced unsuccessfully each year for the next forty years.

Well done!

In January 1878, Senator Aaron A. Sargent introduced the 29 words that would later become the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote. Sargent's wife, Ellen Clark Sargent, was a leading voting rights advocate and a friend of such suffrage leaders as Susan B. Anthony. The bill calling for the amendment would be introduced unsuccessfully each year for the next forty years.

This suffragent, named for a famous former president, was a leading opponent of slavery, and was the Free Soil Party's candidate for vice president in the 1852 election and was a prominent Radical Republican during the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era.

10 / 20

As early as 1847, as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives, he supported women’s right to vote; and in 1868 as a member of U.S. House of Representatives, he introduced a constitutional amendment conferring the right to vote on women.

 

Parker Pillsbury (1809–1898)

George Washington Julian (1817–1899)

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

Robert Dale Owen (1801–1877)

Not quite!

George Washington Julian had espoused the cause of women's suffrage as early as 1847. As Julian explained in his memoirs, "the subject was first brought to my attention in a brief chapter on 'the political non-existence of woman,' in Miss [Harriett] Martineau's book on 'Society In America,' which I read in 1847. She there pithily states the substance of all that has since been said respecting the logic of woman's right to the ballot, and finding myself unable to answer it, I accepted it. On recently referring to this chapter I find myself more impressed by its force than when I first read it."

Julian was also close friends with Lucretia Mott, co-organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention.  In 1868 he proposed a constitutional amendment on women's suffrage, but it was defeated.

Well done!

George Washington Julian had espoused the cause of women's suffrage as early as 1847. As Julian explained in his memoirs, "the subject was first brought to my attention in a brief chapter on 'the political non-existence of woman,' in Miss [Harriett] Martineau's book on 'Society In America,' which I read in 1847. She there pithily states the substance of all that has since been said respecting the logic of woman's right to the ballot, and finding myself unable to answer it, I accepted it. On recently referring to this chapter I find myself more impressed by its force than when I first read it."

Julian was also close friends with Lucretia Mott, co-organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention.  In 1868 he proposed a constitutional amendment on women's suffrage, but it was defeated.

11 / 20

He gave a sermon, "Women's Right to Preach the Gospel," in 1853 at the ordination of Antoinette Brown, the first woman to be ordained a minister in the United States.

 

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)

Robert Purvis (1810–1898)

Parker Pillsbury (1809–1898)

Rev. Luther Lee (1800–1889)

Not quite!

In 1853, Rev. Luther Lee ordained Miss Antoinette Brown, one of the first women to be ordained in the Congregational church. To recognize this historical event, Rev. Lee gave a special sermon, stating in his introduction, “The ordination of a female, or the setting apart of a female to the work of the Christian ministry, is, to say the least, a novel transaction, in this land and age. It cannot fail to call forth many remarks, and will, no doubt, provoke many censures. As I have been called upon to deliver the discourse on the occasion, I should deem it out of place, tame and cowardly, for me to deliver an ordinary sermon setting forth the duties and responsibilities of a Christian minister, without taking hold of the peculiarity of the occasion, and vindicating the innovation which we this hour make upon the usages of the Christian World.”

Well done!

In 1853, Rev. Luther Lee ordained Miss Antoinette Brown, one of the first women to be ordained in the Congregational church. To recognize this historical event, Rev. Lee gave a special sermon, stating in his introduction, “The ordination of a female, or the setting apart of a female to the work of the Christian ministry, is, to say the least, a novel transaction, in this land and age. It cannot fail to call forth many remarks, and will, no doubt, provoke many censures. As I have been called upon to deliver the discourse on the occasion, I should deem it out of place, tame and cowardly, for me to deliver an ordinary sermon setting forth the duties and responsibilities of a Christian minister, without taking hold of the peculiarity of the occasion, and vindicating the innovation which we this hour make upon the usages of the Christian World.”

Image of newspaper clipping from the Library of Congress

12 / 20

He helped found the Men's Equal Suffrage League in 1910 and was President of the Men's Equal Suffrage League of New York State. He regularly spoke about suffrage, including a speech given in Rochester, NY, entitled "Man's Attitude toward Woman Suffrage," where he advocated for full political equality for women saying, "Democratic government has not been established except in those states and nations where women have exactly the same privileges as men."

 

Eugene Victor Debs (1855–1926)

John Hyde Braly (1839–1923)

Arthur Caswell Parker (1881–1955)

Max Eastman (1883–1969)

Not quite!

Max Eastman was a prominent socialist whose parents were both ordained ministers. In 1910 he helped found the Men's Equal Suffrage League. Eastman was President of the Men's Equal Suffrage League of New York State when he delivered his talk at Bryn Mawr in 1913, titled "Woman Suffrage and Why I Believe in It." The Lantern reported that "the result of his speech was a number of converts to woman suffrage." His sister, Crystal Eastman, was a prominent member of the Congressional Union and the National Woman's Party.

Well done!

Max Eastman was a prominent socialist whose parents were both ordained ministers. In 1910 he helped found the Men's Equal Suffrage League. Eastman was President of the Men's Equal Suffrage League of New York State when he delivered his talk at Bryn Mawr in 1913, titled "Woman Suffrage and Why I Believe in It." The Lantern reported that "the result of his speech was a number of converts to woman suffrage." His sister, Crystal Eastman, was a prominent member of the Congressional Union and the National Woman's Party.

13 / 20

On February 26, 1861, this self-made man presented a college board with half of his fortune and a deed for 200 acres of land to be used to build one of the first women’s colleges in the United States.

 

Samuel Joseph May (1797–1871)

Rev. Luther Lee (1800–1889)

Frederick A. P. Barnard (1809–1889)

Matthew Vassar (1792–1868)

Oops! Good try!

Matthew Vassar's niece, Lydia Booth, a teacher who ran the "Cottage Hill Seminary" out of a building Vassar owned on Garden Street, encouraged him to establish a women's college in Poughkeepsie. In January 1861, the New York Legislature passed an act to incorporate Vassar College, one of the first women's colleges in the U.S. On 26 February 1861, at the Hotel Gregory in Poughkeepsie, Matthew Vassar presented the college's Board of Trustees with a tin box containing half of his fortune, $408,000 (approximately $9,700,000 in 2008 dollars) and a deed of conveyance for 200 acres of land to establish the campus.

Good job!

Matthew Vassar's niece, Lydia Booth, a teacher who ran the "Cottage Hill Seminary" out of a building Vassar owned on Garden Street, encouraged him to establish a women's college in Poughkeepsie. In January 1861, the New York Legislature passed an act to incorporate Vassar College, one of the first women's colleges in the U.S. On 26 February 1861, at the Hotel Gregory in Poughkeepsie, Matthew Vassar presented the college's Board of Trustees with a tin box containing half of his fortune, $408,000 (approximately $9,700,000 in 2008 dollars) and a deed of conveyance for 200 acres of land to establish the campus.

Image from Storytelling + Research = LoiS

14 / 20

A Native American who served as director of the Rochester Museum of Arts and Science, he gave a brief argument for modern American women to consider in 1909: “...that the red woman that lived in New York state five hundred years ago had far more political rights and enjoyed a much wider liberty than the twentieth century woman of civilization...”

 

Arthur Caswell Parker (1881–1955)

John L. Bullis (1841–1911)

John Arthur Gibson (1850–1912)

Samuel Benton Callahan (1833–1911)

Oops!

Arthur Caswell Parker was an anthropologist, historian, and museum pioneer, who wrote about the history and culture of the Iroquois People, including the role of Haudenosaunee women in political decisions. In 1909, he wrote "Woman's Rights in America Five Hundred Years Ago," which appeared in the Albany Press on April 11, 1909.

Yes! You got it!

Arthur Caswell Parker was an anthropologist, historian, and museum pioneer, who wrote about the history and culture of the Iroquois People, including the role of Haudenosaunee women in political decisions. In 1909, he wrote "Woman's Rights in America Five Hundred Years Ago," which appeared in the Albany Press on April 11, 1909.

His sister's daughter was an American novelist, short story writer and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women.

15 / 20

A Unitarian minister, he was one of the most well-known abolitionists and reformers on the national scene. He preached the first women's rights sermon in 1845. Most notably, he wrote The Rights and Condition of Women in 1846 in favor of giving women the right to vote and allowing them equality in all aspects of life.

 

Matthew Vassar (1792–1868)

Robert Purvis (1810–1898)

Samuel Joseph May (1797–1871)

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)

Oops! Good try!

Samuel Joseph May was an American reformer during the nineteenth century, and championed multiple reform movements including education, women's rights, and abolition of slavery. May argued on behalf of all working people that the rights of humanity were more important than the rights of property, and advocated for minimum wages and legal limitations on the amassing of wealth.

Good job!

Samuel Joseph May was an American reformer during the nineteenth century, and championed multiple reform movements including education, women's rights, and abolition of slavery. May argued on behalf of all working people that the rights of humanity were more important than the rights of property, and advocated for minimum wages and legal limitations on the amassing of wealth.

This suffragent was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution and inspired the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain.

16 / 20

In 1775, this Revolutionary-era patriot wrote an essay supporting women's rights. In "An Occasional Letter on the Female Sex" he wrote, "[T]he women, almost—without exception—at all times and in all places, adored and oppressed. Man, who has never neglected an opportunity of exerting his power..."

 

George Washington (1732–1799)

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

Thomas Herttell (1771–1849)

Thomas Paine (1737–1809)

Oops! Thomas Paine was was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution and inspired the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain.

He also wrote "An Occasional Letter on the Female Sex," published anonymously under his editorship in the Pennsylvania Magazine in August 1775. It features the "Letter," which argues that the oppression of women is universal and pleads for the better treatment of women.

Well done! Thomas Paine was was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution and inspired the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain.

He also wrote "An Occasional Letter on the Female Sex," published anonymously under his editorship in the Pennsylvania Magazine in August 1775. It features the "Letter," which argues that the oppression of women is universal and pleads for the better treatment of women.

He started out as a lawyer working with sports greats like Willie Mays, but eventually found his way to sports broadcasting, bringing his unique style of commentary to radio and then television, as he covered boxing matches and Monday Night Football.

17 / 20

A famous sport journalist, he wrote an article, "Why I Support the ERA" that appeared in the October 1975 issue of Ms. Magazine.

 

Hal Scott (1923–2010)

Marv Albert (1941–)

Howard Cosell (1918–1995)

Vin Scully (1927–)

Oh no. Not quite!

Howard Cosell was a sports broadcaster with strong opinions, and a national audience. His friendship with boxing great Muhammad Ali is well known in sporting history. But he was also the commentator for the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis matches between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

In the October 1975 issue of Ms. Magazine, Cosell wrote, "It's long since past time in this society that women were treated coequally with men and I don't think they are in many important areas of human existence."

Oh no. Not quite!

Howard Cosell was a sports broadcaster with strong opinions, and a national audience. His friendship with boxing great Muhammad Ali is well known in sporting history. But he was also the commentator for the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis matches between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

In the October 1975 issue of Ms. Magazine, Cosell wrote, "It's long since past time in this society that women were treated coequally with men and I don't think they are in many important areas of human existence."

He's most well known for his portrayal of a womanizing doctor in the television show M*A*S*H in the late 1970s, but in his life off screen he has been a long-time advocate for women's rights.

18 / 20

At the Equal Rights Amendment rally in Washington, D.C., in 1981, this award-winning actor gave an impassioned speech calling on the American people to take action to protect the rights of their daughters, wives, sisters and mothers by working to make the ERA the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

 

Alan Alda (1936–)

Robert De Niro (1943–)

Harrison Ford (1942–)

Dustin Hoffman (1937–)

Oops. Not quite.

Actor and author Alan Alda may be most well known as the boozing, womanizing Dr. Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H, but in his life off screen he has been a long-time advocate for women's rights, lending his time and energy to the push for the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970s and early-1980s. He even served as a cochair on the ERA subcommittee for the National Commission on the Observance of the International Women's Year, established by President Ford in 1975.

Well done!

Actor and author Alan Alda may be most well known as the boozing, womanizing Dr. Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H, but in his life off screen he has been a long-time advocate for women's rights, lending his time and energy to the push for the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970s and early-1980s. He even served as a cochair on the ERA subcommittee for the National Commission on the Observance of the International Women's Year, established by President Ford in 1975.

19 / 20

At a time when married women did not have any property rights, he introduced a bill to grant married women the right "to hold and control property" in the New York State Legislature in 1837.

 

Daniel Anthony (1794–1862)

Rev. Luther Lee (1800–1889)

Thomas Herttell (1771–1849)

Thomas Paine (1737–1809)

Oops! Good try! In 1836, Thomas Herttell, a 65-year-old reformist lawyer and state legislator from New York City who advocated for universal suffrage, introduced a bill into the New York legislature to protect the property rights of women, who by law lost that right to their husbands upon marrying, writing:

"It is doubtless obvious to those who have paid due attention to the provisions of this bill that its primary principle is to preserve to married women the title, possession, and control of their estate, both real and personal after as before marriage; and that no part of it shall innure to their husbands, solely by the virtue of their marriage."

Well done! In 1836, Thomas Herttell, a 65-year-old reformist lawyer and state legislator from New York City who advocated for universal suffrage, introduced a bill into the New York legislature to protect the property rights of women, who by law lost that right to their husbands upon marrying, writing:

"It is doubtless obvious to those who have paid due attention to the provisions of this bill that its primary principle is to preserve to married women the title, possession, and control of their estate, both real and personal after as before marriage; and that no part of it shall innure to their husbands, solely by the virtue of their marriage."

Image of text from History of Women's Marches

20 / 20

To help women in California win the right to vote in 1911, this wealthy Pasadena banker founded the Political Equality League. He was very successful in recruiting prominent business men to join the California Woman Suffrage campaign which mobilized thousands of local supporters.

 

Eugene Victor Debs (1855–1926)

Max Eastman (1883–1969)

Charles Chapman Grafton (1830–1912)

John Hyde Braly (1839–1923)

Oops!

California banker John Hyde Braly attended a meeting of suffragists in Los Angeles and was immediately drawn to their cause, freely using his own money and social capital to spread the word for suffrage. When he wrote his memoirs, Memory Pictures, he dedicated an entire chapter to his work in the suffrage movement, claiming it was the "crowing work of his long life."

Well done!

California banker John Hyde Braly attended a meeting of suffragists in Los Angeles and was immediately drawn to their cause, freely using his own money and social capital to spread the word for suffrage. When he wrote his memoirs, Memory Pictures, he dedicated an entire chapter to his work in the suffrage movement, claiming it was the "crowing work of his long life."

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