Women's History Stories
It's time to celebrate fascinating American women—many of whom have not gotten the attention they deserve. Women such as Reverend Dr. Anna Pauline “Pauli” Murray, the brilliant legal mind who co-founded the National Organization of Women and became an Episcopal saint. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the heiress who rebelled against her high-society upbringing to open a studio and encourage American artists. Jane Jacobs, the urban activist whose work presaged so many of our recent findings about the benefits of older buildings for cities. Madam C.J. Walker, a self-made millionaire who broke gender and racial barriers with her pioneering business models. Ann Pamela Cunningham, who brought Northern and Southern women together after the Civil War to save Mount Vernon, and who is effectively the American founder of the preservation movement. These are just a few of the remarkable women whose stories we at the National Trust strive to tell in recognition of women's role in American history. Explore their stories—and many more connected to women's history in the United States—through the stories and places below.
-
LGBTQ+ History Take a Virtual Tour Through The Lyon-Martin House -
African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund An Afrofuturist Journey Through History -
Where Women Made History Building a Legacy: The Story of Mother Joseph and the Providence Academy -
African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund People Saving Places: Ujijji Davis Williams and Sharing Black History Through Public Spaces -
Where Women Made History People Saving Places: Kelley Uyeoka and Protecting Cultural Heritage in Hawaiʻi -
Where Women Made History People Saving Places: Sara Bronin and an Interdisciplinary Approach to Preservation -
Where Women Made History People Saving Places: Corrina Gould and the Protection of the West Berkeley Shellmound -
Where Women Made History The Unexpected Life and Places of Philanthropist Sarah B. Cochran -
African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund People Saving Places: Sidney Clifton and The Clifton House -
African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund The Fight to Save the National Negro Opera Company House -
Preservation Magazine An Essential Piece of the Edith Farnsworth House is Now Restored -
Historic Sites The Doctor Is: Renaming the Edith Farnsworth House
37 - 48 of 201 stories
The Mother Road turns 100 years old in 2026—share your Route 66 story to celebrate the Centennial. Together, we’ll tell the full American story of Route 66!
Share Your Story