Devorah Baron was a Jewish writer known for writing in Modern Hebrew and making a career as a Hebrew author. She has been called the “first Modern Hebrew woman writer”. She wrote about 80 short stories, as well as a novella, and translated stories into Modern Hebrew.
Frumka Płotnicka was a Polish resistance fighter during World War II and Zionist activist. She was one of the resistance organizers in the Warsaw Ghetto, and participated in the military preparations for the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
When she was growing up, Anne Frank wanted to be a writer or a journalist. Unfortunately, her life was cut short by antisemitic persecution during the Holocaust. Although she was unable to witness it, Anne Frank’s writing in her diary became one of the most recognized accounts of life for a Jewish family in Europe during World War II.
Journalist, activist, and co-founder of the National Organization for Women, Betty Friedan was one of the early leaders of the women’s rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Her 1963 best-selling book, The Feminine Mystique, gave voice to millions of American women’s frustrations with their limited gender roles and helped spark widespread public activism for gender equality.
Lillian D. Wald helped to bring health care to the residents of New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the twentieth century. As a “practical idealist who worked to create a more just society,” Wald fought for public health care, women’s rights, and children’s rights while running the Henry Street Settlement.
As a Jewish American writer and activist, Emma Lazarus has been widely recognized for her work. However, she is most famous for her poem, “The New Colossus,” that is engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Her words; “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” are almost as well-known as the Statue itself.
Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress and inventor who pioneered the technology that would one day form the basis for today’s WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth communication systems. As a natural beauty seen widely on the big screen in films like Samson and Delilah and White Cargo, society has long ignored her inventive genius.
Affectionately called “R.B.G.” by her supporters, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has inspired generations of women to break gender barriers. Even after facing gender discrimination as she pursued her academic goals, Ginsburg forged ahead and became the second woman–and first Jewish woman–to serve on the Supreme Court.
Amalie Emmy Noether was a German mathematician who made many significant contributions to abstract algebra, despite facing anti-Semitism and being unable to get fair wages.
Hanna Maron was a German-born Israeli actor, comedian and theater personality who held the world record for the longest career in theater.