50 Fearless Women
updated July 14, 2023
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50 Fearless Women
for Class 2
Rationale
This Cultural block was a bit unusual. We did the traditional block of the Saints with a mixed second/third grade class
in October but then did
"Fearless Women from U.S. History"
for our Virtuous People side of things. I got the idea because I taught this block in a mixed age homeschool co-op, and the fifth graders
did U.S. Presidents in October (2020 being an election year). I then had both groups hear stories about Fearless Women in March (when the
fifth graders also had North American Geography). It was a very balancing experience,
since they had both done so many male figures from history in October.
Books to Buy
I am basing this block on 50 Fearless Women Who Made American History by Jenifer Bazzit.

And if you have a wonderful idea for a woman who would be a great fit for this list, email Renee!
This block could obviously also be taught in 7th & 8th grade, when U.S. History is studied and
with a particular emphasis on biographies.
UPDATE:
I recently had a Zoom call with a 1st/2nd grade teacher who wanted to chat more about this block. In particular, she was wondering about MLB page illustrations.
In looking back on this topic, I realized that I think we went too intellectual with it. Too much "head" and not enough "heart,"
and the MLB illustrations that the children did reflected that strain (which is why I never photographed them).
If I were to do this block again, I would
focus more on just one single strong image from the women's lives (such as the cascading water over Helen Keller's hand when she grasped
what the symbol meant) and bring that visual to the MLB page instead of it being so much biography. If you are doing a mixed 1st/2nd grade class, you could then
blend this topic with the Capital Letters block.
For example:
Helen Keller at the water pump
illustration of pump OR W is for Water
Georgia O'Keeffe sleeping on her roof under the stars
wet-on-wet painting with both blues OR S is for Stars (LMNOP) OR N is for Nebula (The Wise Enchanter)


*NEW* American Women Quarters Program
This four-year program celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women of the United States. Beginning in 2022, and continuing through 2025, the U.S. Mint will issue up to five new reverse designs each year (with Washington on the obverse).
Here are the women & designs so far:
2022
- Maya Angelou – celebrated writer, performer, and social activist
- Dr. Sally Ride – physicist, astronaut, educator, and first American woman in space
- Wilma Mankiller – first woman elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation
- Nina Otero-Warren – a leader in New Mexico’s suffrage movement and the first woman superintendent of Santa Fe public schools
- Anna May Wong – first Chinese American film star in Hollywood
2023
- Bessie Coleman - first African American and first Native American woman pilot
- Edith Kanaka'ole - indigenous Hawaiian composer, custodian of native culture and traditions
- Eleanor Roosevelt - first lady, author, and civil liberties advocate
- Jovita Idar - Mexican-American journalist, activist, teacher, and suffragist
- Maria Tallchief - America's first prima ballerina
List of Stories & Activities
We can't study all 50 women in this book, of course. Here is the complete list of biographies.
Some of the resources I suggest would be better for doing this study in the older grades; I'm going to list
everything here for simplicity's sake and you can decide what makes sense for your child.
Pocahontas, p.1
(ca. 1597 - 1617)
Anne Hutchinson, p.4
Mercy Otis Warren, p.7
Phillis Wheatley, p.10
(ca. 1753 - 1784)
Deborah Sampson, p.13
(1760 - 1827)
Abigail Adams, p.16 (1744 - 1818)
Sacagawea, p.19
(ca. 1788 - 1812)
Lucretia Mott, p.22
Sojourner Truth, p.25
Dorothea Dix, p.28
Harriet Beecher Stowe, p.31
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, p.34
Susan B. Anthony, p.37
(1820 - 1906)
Harriet Tubman, p.40
(ca. 1820 - 1913)
Clara Barton, p.43
Elizabeth Blackwell, p.46
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, p.49
(1837 - 1930)
Victoria Woodhull, p.52
Queen Lili'uokalani, p.55
(1838 - 1917)
Annie Edson Taylor
(1838 - 1921)
not included in book
Frances Willard, p.58
Mary Hardway Walker
(ca. 1848 - 1969)
not included in book
Katherine "Kate" Sessions
(1857 - 1940)
not included in book
Jane Addams, p.61
(1860 - 1935)
Ida B. Wells, p.64
Nellie Bly, p.67
(1864 - 1922)
Clara Lemlich, p.70
Helen Keller, p.73
(1880 - 1968)
Emily Greene Balch, p.76
Georgia O'Keeffe, p.79
(1887 - 1986)
Eleanor Roosevelt, p.82 (1884 - 1962)
Amelia Earhart, p.85
Clare Boothe Luce, p.88
Josephine Baker
(1906 - 1975)
not included in book
Grace Hopper, p.91
Rachel Carson, p.94
(1907 - 1964)
Virginia Apgar, p.97
(1909 - 1974)
Thu, Mar 25 and Fri, Mar 26
Crescendo
by Paola Quintavalle
Apgar score article
U.S. National Library of Medicine
Rosa Parks, p.100
Mon, Mar 29 and Tue, Mar 30
we are actually doing Claudette Colvin instead
(1939 - )
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
by Suzanne Slade
1950 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
by Phillip Hoose
March 2, 1955 (Montgomery AL)
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
February 1, 1960 (Greensboro NC)
Let the Children March
by Monica Clark-Robinson
1963 (Birmingham AL)
Freedom Summer
by Deborah Wiles
1964 (Civil Rights Act of 1964)
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968
by Alice Faye Duncan
1968 (Memphis TN)
Belle, The Last Mule at Gee's Bend: A Civil Rights Story
by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Bettye Stroud
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN
Marie Tharp
(1920 - 2006)
not included in book
Marguerite Higgins, p.103
Maria Tallchief, p.106
1925 - 2013
Ruth Asawa (1926 - 2013)
not included in book
A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa
by Andrea D'Aquino
Art History - Ruth Asawa
we are just working on studying Ruth Asawa now, but she would be wonderful for making forms with your feet in dirt!
there's also her Baker's Clay Recipe, which she invented for her work with children
"She co-founded the Alvarado School Arts Workshop in 1968 and was instrumental in the creation of the first public arts high school in San Francisco in 1982, which was renamed the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts in her honor in 2010."
Coretta Scott King, p.109
Muriel Siebert, p.112
Maya Angelou, p.115
look at Maya Angelou quarter (2022)
Dolores Huerta, p.118
(1930 - )
Sandra Day O'Connor, p.121
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933 - 2020)
not included in book
Gloria Steinem, p.124
Barbara Jordan, p.127
Marian Wright Edelman, p.130
Wilma Rudolph
(1940 - 1994)
not included in book
Billie Jean King, p.133
Sally Ride, p.136 (1951 - 1912)
Oprah Winfrey, p.139
Sonia Sotomayor, p.142
(1954 - )
Maya Lin, p.145
Mary Bonauto, p.148
Kamala Harris
Now, of course, we can also add in Kamala!
"Kamala Devi Harris is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th and current vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well as the first African American and first Asian American vice president."
Special Guest
Lastly, it could be really great to end the
block by learning about a Fearless Woman from your local area. Have
the children come up with interview questions for her, and then invite
her to be a special guest at the final class, and they can talk to her
in person.
My blog posts from teaching this topic:
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