Category: Activist / page 17

Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa


Mother Teresa was one of the great servants of humanity. She was an Albanian Catholic nun who came to India, founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, and attained Indian citizenship. Her selfless work among the poverty-stricken people of Kolkata (Calcutta) is an inspiration for people all over the world and she was honored with Nobel Prize for her work. Mother Teresa's original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was born on August 27, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia. Her father was a successful merchant and she was youngest of the […]
Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell


Mary Church Terrell was a writer, educator and activist for civil rights and women's suffrage. Terrell was born on September 23, 1863, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her parents, both former slaves, were small business owners, and her father was the South's first African American millionaire. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1884 with a Bachelor of Arts in classical languages and earned a master's degree in education from Oberlin in 1888. After earning her bachelor's degree, Terrell taught at Wilberforce College (Ohio) and then at the M Street Colored High School […]
Greta Thunberg
Greta Thunberg


Greta Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist. Thunberg was born on January 3, 2003, in Stockholm, Sweden. She states that she became aware of the issue of climate change in 2011. In 2014, she was diagnosed with several conditions, including Asperger syndrome. Thunberg successfully urged her parents to change their lifestyle to lower the family's carbon footprint, such as adopting veganism and ending plane travel. In late 2018, Thunberg demonstrated outside the Swedish parliament and began giving speeches to protest inaction against climate change. After other students began protests in […]
Susette Tibbles
Susette La Flesche Tibbles


Susette La Flesche Tibbles Bio Susette La Flesche Tibbles, also known as Bright Eyes, was a Native American suffragist and activist. Her sister, Susan Le Flesche Picotte was the first Native American woman physician. She was born in Bellevue, Nebraska in 1854 to Joseph La Flesche, the last recognized chief of the Omaha people. She attended the Presbyterian Mission Boarding Day School from 1862 to 1869. The brutality of forced assimilation at many of these boarding schools has been well documented. Native children were often forced to dress in Western […]
Ayọ Tometi
Ayọ Tometi


Ayọ Tometi (previously known as Opal Tometi) is a writer, strategist, community organizer and co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement. The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Tometi grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a Masters of Arts degree in communication and advocacy from the University of Arizona. She is a former case manager for survivors of domestic violence and still provides community education on the issue. Tometi has been active in social movements for over a decade and has collaborated with […]
Grace Trout
Grace Wilbur Trout


A Maquoketa-born woman led the way to women’s suffrage in the state of Illinois and later across the United States. Her name is Grace Wilbur Trout and she was born in 1864 in Maquoketa. She became known as “The Woman Who Never Fails.” That may be because Grace Trout never gave up on her fight to gain the vote for women. On June 11, 1913, after going so far as to block the way of any legislators who might be tempted to leave the capitol before a vote was taken, […]
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth


Sojourner Truth was an African American evangelist and reformer who applied her religious fervor to the abolitionist and women's rights movements. Named Isabella by her parents, Truth was born circa 1797, in Ulster County, New York. The daughter of slaves, she spent her childhood as an abused chattel of several masters. Between 1810 and 1827, she bore at least five children to a fellow slave named Thomas. Just before New York state abolished slavery in 1827, she found refuge with Isaac Van Wagener, who set her free. With the help […]
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman


Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist, social activist, and leader for the Underground Railroad. She lead many enslaved people through networks of antislavery activists and safe houses on the Underground Railroad. Tubman was born into slavery in the state of Maryland. Her date of birth is debated, but it is thought to be 1822, according to historic records. She documented her date of birth as 1825. During the American Civil War, Tubman served as a scout and spy for the Union Army. Following the abolition of slavery, she became involved with […]
Michelle Vallejo
Michelle Vallejo


Michelle Vallejo ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 15th Congressional District. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2022. Vallejo was born on June 10, 1991, in Alton, Texas. She studied political science and history at Columbia University. She co-founded the New Leaders Council STX Frontera chapter. She also co-founded Hustle + Socialize, an annual women’s entrepreneurship conference providing resources and support for minority women in business in San Antonio and throughout South Texas. She also helped immigrant rights organizations as an oral historian, […]
Mabel Vernon
Mabel Vernon


Mabel Vernon was a national leader in the United States suffrage movement and a key organizer of the Silent Sentinels campaign that picketed the White House six days a week from January 10, 1917, to June 4, 1919. Vernon was born on September 19, 1883, in Wilmington, Delaware, to a Quaker family. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 1906, a year behind fellow suffragist Alice Paul. After graduating, she taught Latin and German at Radnor High School in Wayne, Pennsylvania. She later earned a master's degree in political science from […]