Historical Figures

• Virginia Brindis de Salas, Uruguayan poet

  Black Uruguayan woman of letters, Virginia Brindis de Salas (1908 – 1958) has been dubbed “the most militant of Afro-Uruguayan writers”. His work focuses on describing and denouncing the social situation of blacks in Uruguay. The Afro-Uruguayan community Daughter of María Blanca Rodríguez and Jo

• Marietta Blau, Austrian physicist

  Austrian physicist, Marietta Blau (1894 – 1970) received several awards for his pioneering work on photographic methods of particle detection. Physicist Daughter of Florentine Goldzweig and Mayer Blau, a lawyer, Marietta Blau was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Vienna on April 29, 1894

• Amelia Boynton Robinson, civil rights activist

  Civil rights activist Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911 – 2015) played a crucial role in the Marches from Selma to Montgomery demanding the right to vote for African Americans in 1965. A committed girl Daughter of Anna Eliza Platts and George Platss, Amelia Isadora Platts was born on August 18, 1911

• Yosano Akiko, feminist poet

  Japanese poet, Yosano Akiko (1878 – 1942) publishes daring texts and collections of poetry, celebrating feminine sensuality or affirming her feminist and pacifist positions. She is considered one of the first Japanese feminists. A child with a passion for reading The third child of Hō Tsuya and

• Dinara Assanova, realist filmmaker

  Soviet director of Kyrgyz origin, Dinara Kuldashevna Assanova (1942 – 1985) is known in particular for her works on youth and adolescence, and for her films The Woodpecker does not have a headache and The Rascals. Early filmmaker Dinara Kuldashevna Assanova (Динара Кулдашевна Асанова) was b

• Pearl Gibbs, Aboriginal activist

  Aboriginal activist, Pearl Gibbs (1901 – 1983) was involved in defending the rights of Aboriginal Australians between the 1920s and 1970s. She notably participated in the organization of the Day of Mourning, a day of protests, in 1938. Australian Aboriginal Daughter of Mary Margaret Brown and Dav

• Annie Lee Wilkerson Cooper, activist with a strong character

  US civil rights activist Annie Lee Wilkerson Cooper (1910 – 2010) is committed to the right to vote for African Americans. She was particularly noted for throwing a punch at the sheriff of Dallas County (Alabama). Racial segregation Annie Lee Wilkerson was born on June 2, 1910 in Selma (Alabama,

• Mollie Kyle Cobb, Reign of Terror Survivor

  A member of the Osage people, Mollie Kyle Cobb (1886 – 1937) is a witness and a survivor of the Reign of Terror, a wave of murders that decimated her people in order to steal their wealth. The Osage people Originally from the Great Plains of North America, the Osages call themselves “Wazházhe” or

• Bertina Lopes, Mozambican painter and sculptor

  Mozambican artist, Bertina Lopes (1924 – 2012) creates sculptures and paintings with African and Portuguese influences. His art, often geometric and colorful, is imbued with social criticism and nationalism. Portuguese Studies Bertina Lopes was born on July 11, 1924 in Maputo, the current capital

• Viola Liuzzo, killed for her ideas

  White civil rights activist, Viola Gregg Liuzzo (1925 – 1965) participates in Steps from Selma to Montgomery to demand the right to vote for African Americans in 1965. She was assassinated by members of the Ku Klux Klan. A poor childhood Daughter of Eva Wilson, teacher, and Heber Ernest Gregg, m

• Ogdo Aksënova, poet between two worlds

  Ogdo Aksënova (1936 – 1995) is a Dolgan Russian poet straddling two cultures. As a teacher, she collects the memory and culture of her people and composes songs and poems. The Dogans Ogdo Aksëno was born on February 8, 1936 in Boganida, in the Dolgano-Nénètese district of Taimyr, in the north of t

• Nora Bernard, defender of the victims of colonization

  Member of the Mi’kmaq people in Canada, Nora Bernard (1935 – 2007) revolted against the system of forced residential schools for Aboriginal children. The class action it is launching will result in compensation for approximately 79,000 victims. The Mi’kmaq The second of six children, Nora Bernard

• Margaret Atwood, feminist writer

  Canadian novelist, Margaret Atwood (b. 1939) has received numerous awards for her literary work. She is known, in particular, for her dystopian science fiction novel The Scarlet Maid , adapted in series. In 2018, you voted for her for the NobElle prize for literature! The passion for writing The

• Jane Goodall, a woman among chimpanzees

  British primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall (b. 1934) conducted the longest field study of wild animals; she will be the first to observe the use of tools by chimpanzees. In 2018, you voted for her for the NobElle sustainable development and environment award! A child passionate about na

• Stephanie St. Clair, gang leader

  Gang leader Stephanie St. Clair (1887 – 1969) ran criminal enterprises in Harlem, New York, managing to remain independent of the American mafia. She will be nicknamed “Queenie” or “Madame Saint-Clair”. [Warning:rape, violence, racist crimes] New York Stéphanie St. Clair was born in December 188

• Maria Beasley, inventor

  American inventor, Maria E. Beasley (born Kenny) has filed numerous patents for his designs. It is notably the origin of a lifeboat used on the Titanic, which saved many lives. Inventor Maria E. Kenny was born in Philadelphia in 1847. She was the daughter of a miller. A curious child, Maria is p

• Olivia Hooker, in search of justice

  First black woman to join the United States Coast Guard (United States Coast Guard), Olivia J. Hooker (1915 – 2018) became a psychologist and teacher. A survivor of the Tusla massacre, she will seek justice throughout her life. The Tulsa Massacre Olivia J. Hooker was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma on

• Tu Youyou, malaria researcher

  Chinese pharmacist and chemist, Tu Youyou (b. 1930) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2011 for discovering artemisinin, which is used as a treatment for malaria. A medical vocation Tu Youyou was born on December 30, 1930 in Ningbo, on the east coast of China. She grew up with her four

• Elizabeth Catlett, engaged artist

  African-American sculptor and artist, Elizabeth Catlett (1915 – 2012) mixes the abstract and the figurative and African and Mexican influences; she strives to make her art the vector of political messages and addresses in particular the lives of black women in the United States. Descendant of slave

• Alice Diamond and the Forty Thieves

  Leading the female gang Forty Elephants , Alice Diamond (1896 – 1952) staged shoplifting sprees and ruled underground London at the start of the 20th century. First larceny Daughter of Mary Ann Alice Blake and Thomas Diamond, Alice Diamond was born on June 22, 1896 at the Lambeth Hospice, today i