Women’s History Month

This Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating four women who pioneered in areas of film, photography, science and journalism. If you missed our posts on social media, you can learn more about their stories below. 

Margaret Bourke-White 

Margaret Bourke-White, one of the four original LIFE photographers, had the cover shot for the very first issue. She was America’s first accredited woman photographer in WWII, and the first authorized to fly on a combat mission. She was one of the first to depict the death camps, and later became the last person to interview Gandhi, six hours before he was slain. Her hundreds of thousands of photographs are about adventure, sensitivity, composition, and courage. 

Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman soared across the sky as the first woman of African American and Native American descent to earn her pilot’s license in the U.S. Her goal was to encourage women and African Americans to reach their dreams – and this became her legacy. Though her life and career were cut short in a tragic plane crash, her life and legacy continue to inspire people around the world.

Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly (whose real name was Elizabeth Jane Cochran) became a star journalist by going undercover as a patient at a New York City mental health asylum in 1887 and exposing its terrible conditions in the New York World. Her reporting not only raised awareness about mental health treatment and led to improvements in institutional conditions, it also ushered in an age of investigative journalism.

Maria P Williams

Maria Priscilla Thurston Williams (1866–1932) is credited as the first African-American woman film producer for the silent crime drama The Flames of Wrath in 1923. An educator, writer, and founder/editor of her own newspaper, The Woman's Voice, Williams ran a theater with her husband, Jesse, along with their own film production company.