simulator trivia

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

tU.S. Supreme Court Justice (1993–2020) appointed by Bill Clinton; argued Reed v. Reed (1971), the first case where SCOTUS struck down a law for gender discrimination; co-founded ACLU Women’s Rights Project; known for dissents in Shelby County v. Holder and Ledbetter v. Goodyear.

Gloria Steinem

tFeminist journalist who went undercover as a Playboy Bunny (1963) to expose exploitation; co-founded Ms. Magazine (1972); helped organize the National Women’s Political Caucus; advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment.

Rosa Parks

tNAACP secretary in Montgomery before her 1955 arrest; her refusal sparked the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Martin Luther King Jr.; later worked for Congressman John Conyers.

Ida B. Wells

tPublished Southern Horrors (1892) documenting lynching; co-founded NAACP (1909); used data journalism to prove lynching was not about justice but racial control.

Susan B. Anthony

tArrested in 1872 for voting illegally; leader of National Woman Suffrage Association; the 19th Amendment is sometimes called the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment.”

Kimberlé Crenshaw

tIntroduced “intersectionality” in 1989 paper analyzing Black women’s discrimination cases; key figure in Critical Race Theory; co-founded African American Policy Forum.

Combahee River Collective

t1974–1980 Black feminist group; 1977 statement introduced idea of interlocking systems of oppression (race, class, gender, sexuality).

Pauli Murray

tWrote “Jane Crow” to describe Black women’s oppression; legal arguments influenced Brown v. Board; co-founder of NOW; first Black woman Episcopal priest (1977).

Grace Hopper

tDeveloped first compiler (A-0 system); helped create COBOL; popularized term “debugging” after removing a moth from a computer.

Sojourner Truth

tEscaped slavery (1826); delivered “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech (1851, Akron, Ohio); recruited Black soldiers for Union Army.

Audre Lorde

tCoined idea that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house”; wrote Sister Outsider; emphasized intersection of race, gender, sexuality.

Angela Davis

tMember of Communist Party USA; associated with Black Panther Party; acquitted in 1972 trial; major advocate for prison abolition and critiques of mass incarceration.

Alice Walker

tPublished The Color Purple (1982), won Pulitzer Prize; coined term “womanism” to describe Black feminist perspective.

Leaders of the Third World Women’s Alliance

tFormed from SNCC; published Triple Jeopardy newspaper; focused on oppression from racism, sexism, and imperialism.

Salsa Soul Sisters

tFounded in 1974 in NYC; first U.S. org for Black and Latina lesbians; addressed racism in feminist spaces and sexism in civil rights movements.

Nanye-hi (Nancy Ward)

tCherokee “Beloved Woman”; granted political authority; advocated peace with settlers; introduced dairy farming to Cherokee society.

Wilma Mankiller

tCherokee Nation Principal Chief (1985–1995); expanded healthcare, education, and infrastructure; first woman in the role.

Sacagawea

tShoshone interpreter on Lewis and Clark expedition (1804–1806); helped secure horses and navigate; presence signaled peaceful intent to tribes.

Jigonhsasee

t“Mother of Nations” in Haudenosaunee tradition; helped found Iroquois Confederacy; symbol of women’s political authority.

Dolores Huerta

tCo-founded United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez (1962); key organizer of Delano grape strike; coined “Sí, se puede.”

Sylvia Rivera

tPuerto Rican/Venezuelan trans activist; fought for inclusion of trans rights in gay liberation; co-founded STAR (1970).

Rigoberta Menchú

tPublished testimonial I, Rigoberta Menchú (1983); Nobel Peace Prize (1992); advocated for Indigenous rights during Guatemalan Civil War.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

tSelf-taught scholar in colonial Mexico; wrote “Respuesta a Sor Filotea” defending women’s education; silenced by Church later in life.

Patsy Mink

tFirst woman of color in Congress (1965); co-authored Title IX (1972); fought gender discrimination in education.

Anna May Wong

tFirst Chinese American Hollywood star; starred in The Toll of the Sea (1922); faced typecasting due to anti-miscegenation laws.

Tammy Duckworth

tLost both legs in Iraq War helicopter attack; U.S. Senator (Illinois); first senator to give birth while in office.

Mazie Hirono

tFirst Asian-born U.S. Senator; outspoken on immigration and civil rights; immigrated from Japan as a child.

Kao Kalia Yang

tHmong American author; wrote The Latehomecomer; documents refugee experience after Vietnam War.

Cleopatra VII

tRuled Egypt (51–30 BCE); allied with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony; defeated by Octavian leading to Roman control.

Hatshepsut

tReigned c. 1479–1458 BCE; portrayed herself as male pharaoh in art; built Deir el-Bahri temple; expanded trade networks.

Marie Curie

tDiscovered polonium and radium; won Nobel Prizes in Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911); pioneered mobile X-ray units in WWI.

Rosalind Franklin

tCaptured Photo 51 using X-ray crystallography; crucial to Watson and Crick’s DNA model; died before Nobel Prize awarded.

Ada Lovelace

tWrote algorithm for Babbage’s Analytical Engine (1843); envisioned computers beyond calculation (music, graphics).

Elizabeth Blackwell

tFirst woman to earn U.S. MD (1849); founded New York Infirmary for Women and Children.

Harriet Tubman

tLed ~70 enslaved people to freedom via Underground Railroad; served as Union spy; led Combahee River Raid.

Biddy Mason

tWon freedom through court case (1856); became wealthy LA landowner; founded First AME Church.

Lucy Stone

tRefused to take husband’s name; organized first National Women’s Rights Convention; abolitionist and suffragist.

Jeannette Rankin

tElected to Congress (1916); voted against U.S. entry into WWI and WWII; lifelong pacifist.

Margaret Sanger

tOpened first birth control clinic (1916); founded American Birth Control League; controversial for eugenics ties.