Mary Kingsley (1862-1900)
was an intrepid Victorian explorer. She traveled to West Africa and lived among cannibals, was an ichthyologist and wrote two best selling books. "Travels in West Africa" is still #7 out of 100 best travel books of all time through the National Geographic Society.

"I respect African religious beliefs. I remember standing by a huge tree that the natives worshiped and I do not wonder they bow down to such a creation."

Mother Jones (1830-1930)
was one of America's most effective and dynamic labor organizers. In 1903, she marched striking mill children from Philadelphia to President Roosevelt's home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. She wanted to draw the attention of the nation to the crime of child slavery.

"These children are to be the future citizens of America! Yes, pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!"

Gertrude Bell (1868-1926)
was a wealthy Victorian woman who explored, mapped and excavated the world of the Arabs. She was the first woman to be taken into the British Imperial Service of Great Britain after WW1. She achieved nothing less than a miracle by creating the modern state of Iraq.

"Life! Life! The bountiful...the magnificent! I don't think anyone can
travel here and come back the same."

Alicia Appleman-Jurman
(1930-     )
was a uniquely courageous and unusually intuitive young Polish Jewish girl: She faced a terrifying and violent world and managed to retain her faith in humanity, in God, and in her people.

"I want to tell you the story of an important and painful part of my life. Through my story I wish to reach out, not only to survivors like myself, but to all people."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(1815-1902)
An American social activist and leading figure of the early woman's movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the first woman's rights convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is credited with initiating the first organized woman's rights and woman's suffrage movements in the United States..

"The highest happiness of society and the individual is always in the same direction...life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Juliette Kinzie (1806-1870)
A well born and well bred New England girl. In 1830 she met the famous fur trader John H. Kinzie at her grandparents home in Boston. He asked her to be his wife and to share with him the great adventure of life in the wilderness.

"So then I was to see it, it was to become my home...Indian country!"

Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
The prodigy daughter of a remarkable piano teacher, Frederich Wieck. Clara developed from a mere Wunderkind into a widely acclaimed virtuoso in her teens. The young Robert Schumann became a resident piano pupil at the Wieck household. Clara, a brilliant performer and Robert, a gifted composer fell deeply in love. Their marriage became one of the great true love stories of all time. Clara was eternally grateful for the art that was to sustain her through a lifetime of triumph and tragedy.

"Every thought of yours come from my soul, just as I have to thank you for all my music."

Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927)
A wealthy socialite of the United States and Great Britain, Juliette spent most of her life enjoying the recreations of the privileged classes. After meeting the founder of the Boy Scouts, Sir Robert Baden-Powell, she discovered a social cause to which she would devote the rest of her life. An enthusiastic organizer and fundraiser, she led the formation of the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912. By the time of her death, the Girl Scouts had become a successful national organization with thousands of members.

"Ours is a circle of friendships united by ideals."