In 1895, Annie Cohen embarked on a quest to become the first woman ever to cycle around the world. Did she make it? Yes! Were the newspapers engrossed in her story? Yes! Did she actually… um, cycle? Sometimes! By sheer grit, Annie made her life

THE MYSTIC Margery Kempe

Apr 19th, 2021 42m 43s

When most medieval Englishwomen wouldn’t travel more than five miles from home in their lifetime, Margery Kempe left behind her abusive husband and fourteen children to walk from France to Jerusalem and back – in the 1400s! Discover the amazing

THE GUIDE Bibi Sahiba

Feb 15th, 2021 55m 31s

In the late 18th century, Bibi Sahiba was one of the most important and influential people in the entire Afghan Empire. Honored as “the first and the most perfect” Sufi guide, Bibi Sahiba the Great’s spiritual and cultural influence can hardly

THE SAINT Margaret Clitherow

1 Jan 1st, 2018 35m 28s

Margaret Clitherow’s life – and death – were shaped by the religious upheavals of the Protestant Reformation in Elizabethan (16th century) England. A devoted Catholic in a time and place where Catholicism was illegal, she played a powerful role

THE CAGED BIRD Florence Price

Jan 18th, 2021 51m 52s

In an abandoned house in Illinois, an astonishing treasure trove of handwritten sheet music was discovered in 2009. That cache was the life’s work of composer Florence Price, the first African-American woman to have her work performed by major

THE MOTHER OF FORENSIC SCIENCE Frances Glessner Lee

Feb 8th, 2022 56m 31s

Frances Glessner Lee was 52 years old when she discovered the mission that would become her legacy – to “convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth.” After five decades as a prominent social hostess (and innovative part-time art

VERSAILLES CHRISTMASTIDE Mary Stuart Boyd

Dec 21st, 2021 43m 54s

Mary Stuart Boyd spent Christmas 1900 in Versailles, not on a festive tour of the grand palace, but to stay with her 13-year-old son, quarantined there with scarlet fever. Her Versailles experience seems worlds away from today’s tourist mobs. T

THE SCREENWRITER Frances Marion

Dec 7th, 2021 52m 24s

Frances Marion was one of the most important, influential, and well-paid screenwriters in Hollywood. Her films moved audiences to tears and brought out the best in every actor for whom she ever wrote. And when the switch to ‘talking pictures’ l

THE FIRST ACCUSED Tituba

1 Oct 25th, 2021 48m 50s

Some say Tituba was the easy target in 1692, as an enslaved woman of color. But surprise! She confessed to witchcraft, offering elaborate descriptions of a widespread Satanic conspiracy. Her tales launched Salem, Massachusetts into an unparalle

THE PIRATE Ching Shih

1 Oct 11th, 2021 43m 20s

She was the most powerful pirate in the history of the world – and you’ve probably never heard her name. How did this brilliant, ruthless, utterly unstoppable woman manage to dodge the Chinese, British and Portuguese navies for a decade, and st

THE RANI OF JHANSI Lakshmibai

1 Aug 23rd, 2021 39m 19s

Rani (Queen) Lakshmibai of Jhansi never wanted to be a rebel. She did everything she could to stay on the right side of the law. But when the British East India Company finally pushed her too far, she took up the sword – literally – to fight fo

THE QUEEN OF THE COMSTOCK Eilley Bowers

Jul 12th, 2021 45m 14s

You’ve heard of the Gold Rush. You’ve maybe even heard of the Comstock Lode. But have you heard of the penniless Scottish lass who headed west, and while running a boarding house, struck the richest silver mine in American history? Eilley Bower

THE EXILE Stefania Turkevych

Jun 28th, 2021 35m 21s

Stefania Turkevych was one of Galicia’s most talented and prolific classical composers – and then the Russian Revolution turned her world upside down. When she fled the USSR to find a new home, through Italy, Ireland, and to her final home in E

THE ROADBUILDER K'awiil

1 Mar 29th, 2021 42m 50s

1400 years ago, traveling through the Maya rainforest was terrifying and deadly (think snakes, jaguars, and crocodiles). Now, new LiDAR scans have revealed a network of elevated ancient roads so sophisticated, some folks give aliens the credit.

THE PAINTER Victorine Meurent

Mar 1st, 2021 41m 43s

Chances are, every one of us has seen Victorine Meurent. Her delicate, red-headed form appears in at least thirty paintings by the famous Parisian masters of La Belle Époque. It was long assumed that Victorine was a prostitute, who died young i

THE FULTON FLASH Helen Stephens

1 Nov 23rd, 2020 40m 10s

When Helen Stephens was fifteen years old, a track coach saw her playing pickup basketball and asked her to run a time trial in the school driveway. In that first-ever 50-yard dash, Stephens tied the world record. Only a year later at the 1936

THE LITTLE WOMAN May Alcott Nieriker

Nov 9th, 2020 56m 23s

May Alcott failed spectacularly countless times before becoming a great artist. Immortalized by her sister as the vain, vivacious Amy in Little Women, the real youngest “March” sister, May, was a conscientious, creative, and courageous artist w

THE MUCKRAKER Ida Tarbell

1 Sep 28th, 2020 48m 17s

Before Ida Tarbell took on John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company, the idea of a journalist bringing down the largest monopoly in the US would have been laughable. But her relentless investigation, passion for the truth, and innovative code

THE FLOWER IN THE WATER Zazil-ha

1 Sep 14th, 2020 49m 54s

Did Zazil-Ha know that her rebellious love affair would save not just her kingdom, but the entire Yucatec Maya for a generation? Together with her shipwrecked Spanish husband, Zazil-Ha built a life beyond anything the 16th-century world could i

THE PEACEMAKER Queen Matilda

1 Jun 8th, 2020 44m 7s

For a thousand years, March 14th has been celebrated as St. Matilda’s Day in Quedlinburg, Germany. She was celebrated as a Peacemaker in her time, and has been a unifying figure ever since. Discover with us the remarkable story of Queen Matilda

THE SORCERER Gunnhild

Jan 27th, 2020 44m 52s

Long ago, in the far north of Lapland, a young woman learned the secrets of sorcery from two warlocks. At least that’s what the Icelandic sagas say. The woman would become Gunnhild, infamous Viking sorcerer whose dark magic served her lifelong

THE FREE WOMAN Harriet Jacobs

Jan 13th, 2020 45m 8s

When Harriet Jacobs’ enslaver threatened to sell her children away to the plantation unless she accepted his sexual abuse, she decided the only way to keep them safe was to run. But with no resources and no way to get north, where could she go

THE ROPEMAKER Mary Pattison Irwin

Dec 30th, 2019 36m 14s

In the moment when Mary Pattison locked eyes with dashing American solider John Irwin across the ballroom at the St. Patrick’s Day Ball in 1784, her destiny was set. Married by the end of the gala and on a ship to the brand new nation of the US

THE WITCH Mother Shipton

1 Oct 7th, 2019 43m 18s

It was a dark and stormy night, many centuries ago. In a cave on the edge of a haunted wood, a monstrous baby was born, and instead of crying, she cackled! No one would have expected the baby to thrive, but she grew to become Mother Shipton, En

THE ADMIRAL Bouboulina

Aug 12th, 2019 38m 49s

The first flag of the Greek Revolution was raised by Laskarina Bouboulina on the mast of her ship, The Agamemnon, in 1821. Commanding a fleet of ships from her island of Spetses, she blockaded the greatest strongholds of the Ottoman Empire in t