Edna Gellhorn was an activist: when something needed changed, she worked on it. Lucky for her, she had resources to help her, an activist mother, and a very supportive husband. She dabbled with food and sanitation issues before WWI, worked to ensure a safe milk supply for babies, and finally found her cause with women's voting rights. Simply put, she said "I… Continue reading Edna Gellhorn
Irma Rombauer
Irma Rombauer has helped millions of people tame the cooking "beast" with her cookbook, The Joy of Cooking. Before Julia Child, Rombauer produced a useable cookbook for the 1930's housewife. It was affordable, well-organized and included step-by-step recipes designed to save time in the kitchen. Irma (von Starkloff) Rombauer was born to a prominent German family in St. Louis in… Continue reading Irma Rombauer
Celia
Celia was 14 the first time Robert Newsom raped her, on the way home from the slave auction where he purchased her for such duties. Five years later he would go missing, his bones found buried near Celia's cabin and a few of his buttons found in her fireplace. Celia was raped repeatedly by Newsom… Continue reading Celia
Kate Chopin
Kate Chopin wrote several works of fiction in the 1890s and was a native of St. Louis. Her fiction is filled with themes about women discovering themselves in new ways, searching for their identity and revolting against gender conformity and social norms that limit women's potential. She published 2 novels and about 100 short stories in… Continue reading Kate Chopin
Mary Price Walls
From the Springfield News-Leader, June 28, 2010: First Black Applicant Gets Degree from MSU: Son's Curiosity Uncovers Walls' Place in MSU History and Prompts Honorary Degree by Didi Tang On July 30, Mary Price Walls, 78, will get an honorary degree from Missouri State University, 60 years after her hometown college refused to allow her… Continue reading Mary Price Walls
Pearl Curran & Patience Worth
In July 1913, St. Louis housewife Pearl Curran began boggling minds the world over. While dabbling with a Ouija board at her apartment at 6031 Kingsbury Avenue, Pearl inadvertently summoned the spirit of long-dead Patience Worth. Patience, per Pearl, had come from England to America in the 1600s, where she'd had the bad fortune to… Continue reading Pearl Curran & Patience Worth
Hannah Cole
Hannah Cole arrived in Missouri in 1809 with her husband (William Temple Cole) and kids. The next year, the Indians killed her husband and she found herself alone in the wilderness with 9 kids to take care of. For whatever reason, she decided to stay in Missouri and soon built a house on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River (where the city… Continue reading Hannah Cole
Bonnie Parker’s Hideout
The shootout that catapulted Bonnie & Clyde to stardom happened right here in Missouri. Bonnie Parker and her man, Clyde Barrow were staying in a loft apartment at 3347 1/2 Oak Ridge Drive in Joplin with Buck & Blanche Barrow & W.D. Jones. The gang lived in the apartment for only about 3 weeks in… Continue reading Bonnie Parker’s Hideout
Josephine Baker
“. . . I improvised, crazed by the music. . . . Even my teeth and eyes burned with fever. Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone.” Josephine Baker only spent the first 15 years of her life in Missouri but… Continue reading Josephine Baker
Virginia Minor
Every woman who votes has Virginia Minor to thank for it. She launched the Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri in 1867, and five years later became a part of a nation-wide throwdown about women's rights. She first attempted to register to vote and when denied, her husband sued the St. Louis register of voters on… Continue reading Virginia Minor
Missouri Women 