HELEN KELLER

                                                                 1883 - 1968
                   http://www.hki.org/our-impact/about-us/helen-kellers-legacy#.WwF93UgvwdU
Helen Keller became blind and deaf at the age of two as a result of a severe illness. She overcame her handicaps to earn a College education, and she spent her life championing for the rights of those with physical handicaps.

Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27th,1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her family lived on a homestead, Ivy Green. Helen had two siblings, Mildred Campbell and Philip Brooks Keller, and two older half-brothers from her father's prior marriage, James and William Simpson Keller.
(All information is from Wikipedia)
At 19 months old Helen contracted an unknown illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain," which might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness left her both deaf and blind. At that time, she was able to communicate somewhat with Martha Washington, the 6 year old daughter of the cook, who understood her signs; by the age of seven, Helen had more than 60 home signs to communicate with her family. Even though blind and deaf, Helen had passed through many obstacles and she learned to live with her disabilities. She learned how to tell which person was walking from the vibrations of their footsteps.

After seeing several doctors, Helen finally made friends with Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired, who eventually became her governess and companion. Their friendship lasted for 49 years.
Anne Sullivan arrived at Keller's house in March 1887, and immediately began to teach Helen to communicate by spelling words into her hand, beginning with "d-o-l-l" for the doll that she had brought Helen as a present. Helen's breakthrough in communication came the next month, when she realized that the motions her teacher was making on the palm of her hand, while running cool water over her other hand, symbolized the idea of "water", Helen then nearly exhausted Anne by demanding the names of all the other familiar objects in her world.

Helen was viewed as isolated, but was very in touch with the outside world. She was able to enjoy music by feeling the beat and she was able to have a strong connection with animals through touch. She was delayed at picking up language, but that did not stop her from having a voice.
After going through formal education in special schools, in 1904, at the age of 24, Helen graduated from Radcliffe, becoming the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Determined to communicate with others as conventially as possible, Helen learned to speak, and spent much of her life giving speeches and lectures on aspects of her life. She learned to "hear" people's speech by reading their lips with her hands --- her sense of touch had heightened. Helen became proficient at using Braille and reading sign language with her hands as well.

Helen is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities and travelled to 25 different countries giving motivational speeches about deaf people's conditions. Helen was a suffragette, pacifist, radical socialist and birth control supporter. In 1915, Helen and George A. Kessler founded the Helen Keller International organization which is devoted to research in vision, health and nutrition.
In 1961, Helen suffered a series of strokes and spent the last years of her life at home. Helen devoted much of her later life  to raising funds for the American Foundation for the Blind.
Helen died in her sleep on 1st June,1968.
Helen was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971.

ANNE FRANK

                                                 http://www.annefrank.org/en/
                                                            1929 - 1945
Dutch Jewish Author. Anne Frank's Diary is one of the most widely read books in the world. It reveals the thoughts of a young, yet surprisingly mature 13 year old, confined to a secret hiding place.

                    "Despite everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."

Anne Frank was born Anneliese Marie Frank on 12th June, 1929, at the Maingan Red Cross Clinic in Frankfurt, Germany, to Edith and Otto Heinrich Frank. Anne had an older sister, Margot. The Franks were liberal Jews and did not observe all of the customs and traditions of Judaism. They lived in an assimilated community of Jewish  and non-Jewish citizens of various religions. Edith was the more devout parent, while Otto was interested on scholarly pursuits and had an extensive library, both parents encouraged the children to read.
(All information is from Wikipedia)

In May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, where the Franks had moved to, and started the persecution of the Jews. Otto tried to arrange for the family to emigrate to the United States, but this was blocked from June 1941. On the morning of Monday 6th June,1942, the family went into hiding, a three-storey space, known as the "Achterhuis" (Secret Annex). The door to this Secret Annex was later covered by a bookcase to ensure it remained undiscovered. Their home was left in a state of disarray to create the impression that they had left suddenly, and Otto left a note that hinted that they were going to Switzerland.

Before going into hiding, Anne received a book on her 13th birthday, 1942, from her father. It was an autograph book, bound with red and white checkered cloth and with a small lock on the front. Anne decided to use it as a diary and began writing in it almost immediately. In her entry dated 20th June,1942, she lists many of the restrictions placed upon the lives of the Dutch Jewish population.
The two sisters carried on their studies whilst still in hiding. As well as writing about events, Anne also put her feelings, beliefs and ambitions into her diary.

4th August,1944. The Franks and those with them were arrested, interrogated and held overnight.
No one knows who informed on them !
The group was deported to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp and history records the horrors these innocent people went through. Anne and Margot were later sent to Bergen-Belsen and both died of typhus in 1945.

Anne's diary was first published in Germany and France in 1950, and then in the United Kingdom in 1952. The first American edition was in 1952. It's most noteworthy success was in Japan, where it sold 100,000 copies of its first edition. In Japan, Anne Frank was quickly identified as an important cultural figure who represented the destruction of youth during the war.
Plays and movies have been done based on Anne's diary. Over the years the popularity of this diary grew, and in many schools it was included as part of the curriculum, introducing Anne Frank to new generations of readers.

EVA PERON

                                                                        1919 - 1952
                                                              http://www.evitaperon.org/
Eva Peron was widely loved by the ordinary people of Argentina. She campaigned tirelessly for both the poor and for the extension of women's rights. She died aged only 32 in 1952.

Eva Maria Duarte de Peron (7th May 1919 - 26th July 1952) was the wife of Argentine President Juan Peron (1985 - 1974) and First lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is usually referred to as Eva Peron or Evita .
(All information is from Wikipedia)



Eva was born into poverty in the rural village of Los Toldos, in the Pampas, and was the youngest of five children. At 15 in 1934, she moved to the nation's capitol of Buenos Aires to pursue a career as a stage, radio and film actress.

Eva met Colonel Juan Peron there on 22nd January 1944 during a charity event at the Luna Park Stadium to benefit the victims of an earthquake in San Juan, Argentina. The two were married the following year. Juan Peron was elected President of Argentina in 1946, and during the next 6 years, Eva became powerful within the pro-Peronist trade unions, primarily for speaking on behalf of labour rights. She also ran the Ministries of Labour and Health, founded and ran the charitable Eva Peron Foundation, championed women's suffrage in Argentina, and founded and ran the nation's first large-scale female political party, the Female Peronist Party.

In 1952, shortly before her death from cancer at 33, Eva Peron was given the title of "Spiritual Leader of the Nations" by the Argentine Congress. Eva was given a state funeral upon her death, a prerogative generally reserved for heads of state.

KATHERINE HEPBURN

                                                                       1907 - 2003
                                                  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/
Katherine Houghton Hepburn (May 12th, 1907 - June 29th, 2003) was an American actress. known for her fierce independence and spirited personality, Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years. Katherine appeared in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received four Academy Awards --- a record for any performer --- for Best Actress. In 1999, Katherine was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest star of Hollywood Cinema.
(All info is from Wikipedia).

Raised in Connecticut by wealthy, progressive parents, Katherine began acting while studying at Bryn Mawr College. After 4 years in the theatre, favourable reviews of her work on Broadway brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Her early years in the film industry were marked with success, but this was followed by a series of commercial failures that led her to be labeled "box office poison" in 1938. Hepburn masterminded her own comeback, buying out her contract with RKO Radio Pictures and acquiring the film rights to The Philadelphia Story, which she sold on the condition that she be the star. In the 1940s, she was contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where her career focused on an alliance with Spencer Tracey. The screen partnership spanned 25 years and produced nine movies.

Katherine challenged herself in the latter half of her life, as she regularly appeared in Shakespearean stage productions and tackled a range of literary roles. She found a niche playing middle-aged spinsters, a persona the public embraced. In the 1970s, she began appearing in television films, which became the focus of her career in later life. Katherine remained active into old age, making her final screen appearance in 1994 at the age of 87. After a period of inactivity and ill health, Katherine died in 2003 at the age of 96.

Katherine famously shunned the Hollywood publicity machine and refused to conform to society's expectations of women. She was outspoken, assertive, athletic, and wore trousers before it was fashionable for women to do so. She was briefly married as a young woman, but thereafter lived independently. A 26 year affair with her co-star Spencer Tracy was hidden from public. With her unconventional lifestyle and the independent characters she brought to the screen, Katherine epitomized the "modern woman" in the 20th Century United States and is remembered as an important cultural figure.

Katherine Hepburn was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the following performances :
1934 Morning Glory --- WON best actress
1936 Alice Adams --- nominated best actress
1941 The Philadelphia Story --- nominated best actress
1943 Woman Of The Year --- nominated best actress
1952 The African Queen --- nominated best actress
1956 Summertime --- nominated best actress
1957 The Rainmaker --- nominated best actree
1960 Suddenly, Last Summer --- nominated best actress
1963 Long Day's Journey into the Night --- nominated best actress
1968 Guess Who's Coming To Dinner --- WON best actress
1969 The Lion In Winter --- WON best actress
1982 On Golden Pond --- WON best actress.
   

MILLICENT FAWCETT

                                                                     https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/our-history?gclid=CjwKCAjw_47YBRBxEiwAYuKdw3Qxy2A6VONrTeLFZdKnZs6crnnrplzRN6A0WpEAKf1mU96L91Au4BoCGf4QAvD_BwE

Millicent Garrett Fawcett was born on 11th June,1847, in Aldeburg to Newson and Louisa Garrett, the eighth of ten children, Millicent and her siblings were encouraged to be physically active, read widely and speak their minds. They were also encouraged to share in the political interests of their father who was a Gladstonian Liberalism, a combative man, and a keen patriot.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (Millicent's elder sister) became Britain's first female doctor and she introduced her younger sister to Emily Davies (An English Suffragist) who is quotes as saying:" it is quite clear what has to be done. I must devote myself to securing higher education, while you open the medical profession to women. After these things are done, we must see about getting the vote."
(All information is from Wikipedia)

When she was twelve, Millicent and Elizabeth were sent to study at a private boarding school in Blackheath. In time, Millicent met John Stuart Mills who was an early advocate of universal women's suffrage. His speech on equal rights fro women made a big impression on Millicent. Garrett, Davies and Fawcett worked to form the Kensington Society in 1965, along with ten other young ladies. A year later, Millicent became secretary of the London Society for Women's Suffrage. She was 19 years of age !

Millicent was introduced to Henry Fawcett, a Liberal member of Parliament, and despite a fourteen year age gap, they married on 23rd April.1867. Their only child, Philippa, was born in 1868. Millicent ran two households, one in Cambridge and one in London. Henry and Millicent had a close relationship, a real loving marriage. Philippa excelled at school.
In 1868, Millicent joined the London Suffrage Committee, and in 1869, spoke at the first public pro-suffrage meeting held in London. In 1875, Millicent co-founded Newham Hall, and served on its council.

 
When her husband died in 1884, Millicent temporarily withdrew from public life, selling both family homes and moving, with Philippa, into the house of her sister, Agnes Garrett. resuming work in 1885, Millicent was a key member of the Women's local Government Society and later became the leader of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), the main Suffrage organization in Britain. She held this post until 1919, a year after the first women had been granted the vote. After that, Millicent left the suffrage campaign and devoted much of her time to writing books. Millicent died at home in Gower Street.

Other campaigns Millicent Fawcett supported were " to curb child abuse by raising the age of consent, criminalising incest, cruelty to children within the family, to end the practice of excluding women from courtrooms when sexual offences were under consideration, to stamp out the 'white slave trade', and to prevent child marriage and the introduction of regulated prostitution in India."

The NUWSS continued to campaign for the vote during the war, and used the situation to their advantage by pointing out the contribution women had made to the war effort.

HELENA RUBINSTEIN

                                                                 HELENA RUBINSTEIN
                                                                          1872 - 1965
                                                        https://www.helenarubinstein.com/int/

American business woman. Rubinstein formed one of the world's first cosmetic companies. Her business enterprise proved immensely successful and, later in life, she used her enormous wealth to support charitable enterprises in the fields of education, art and health. (All information is from Wikipedia.)
Helena Rubinstein (Born Chaja Rubinstein December 25th 1872 - April 1st 1965) was a Polish American business woman, art collector and philanthropist. A cosmetics entrepreneur, and was the founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein Incorporated Cosmetics Company, which made her one of the world's richest women.

Rubinstein was the eldest of eight daughters born to Polish Jews. Her father was a shop keeper in the city of Krakow. At 4ft 10in, Rubinstein emigrated to Australia in 1902, with no money and little English. Her stylish clothes and milky complexion did not go unnoticed among the town's ladies, and she soon found enthusiastic buyers for the jars of beauty cream in her luggage. She spotted a market where she began to make her own. Fortunately a key ingredient of the cream, lanolin, was readily at hand. To disguise the lanolin's pungent odour, Rubinstein experimented with lavender, pine bark and water lilies.
After moving and working as a waitress at the Winter Garden tearooms in Melbourne, she found an admirer willing to stump up the funds to launch her Creme Valaze, supposedly including herbs "from the Carpathian mountains." Costing ten pence and selling for six shillings, it walked off the shelves as fast as Rubinstein could pack it into pots. Known to her customers as only Helena, Rubinstein could soon afford to open a salon in fashionable Collins Street, selling glamour as a science to clients whose skin was "diagnosed" and a suitable treatment prescribed.

 Sydney was next and within five years Australian operations were profitable enough to finance a Salon de Beaute Valaze in London. As such, Rubinstein formed one of the world's first cosmetic companies. Her business enterprise proved immensely successful. Rubinstein rapidly expanded her enterprise. In 1908, her sister Ceska assumed the Melbourne shop's operation, when, with $100,000, Rubinstein moved to London and began what was to become an international enterprise. (Women at this time could not obtain bank loans, so the money was her own.)

In 1908, Rubinstein married Edward William Titus in London. They had two sons, Roy and Horace. Eventually moving to Paris, she opened a salon in 1912. At the outbreak of World War 1, she and Titus moved to New York City, where she opened a cosmetics salon in 1915, the forerunner of a chain throughout the country.
From 1917, Rubinstein took on the manufacturing and wholesale distribution of her products. The "Day of Beauty" in the various salons became a great success. In 1928, she sold the American business for $7.3 million. After the arrival of the Great Depression, Rubinstein bought the nearly worthless stock for less than $1 million and eventually turned the shares into values of multi million dollars, establishing salons and outlets in almost a dozen U.S. cities. Her spa at 715 Fifth Avenue included a restaurant, gymnasium and rugs. She even commissioned Salvador Dali to design a powder compact.
In 1938, Helena remarried to Prince Artchil Gourielli-Tchkonia who died in 1955.

Rubinstein took a bag lunch into work and was very frugal in many ways, even though she was a multimillionaire. She did, however, buy top-fashion clothes and valuable fine art and furniture. Making good use of her wealth, Helena established many foundations and scholarships, as well as providing funds to organizations specializing  in health, medical research and rehabilitation. In 1959, Rubinstein represented the U.S. cosmetics industry at the American National Exhibition in Moscow.
Helena Rubinstein died April 1st 1965, from natural causes.

                         One of her sayings was :"There are no ugly women, only lazy ones."
https://www.helenarubinstein.com/int/

COCO CHANEL

                                                   19th August 1883 --- 10th January 1971

http://www.chanel.com/en_GB/?gclid=CjwKCAjw_47YBRBxEiwAYuKdw7l58vwbyv5tB0sOmbz7vu0IejzecLe_653e-A5cMlATD2OYMM10EBoCpawQAvD_BwE

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a French fashion designer and business woman. She was the founder and namesake of the Chanel brand.
(All information is from Wikipedia.)

Chanel was credited in the post-World War I era with liberating women from the constraints of the "corseted silhouette" and popularizing  a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing, realizing her design aesthetic in jewellery, handbags and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel no.5, has become an icon product. She is the only fashion designer listed in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th Century. Chanel designed her famed interlocked - cc monogram, meaning Coco Chanel, using it since the 1920s.

Gabrielle was born in 1883 to an unmarried mother and a peddling father (a poor family). Her parents eventually married and had five children who survived --- two boys and three girls --- who lived crowded into a one-room lodging in the town of Brive - la - Gaillarde. When her mother died, Gabrielle and her sisters were sent to a convent which also doubled as an orphanage. It was hear that she learnt to sew.

Gabrielle found employment as a seamstress and when not sewing, she sang in a Cabaret. It was at this time that she realized that a serious stage career was not in her future.
After a "few romances", Chanel began an affair with Capel, a wealthy member of the English upper-class, who installed her in an apartment in Paris and financed her first shops. Chanel had hopes for their relationship but Capel was never faithful to her. Their affair lasted nine years.
Chanel began designing hats and became a licensed milliner in 1910 and opened a boutique at 21 rue Cambon, Paris, named Chanel Modes.
In 1918, Chanel purchased the entire building at 31 rue Cambon and in 1921, she opened what may be considered an early incantation of the fashion boutique, featuring clothes, hats and accessories, later expanding to offer jewellery and fragrance. By 1927, Chanel owned five properties on the rue Cambon, encompassing buildings numbered 23 to 31. Chanel worked for more than twenty years to gain full control of Perfums Chanel.

During the course of time, Chanel was introduced to the British aristocracy, and even tot he Duke of Westminster and the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII. When asked why she did not marry the Duke of Westminster, Chanel is supposed to have said : "There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. there is only one Chanel."
In 1931, Chanel was introduced to Samuel Goldwyn and designed some costumes for the screen. For the sum of a million dollars, Goldwyn brought her to Hollywood twice a year to design costumes for MGM stars, including Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich who also became private clients.

 The Chanel couture was a lucrative business enterprise, by 1935 employing 4,000 people.
Chanel died in 1971, at the Hotel Ritz. She had had several romances but had never married, so most of her estate went to her nephew.

Chanel's work encompassed a new style, clothes, jewellery, perfume and handbags --- all of which are still popular today as Chanel is still holding It's own in 2018.