Esther was a Hebrew queen of Persia. She prevented a genocide, then turned around and slaughtered the would-be killers. Letters were sent throughout the kingdom repealing the decree that planned to kill all of the Jews of the kingdom, and the Jewish people in Persia were saved. There was great rejoicing, and an annual festival, called Purim, was celebrated to commemorate the courage of Esther and the deliverance of the Jews.

Source: Esquire

Photo Credit: Pierside Gallery

Martyr, saint and military leader Joan of Arc, acting under divine guidance, led the French army to victory over the British during the Hundred Years’ War. Captured a year later, Joan was burned by the English and their French collaborators as a heretic. She was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint 500 years later, on May 16, 1920.

Source: biography.com

Photo Credit: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Dorothea Lange photographed the unemployed men who wandered the streets during the Great Depression. Her photographs of migrant workers were often presented with captions featuring the words of the workers themselves. Lange’s first exhibition, held in 1934, established her reputation as a skilled documentary photographer. In 1940, she received the Guggenheim Fellowship. Her photographs shared the truth about the labor strikes and bread lines during this time of trial.

Source: biography.com

Photo Credit: New York Times

Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader and spokeswoman for the feminist movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. Steinem gained fame for going undercover as a Playboy Bunny. She has earned the lasting respect of history for bringing women’s equality into the mainstream and created a sensation with the first installment of her two-part series, “A Bunny’s Tale“. Her personal account of going undercover to work as a bunny at the Playboy Club riveted readers, giving them insight into something that few knew firsthand.

Source: guardian.com

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Indira Gandhi was India’s third prime minister, serving from 1966 until 1984. She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister. She brought about great change in agricultural programs that improved the lot of her country’s poor. For a time, she was hailed as a hero. In 1971, the Pakistan army conducted violent acts against the people of East Pakistan. Nearly 10 million people fled to India. Gandhi invited the Pakistani president to Shimla for a week long summit. her diplomatic work resulted in peace for Pakistan and the creation of a new independent nation, Bangladesh.Gandhi also led a movement that became known as the Green Revolution in an effort to address the chronic food shortages, she decided to increase crop diversification and food exports as a way out of the problem, creating new jobs as well as food for her countrymen. Despite this progress, Gandhi ruled with an authoritarian hand, and was not reelected, later ending up in prison. Her bodyguards assassinated her in 1984. Source: biography.com    Photo Credit: NDTV