Adult Learners
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Discover learning opportunities through museum objects, short articles, videos, and podcasts. Become involved in women's history as a Smithsonian Digital Volunteer or Wikipedia editor. See our events calendar for in-person and online programs that illuminate the role of American women in history.

Great Reads

Get inspired with these highlighted stories that share women's history and Smithsonian scholarship. 

Coin depicting Wilma Mankiller, wearing a traditional shawl, and the seven-pointed star of the Cherokee Nation

Image of 2022 Wilma Mankiller quarter, part of the American Women Quarters™ Program. Copyright United States Mint. Used with permission.
Story
Wilma Mankiller Led as the First Woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Dr. Patricia Cowings looks at the camera. Behind her a person is undergoing training.

Dr. Patricia Cowings, Project Manager of the Psychophysiological Lab, Principal Investigator of the Autogenic Feedback Training Experiment Studying Motion Sickness. NASA.
Story
Six Women Whose Innovations Changed Science and Engineering
Ethel Waters singing on a US Stamp. Text around her reads: 29, USA, Ethel Waters, Popular Singer, 1896-1977

Ethel Waters stamp. National Postal Museum. © United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.
Story
As an African American, LGBTQ+ Woman, Ethel Waters Shaped U.S. Entertainment

Watch and Listen

Photo of Emma Tenayuca
Story
Four Women Changemakers You May Not Know
Illustration of Lucy Hicks Anderson entertaining a party of people with jazz musicians playing behind
Podcast
Chef, Socialite, and Groundbreaker Lucy Hicks Anderson
Images of women with the Latinas Talk Latinas, Pushing Boundaries banner in the middle
Story
Latinas Talk Latinas

Objects that Tell Her Story

Explore these objects from Smithsonian American Women: Remarkable Objects of Strength, Ingenuity, and Vision from the National Collection and view more highlights from the collections.

A tintype occupational portrait of a woman, likely a doctor or possibly a nurse or midwife, carrying a medical bag. The woman is standing tall at the center of the image, looking directly at the camera. She carries a medical bag in her proper left hand.
Collection Item
Vital Midwives
Book cover that reads "Blind Reading"
Collection Item
Solving Mail Mysteries
Fencing mask featuring an American flag across the front worn by Ibtihaj Muhammad during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where Muhammad earned a bronze and became the first woman Muslim American athlete to earn an Olympic medal
Collection Item
Ibtihaj Muhammad's Olympic Debut

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Smithsonian American Women's History, Because of Her Story

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