Wonderful Women of the World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was born into a peasant family in 1412 in eastern France. During the Hundred Years' War, she led the French army to several crucial victories. She was caught by the Burgundians, purchased from them by the English, tried for heresy and sentenced to death. At the age of nineteen, she was burned at the stake and her remains were disposed of in the Seine river.

Joan of Arc was declared a martyr in 1455, beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.

Answer: Boudica

Boudica was the Icenian queen, whose kingdom is now East Anglia, during a time when Rome allowed those who chose to be their allies a bit of independence, at least for the lifetime of the allied ruler. After Queen Boudica's husband - King Prasutagus - died, the queen was flogged, her daughters were raped, and the citizens were exposed to harsh rule and subjugation.

In 60 to 61 A.D., Boudica led her people, along with others, in a revolt against the occupying Roman forces. She was eventually defeated, although the location of that defeat is unknown, but her impact on the Romans, and her place in history, is remarkable.

Answer: Valentina Tereshkova

Valentina Tereshkova was born in Yaroslav Oblast in western Russia in 1937. Before becoming a cosmonaut she was employed as an assembly worker in a textile factory. She was one of five finalists, out of more than four hundred applicants, and the only one of the five who made it onto a space flight.
Her sole flight into space began on June 16th, 1963 aboard the Vostok 6, and lasted for nearly three days. The next 'female' flight into space occurred nineteen years later, when Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman to fly into space.

Answer: Jenny Lind

Renowned for her soprano voice, Jenny Lind was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her birth year is a matter of some discrepancy, but 1820 is the generally accepted year. Jenny Lind began singing on stage when she was ten years old, and by the age of twenty she was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

She was the inspiration for three of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales - 'The Ugly Duckling', 'The Angel' and 'The Nightingale'.

Answer: Jane Addams

Unwilling to live a life that followed the expected path for upper-class young women, Jane Addams founded Hull House in 1889. The facilities included a night school, public kitchen, art gallery, library, gym, bathhouse and music school. The Hull House, which was inspired by London's Toynbee Hall, provided much-needed opportunities and outlets for the neighborhood's mostly immigrant residents. An unapologetic pacifist, in 1931 Jane Addams was the first Americian woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

Answer: Harriet Tubman

Born a slave in 1822, Harriet Tubman used the Underground Railroad during the 1850s to rescue more than seventy slaves in thirteen different escapades. After her own escape from slavery, and after she'd helped so many others to freedom, she worked during the Civil war for the Union Army as a cook and nurse. Later she became a scout and spy, and was the first female to lead an armed expedition.

After the war, she became an active force in the women's suffrage movement.

Answer: Harriet Quimby

In 1911, Harriet Quimby became the first licensed female pilot in America. Facing daunting opposition, and derision, by male pilots and the public at large, she pursued her dream with single-minded determination.

In 1784, Elizabeth Thible, of France, is believed to be the first woman to leave the earth's surface in a hot air balloon. Madeleine Sophie Blanchard, also of France, gained fame as a balloonist in the late 1700s, and in the 1880s, Mary Myers was one of the first female balloonists in America.

Answer: Elizabeth Blackwell

While Elizabeth Blackwell was born in Bristol, England in 1821, she emigrated with her family to the United States in 1832. Despite the prejudice and skepticism of professors and students alike, in 1849 she graduated - first in her class - from Geneva College in New York, with a medical degree.

Unfortunately, as a female, she was banned from practicing in most hospitals, and moved to France for a short time. In 1857, she and her sister opened 'The New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children'.

In 1869, Blackwell and Florence Nightingale opened the 'Women's Medical College' in England.

Answer: Clara Barton

Clara Barton was a tireless and ardent advocate of nursing during the American Civil War. At first she was simply allowed to ride in ambulances with the wounded to provide comfort, but by the end of the war she had gained admittance onto some of the bloodiest battlefields.

After the war, due to debilitated health, she travelled to Europe and became a part of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

When she returned to the United States, she lobbied relentlessly, and at last successfully, for the formation of the American Red Cross.

Answer: Grandma Moses

An iconic legend, Grandma Moses' name is actually Anna Mary Robertson. Born in 1860, she began painting when she was in her seventies after embroidery became too painful due to arthritis. Over the course of her thirty-year painting career, she created more than 3600 paintings.

In 1960, on her 100th birthday, New York Governor Rockefeller declared September 7th to be 'Grandma Moses Day'.

Norman Rockwell, who was a friend, included her in his painting titled 'Christmas Homecoming'.