Women activists who pushed boundaries and helped equate gender

10. Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was born in ~1820 and lived to March 10, 1913. She escaped slavery in 1849 to and went on to become the most well known "conductor" on the Underground Railroad. She helped hundreds of slaves to become free using the secret connections of safe houses.

Tubman also worked and fought for the Union Army as a cook, nurse, scout and spy. She was the first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, the Combahee River Raid, which saved 700 slaves in South Carolina.

Harriet Tubman, renowned during her lifetime, is also considered one of the most famous civilians in American history before the Civil War, according to a survey in the 20th century, only behind Betsy Ross and Paul Revere. She lived boldly and is the American Women's original true grit.