At 8 years old, Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins joined the "Capitol Crawl" with other disability rights activists demanding passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

On March 12, 1990, over 1,000 disability rights activists marched from the White House to the U.S. Capitol to demand the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which had been stalled in Congress. To illustrate the barriers that many people with disabilities faced every day, over 60 activists cast aside their wheelchairs and crutches and began crawling up the 83 stone steps that lead to the Capitol building — among them was Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, an 8-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who declared "I’ll take all night if I have to" as she pulled herself up the steps. In honor of the anniversary of the historic "Capitol Crawl" — which helped drive the successful passage of the ADA, the world's first comprehensive civil rights law protecting the rights people with disabilities — we're sharing the story of this determined young activist whose actions helped transform the lives of people with disabilities across the nation. Continue reading → Continue reading

Six downloadable posters celebrating women in science perfect for displaying in classrooms and kids' rooms!

Designer Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya has created a series of incredible posters celebrating women in science that are perfect for displaying in a classroom or kid's bedroom! The six posters featured here, which are free to download, were created by Amanda, a science-trained designer, to connect the Women's March to the March for Science part of her Beyond Curie design project focused on women in science. Continue reading → Continue reading

The best new books for children and teens about incredible girls and women for Women's History Month.

Every year, we at A Mighty Girl are thrilled to see the number of new books that are released introducing children and teens to inspiring women of history! As the bookshelves of women's history titles continue to grow, our kids — both girls and boys — have even more opportunities to learn about the women who have changed our world, giving them a more diverse and nuanced perspective on our past. Better yet, these books provide terrific role models for the next generation of bold, determined, and pioneering women! Continue reading → Continue reading

Five downloadable posters featuring beloved Mighty Girl characters Rosie Revere and Ada Twist celebrating science, reading, and critical thinking!

Author Andrea Beaty has created a series of free downloadable 11" x 17" posters featuring characters from her bestselling series of books, which celebrate science, reading, and critical thinking! These posters were created in support of the March for Science, and encourage kids to remember that all citizens -- astronauts, engineers, and architects, but also each and every one of us -- need to be informed and think critically to create a better world for all of us.

Beaty is the author of two beloved books starring Mighty Girls in science, Rosie Revere, Engineer and Ada Twist, Scientist. She's also the creator of Rosie Revere's Big Project Book for Bold Engineers, a hands-on activity book which helps kids put engineering concepts to the test. She and illustrator David Roberts used Rosie and Ada, as well as Iggy from their book Iggy Peck, Architect, to highlight the importance of reading, education, and scientific literacy. Whether you're decorating your classroom or looking for inspiring wall art for your Mighty Girl's playroom, home lab, or bedroom, these posters provide an excellent reminder that every human's most powerful tool is their brain! Continue reading → Continue reading

These powerful stories for tweens and teens explore the grim realities of life under dictatorships, and why protecting our democracy by becoming an informed and engaged citizen is more important than ever.

There are many rights we take for granted in a democracy, from leaders respecting the rule of law to freedom of speech, from the freedom to criticize the government to the peaceful transition of power after free and fair elections. Tragically, throughout history, many people have discovered how fragile their rights — and their democracies — can be when extreme polarization leads to strongman rule and the erosion of democratic norms. Time after time, in countries around the world, would-be autocrats and authoritarian regimes have used these fractures in weakened democracies to assert absolute control, often violently suppressing any opposition. Continue reading → Continue reading

Dolly Parton, the beloved country music star and humanitarian, celebrates her 77th birthday!

Dolly Parton grew up in poverty in rural Tennessee, but went on to become one of the greatest country musicians of all time and a beloved humanitarian supporting causes ranging from children's literacy to COVID-19 vaccine development! The legendary singer, who is celebrating her 79th birthday today, has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, with 25 songs reaching number one on the Billboard country music charts. A prolific songwriter, Parton has written over 3,000 songs and won 11 Grammy Awards and 50 nominations, the second most nominations of any female artist in history. An inspiring role model to many of her fans, particularly the working class women whose stories feature prominently in her songs, Parton has long encouraged them to pursue their dreams, observing: "If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one." Continue reading → Continue reading

Remembering the forgotten history of the Women's Suffrage Movement's "Night of Terror"

The Silent Sentinels picketing the White House in 1917.

When we tell our children about the fight for women's suffrage in America, we often tell a sanitized version of the story. We talk about letter-writing campaigns, activist conferences, and stirring speeches — and occasionally, we mention defiant suffragists being hauled to jail. But we often shy away from the darker truths about the sacrifices and suffering many suffragists had to endure in the fight for women's right to vote. Continue reading → Continue reading

After witnessing the violent round-up of Jewish children by the Nazis, Marion Pritchard became an active resister who helped save the lives of 150 Dutch Jews.

While riding her bicycle to class at her university in Amsterdam in 1942, Marion Pritchard chanced upon a group of Nazi soldiers liquidating a Jewish children's home and watched helplessly as they violently threw young children into a truck. This encounter transformed the life of the young Dutch woman forever, leading her to become an active resister to the Nazi regime and ultimately save the lives of 150 Jewish children during World War II. Over three years, she risked her life numerous times by hiding Jewish refugees, arranging falsified identification papers, finding non-Jewish homes to take in Jewish children, and performing what was known as the "mission of disgrace" by falsely registering herself as the unwed mother of newborn babies to conceal their Jewish identity. "Most of us were brought up to tell [the] truth, to obey the secular law and the Ten Commandments," Pritchard reflected in 1996 during a lecture about her wartime experience. "By 1945, I had lied, stolen, cheated, deceived and even killed." Continue reading → Continue reading

A photo collection of Mighty Girls who honored the suffragists who fought for women's right to vote this Halloween!

On Halloween, many Mighty Girls took the opportunity to honor their heroes — and encourage adults to exercise their hard-earned right to vote this Election Day! These Mighty Girls dressed up as suffragists, or suffragettes as they were often called in Britain, paying tribute to the bold women who fought for women's right to vote. In America, the fight for the vote lasted for over 70 years, and countless women struggled, protested, and were imprisoned for the cause. As suffrage leader Lucy Burns, who served more jail time than any other American suffragist, once observed: "I think we have done all this for women, and we have sacrificed everything we possessed for them, and now let them fight for it now."
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Dr. Shuping Wang faced violence and intimidation for exposing the truth about epidemics in China that killed more than one million people.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Shuping Wang discovered a shockingly high rate of contaminated blood at collection centers in China's Henan province. Despite threats, intimidation, and violence, Wang became a two-time whistleblower, exposing first China's hepatitis C epidemic and later its raging HIV epidemic, which killed over one million people in the country during this period. Wang said that there was never any question that she would persevere in exposing the truth about the epidemics even in the face of severe personal consequences. "Being a medical doctor, my primary interest is to my patients and to the public, not to myself," she said in an interview shortly before her death. "Speaking out cost me my job, my marriage and my happiness at the time, but it also helped save the lives of thousands and thousands of people." Continue reading → Continue reading