Video Library

Bring WAMS to life using short animated videos based on inspiring women’s stories and key themes.

What is Coverture?

Learn more about the legal principle of coverture, which continues to shape American women’s lives.

Malitzen, Enslaved Interpreter for Hernan Cortés

Learn more about Malitzen, an enslaved indigenous woman who acted as the primary interpreter for Hernan Cortés during his conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Watch (2:58)

Thomas(ine) Hall, Gender Non-conforming in Colonial Virginia

Learn more about Thomas(ine) Hall, an intersex person in colonial Virginia whose gender identity became the subject of a court case in their small community.

Watch (2:21)

Elizabeth Freeman, Abolition Pioneer

Learn more about Elizabeth Freeman, an enslaved woman whose court case set the legal precedent to abolish slavery in Massachusetts.

Watch (2:46)

Lorenda Holmes, Loyalist Spy and American Sufferer

Learn more about Lorenda Holmes, a Loyalist spy in New York who did everything she could to undermine the American war efforts.

Watch (1:51)

Ida B. Wells, Journalist and Anti-Lynching Activist

Learn more about Ida B. Wells, an anti-lynching crusader who used the power of journalism and statistical evidence to raise awareness about the most extreme horrors of life under Jim Crow.

Watch (2:26)

Zitkala-Sa, Advocate for the Rights of Native People

Learn more about Zitkala-Sa, an activist and composer who fought tirelessly for Native American rights and citizenship.

Watch (2:32)

Emma Tenayuca, Latina Labor Activist

Learn more about Emma Tenayuca, a labor leader who led a major food-industry strike in her early 1920s and was eventually ostracized for her political beliefs.

Watch (2:57)

Chien-Shiung Wu, Physicist and Manhattan Project Contributor

Learn more about Chien-Shiung Wu, a Chinese American physicist who contributed to the development of the atomic bomb and overcame many racial and gender barriers.

Watch (2:29)