Around 1892, two new entities serendipitously collided. One was Fort Shaw Indian School west of Great Falls. The other was the sport of basketball.

Fannie Sperry Steele raised thoroughbreds, worked in Wild West shows and competed in rodeos, winning firsts and setting records, especially in bronc riding.

Of all Montana counties, Ravalli — the Bitterroot — had the most pro-suffrage votes. Historians attribute that to Maggie Smith Hathaway.

In the 1950s and 60s, membership in groups like the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women spiked in Montana. Both groups promote, still today, non-partisan involvement by women in policy making and governance.

Annie Morgan, an African-American woman, was born in Baltimore. After the Civil War, she worked her way west, probably as an army cook. Around 1887, she landed in Philipsburg.

Lucille Otter was a dedicated fighter. Through will and skill, she made good things happen on the Flathead Reservation.

Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail was the first registered nurse of Apsaalooke, or Crow, descent, and was one of the first native RNs in the whole U.S.

The Blackfeet woman Running Eagle is legendary not just as a warrior, but as a war chief. The Cheyenne people honor Buffalo Calf Road Woman to this day.

On International Women’s Day, we celebrate Emma Riley Smith. To Black kids growing up in Great Falls, Emma Riley Smith proved the world was wide with possibility.

Alma served Montana as state librarian in Helena. Alma Smith Jacobs' passion for libraries, which she called the People's University, lasted her whole life.

Not many Montana girls resembled Frieda and Belle Fligelman. Born 1890 and 1891 in Helena, the sisters lived in a big house with servants and learned to fall on their elbows to keep their gloves white. Herman, their dad, a Jewish immigrant from Romania, arrived peddling dry goods, then opened a successful store.

In 1937 Myrna Loy was Hollywood's Highest Paid starlet. Born in 1905 as Myrna Williams, she grew up in Radersburg and Helena, the grandchild of homesteaders.

In 1890, 33 Butte women formed a union, saying we will not be behind our brothers in demanding our rights.

Elouise Pepion Cobell held the federal government accountable, revealing malfeasance by the Interior and Treasury departments managing Indian trust funds.