The ’60s are remembered for the Space Race, the countercultural revolution, and the Civil Rights movement. Women played an important role in the decade; these 19 figures were among the most influential.
Diana Ross
Diana Ross was The Supremes’ lead singer. They were Motown’s most successful act, with 12 Billboard No. 1 singles, including “Where Did Our Love Go.” She went solo in 1970 and continues to have a successful career, with celebrated albums like 1980’s Diana.
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin is celebrated as the “Queen of Soul” and is remembered for her powerful voice. Britannica argues that she “defined the golden age of soul music of the 1960s,” with songs like “I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)” and “Respect.”
Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin was one of the most successful rock performers of the ’60s, both as the lead singer of the psychedelic and acid rock group Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist. She is a member of the 27 Club, having died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27 in October 1970, three months before her second solo album, Pearl, was released.
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe remains an iconic actress and sex symbol of the ’50s and early ’60s. She was known for playing comic “blonde bombshell” characters and appeared in films including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Seven Year Itch before tragically dying at the age of 36 in her Los Angeles home.
Angela Davis
Angela Davis is a Marxist, activist, and scholar who began advocating for civil rights, prison reform, and social justice in the ’60s. She was an acting assistant professor at UCLA’s philosophy department in 1969, where she was known for being a radical feminist, a member of the Communist Party USA, and a Black Panther Party affiliate.
Twiggy
Twiggy is a British supermodel who became the face of ’60s fashion, known for her thin build and androgynous appearance. She helped popularize the “mod” style in Britain and worldwide and appeared on the covers of Vogue and Tatler.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was a writer and socialite, the wife of John F. Kennedy, and the First Lady from 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. She was a fashion icon and set trends that defined the ’60s, and she was also celebrated for her work. Britannica argues that “Her most-enduring contribution was her work to restore the White House to its original elegance and to protect its holdings” and notes that she established the White House Historical Association.
Helen Gurley Brown
Helen Gurley Brown was the author of the 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl, which was adapted into a 1964 film starring Natalie Wood. In 1965, she became the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and transformed it into a leading magazine written by women.
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono is an avant-garde artist and activist who began challenging traditional art forms in the ’60s. Her relationship with John Lennon brought her international fame, and the couple used their 1969 honeymoon as a protest against the Vietnam War.
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir was a renowned French feminist and existentialist philosopher who wrote The Second Sex. Her 1964 autobiography A Very Easy Death explored the ethical concerns with truth-telling in doctor-patient relationships.
Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King was a celebrated civil rights activist and author and the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She continued his legacy and work after his assassination in 1968 and founded the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem is a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the 1960s and co-founder of Ms. magazine. BBC News also notes that “the political activist masterminded the Women’s Action Alliance,” a group dedicated to fighting sexism.
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand is a versatile performer known for music, film, and theater work. She was a ’60s icon, releasing The Barbra Streisand Album, and frequently appeared on talk shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show.
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm is remembered for being the first African American woman elected to the American Congress in 1968. Chisholm was also the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1972 and was noted for her strong support of black civil rights and women’s equality.
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald was a renowned jazz singer known as the “First Lady of Song,” celebrated for her improvisational ability and scat singing. Her collaborations with other jazz legends resulted in songs like “Dream a Little Dream of Me” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an actress and political activist known for her outspoken views. Her anti-Vietnam War stance made her a polarizing figure in the ’60s, and in 1972, she was infamously photographed sitting on an anti-aircraft gun in the country, which led some to call her “Hanoi Jane.”
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was a cultural anthropologist whose media appearances and work influenced the public’s understanding of anthropology in the ’60s. Britannica notes that she wrote articles for Parents, the Nation, and the women’s magazine Redbook.
Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson was a conservationist and marine biologist and the author of Silent Spring. The book documented the wide-ranging environmental harm caused by soldiers’ use of pesticides during WWII, raised public awareness of the chemicals, and led to a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses.
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf was a French cabaret and modern chanson singer who captivated Americans with her emotional music. She remained popular in the ’60s after she died in 1963 and continues to be celebrated today.
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