It's that time again. Women's History Month is here and we at Aurora Tights are excited about that. This month gives us extra time to acknowledge women in performance and sports who have made a splash. I want to talk about women in the performance space that we can stand to learn a bit more about. Here are 7 women you need to learn more about for Women's History Month and beyond.

1) Mary Lou Williams- Jazz Pianist- Mary Lou Williams is someone we have to thank for her endless contributions to jazz and music overall. She is a composer, arranger and pianist. She also helped mentor younger musicians in need and helped develop their sense of artistry. In 1930, she filled in as a piano player in her husband's band. She was able to play ragtime, boogie boogie and swing with one hand while simultaneously playing harmonies, melodies and counterrhthyms with her other hand. She was thereby known as the Lady Who Swings The Band.

2) Sybil Ludington-Female Paul revere- We all know about Paul Revere and his infamous ride to warn his townspeople that "The British were coming". Did you know there was a female version of him? Well her name was Sybil Ludington. Sybil Ludington was born on April 7, 1761 as the oldest of 12 children. Her father was a Colonel . Shortly after Sybil's 16th birthday, a horse rider from the military informed her that the town of Danbury Connecticut  had been attacked. The problem was the Colonels man had disbanded and were scattered around different parts of the region. So young Sybil mounted a horse and went to bring th news to the Colonel's man of the attacks. She said to have ridden almost forty miles, which is three times as long as Paul Revere's journey. 

3) Hedy Lamar- You May know Hedy Lamar as glamorous film actress. She was even called the Most Beautiful Women in the world. She was so beautiful that she was considered the inspiration for 2 timeless characters, Snow White and Catwoman. But Hedy wasn't just a looker; she had brains too. She has been an inventor since the young age of five, when she disassembled and reassembled a music box. Her inventive spirit never left after that. W She made a device that blocked enemy ships from jamming torpedo guidance signals. During World War II, her device made frequency jump from one frequency to another, which made it impossible for an enemy to locate and block a message. This was known as frequency hopping. Her invention was the prototype of what we use for wifi, gps and bluetooth. So thank you, Hedy Lamar

4) Ada Lovelace- Ada Lovelace is a mathematician known to be the first computer programmer. She is the daughter of the poet Lord Byron. She wrote the first algorithm for a machine in the 1800s. She worked with the father of computers, Charles Babbage). She was fascinated when speaking to him and wrote an article on how algorithms could be used to control machines. In that article she also spoke about the computer programming term, looping. Looping is when you have a code that repeats a series of instructions.

5) Aung San Suu Kyi-Politician, Diplomat and Author- Aung San Suu Kyi is seen as one of the beacons of peace in Myanmar. She is the daughter of liberation movement leader Aung San. She is famous for leading the opposition to the military that ruled Burma since 1962. She led her protests with nonviolence and called on military leaders to hand over power to a civilian government. Her goal was to establish a peaceful democracy that can lead to harmony. She was detained illegally by the government for 15 years without trial or charge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for exemplifying courage in Myanmar.

6) Roberta Louise Gibb

Roberta Louise Gibb is the first women marathon runner. She was the undeclared women winner in 1966, 67 and 68. She is the first women to run the first Boston Marathon. women who couldn't run in the Men's division marathon race weren't seen as competition. Before1966, the Amateur Athletic union sanctioned race for women was only a mile and a half. When she submitted an application for the race, the race director Will Cloney said women weren't physically capable of running the race. She then realized it was more important for her to run the race not just for her but for women everywhere that wanted to run a marathon.

7) Amani Al-Katahbeh- Muslim author/media mogul 

 Amani is an activist, entrepreneur and techie. She created the blog MuslimGirl.com, a blog for muslim women. She started wearing her hijab to combat Islamaphobia in her home pf New Jersey. Then she noticed another problem. There was no community online for young Muslim girls to feel seen and be comfortable. So, thats how MuslimGirl.com was born. The website launched in 2009 when Amani was just 17 years old. She was included in Forbes 30 under 30 for her work on her blog. Muslim Girl developed a volunteer staff in 2015 and developed a large following. She then partnered with Teen Vogue in 2016 to started a series on muslim girls . On March 2, 2017, Amani even created Muslim Womens Day.

If you want to learn more about women who #PerforminColor, check out auroratights.com