Alice Stone Blackwell was born in 1857 to Lucy Stone and Henry Browne Blackwell. Many members of the Blackwell family were important actors in 19th and 20th century American social reform movements including abolition of slavery, women's rights, women's suffrage, and temperance. Alice Stone Blackwell graduated from Boston University in 1881; she was one of two women in her graduating class. After graduation, Blackwell joined her parents at The Woman's Journal, the women's rights newspaper they had founded and edited. She was heavily involved with the leadership of suffrage associations at the national and local level. Her papers and the papers of her family members have been digitized and are available in the finding aid of the Blackwell Family Papers. The Blackwell Family Papers are also available online through the Blackwell Family Papers Digital Collection.

Under the auspices of the Schlesinger Library, the Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African-American women between 1976 and 1981. The project sought a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society in the first half of the twentieth century. Many of the women interviewed spoke about the communication they did in their personal and professional lives. The guide to the Black Woman Oral History Project Interviews contains links to digitized interview transcripts, audio recordings, and biographical information of the interviewees. Particularly relevant interviews are linked throughout this guide as they pertain to the categories highlighted here.

Scholar, author, and black feminist philosopher Angela Yvonne Davis is one of the most recognized political activists of the 1960s and 1970s. She rose to national attention in 1969 after being removed from her teaching position at the University of California, Los Angeles, for her membership in the Communist Party at the urging of then-Governor Ronald Reagan. In 1970 Davis was prosecuted for purchasing firearms used in the armed take-over of a Marin County courtroom. Her arrest sparked an international campaign to gain her release and led to a high-profile trial which culminated in her acquittal in 1972. Davis writes and lectures on social injustice, social movements, and the intersections of race, gender, and class. Some of the Papers of Angela Y. Davis have been digitized, including correspondence, speeches, and lectures. These digitized materials are available in the finding aid for the Angela Y. Davis collection.

At the age of nineteen months, due to an attack of scarlet fever, Helen Keller lost her senses of sight and hearing. With the help of Anne M. Sullivan, a teacher from the Perkins Institution in Boston, Massachusetts and Sarah Fuller at the Horace Mann School in New York, Keller learned to read, write, and talk. In 1900, Keller entered Radcliffe College and graduated cum laude in 1904. After graduating, Keller worked in causes for people who are blind both at home and internationally. During and after World War II she focused her efforts on aiding veterans, orphans, and refugees. Schlesinger Library holds several collections containing materials by and about Keller. More information about the archival collections of Helen Keller at the Schlesinger Library can be found in the Helen Keller Guide. Some images from the Keller collections have been digitized and made available in HOLLIS Images. Although none of the Keller collections have been digitized, some materials from these collections have been scanned for the purposes of this guide, and are attached here:

• The Papers of Helen Keller (Call #: A/K29h) contain six letters from Keller [PDF] on various topics including public speaking, a trip to England, and the potential cultural impact of television.
• The Radcliffe College Registrar's Records (Call #: RG XII) contain the typescript questions for Keller's midyear exams for the 1901-1902 schoolyear [PDF] and her final and midyear exams in braille [PDF] in Series 6.
• The Papers of Helen Keller (Call #: SC 11) contain a presentation made to Keller in braille [PDF].