These Bay Area Women Made Their Mark on California History

2017 proved to be a newsworthy year for female empowerment. While California women continue to fight for their rights today, some of their predecessors made names for themselves by pushing the envelope in their own eras. In 7×7’s “8 Badass Women in San Francisco History That Changes the Game,” amazing Bay Area residents take the spotlight for their own individual achievements.

Frances Marion

“San Francisco native Marion Brown was a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, and a WWII combat correspondent, before writing screenplays for various films in the 1920s and ’30s. She is considered the most renowned female screenwriter of the 20th century. Brown won two Academy Awards: one for writing 1931’s The Big House, and the other for best story for Champ, in 1932. She also directed films, including those of actress Mary Pickford.”

Charlotte L. Brown

“Before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955, Charlotte L. Brown was standing up for her civil rights in 1863 San Francisco. On April 17 of that year, Brown was kicked off of a horse-drawn streetcar after refusing to get off. She had ridden the streetcar before, but was still asked to leave. Charlotte sued the Omnibus Railroad Company on two separate occasions, for two separate incidents—and won both times.”

Juana Briones

“Juana Briones y Tapia de Miranda, of Spanish and African descent, was born in Santa Cruz and raised in the Presidio. The healer, midwife, and entrepreneur was granted a separation (which was unheard of at the time) from an abusive husband, after asking a Bishop of the Catholic Church to do so. When California became a state in 1850, Juana also fought all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep her land. This made Briones one of the first female property owners in the state.”

Read about all 8 women here.