16 of History's Most Rebellious Women
Janet Jagan, Guyana
For Chicago-born Janet Jagan, the vibrant labor struggles in the mid-20th century of her own country were not enough. After falling in love with Cheddi Jagan, a Guyanese dentistry student at Northwestern, Jagan followed her future husband, with Lenin's writings in hand, to his homeland in 1943. Setting up shop as a dental assistant, she set out on a path that would lead to her becoming Guyana's first female President. In 1946 she and her husband founded the People's Progressive Party, which sought to promote Marxist ideals as well as decolonization from the U.K. In the late 1940s, the Jagans inspired strikes by domestic workers in what was then referred to as "British Guiana." The movement attracted the ire of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who put the Jagans in jail. But Janet Jagan proved to be a political survivor, remaining in the game despite various attempts to purge her from leadership posts. An impolitic p.r. campaign singing the praises of the Cuban revolution in the 1960s attracted the attention of John F. Kennedy, who in turn targeted Guyana's labor unions. Relegated to the sidelines after a leftist government flopped in the 1960s, Jagan took to the pages of the Mirror newspaper, becoming its editor. By the time she was elected President in 1997, the country had achieved the independence from Britain that she had sought and had nationalized much of its economy. —Dan Fastenberg