Naidu, Sarojini (1879–1949)

Indian feminist and poet. She published three volumes of lyric verse The Golden Threshold (1905), The Bird of Time (1912), and The Broken Wing (1915). She organized flood-relief in Hyderabad in 1908 and lectured and campaigned on feminist issues, such as the abolition of purdah. Associated with Mahatma Gandhi, she was the first Indian woman to be president of the India National Congress in 1925. In 1947 she was appointed governor of United Provinces (Uttar Pradesh).

Born in Hyderabad, she was educated at Madras (now Chennai), London, and Cambridge. She was imprisoned several times for civil disobedience, and took part in the negotiations leading to independence.