Etta Horn was a prominent welfare rights advocate. As an activist, she worked alongside other anti-poverty organizers to improve the living conditions of low-income DC residents.

Mary P. Burrill was a celebrated playwright whose works inspired many prominent writers of the New Negro Movement/Harlem Renaissance.

Georgia Douglas Johnson was one of the most well-known Black female writers and playwrights of her time.

Eleanor Holmes Norton was the first woman appointed to chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and continues to fight for DC statehood in her third decade as a congresswoman.

Nkenge Touré is an activist whose expansive collection of speeches and written works confront issues around reproductive justice, Black feminism, and women’s rights.

Sister Margaret Traxler was a Catholic feminist nun and a civil rights activist who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the famous march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

LaNada War Jack is an indigenous activist, who since childhood, has fought to preserve Native American identity and tribal rights.

Ophelia Settle Egypt was a medical social worker and women’s rights advocate. She is remembered for many things, including her work to make women’s and reproductive healthcare accessible to the Black communities in Southeast Washington, DC.

Bernice Johnson Reagon is a renowned composer, historian, musician, and activist.

Loretta Ross is an academic and activist who has dedicated many years to advocating for women’s rights and reproductive justice.

Mary Treadwell was a notable DC-based activist and community organizer. Treadwell is most noted for co-creating Youth Pride, Inc., a job-training program that assisted inner-city youth. She also advocated for the decriminalization of abortion.

As a teenager, Barbara Johns helped organize a strike that eventually led to the desegregation of schools in the United States.