Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court Justice of the United States, was one of the most influential Americans of the 1980s and 1990s.

Environmental health advocate Catherine Coleman Flowers is determined to battle “America’s Dirty Secret”: unequal sewage and sanitation access for rural communities and people of color.

Dr. Sylvia Earle holds the record for deepest walk on the sea floor and is a world-renowned expert on marine biology. The first woman to lead the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Earle advocates for ocean conservation and education.

Throughout her long life, Hedgeman advocated for civil rights, education, social justice, poverty relief, and women.

As the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the New York Times in 1974, Wade transformed the industry and newsrooms across the nation. 

Lillian D. Wald helped to bring health care to the residents of New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the twentieth century.

An educator, translator, and clubwoman, Lopez helped win the vote for Californian women with her oratory and the writings she translated into Spanish.

At age eleven, Malala Yousafzai was already advocating for the rights of women and girls.

As an activist, community organizer, and executive, Tarana Burke has made quite an impact.

Chilean author and educator Gabriela Mistral became the first Latin American author to receive the Nobel Prize in literature.

Autherine Lucy was the first African American student to attend the University of Alabama

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American to be canonized as a saint.