Biographies

Elizabeth Cochrane was one of the most famous journalists in the United States.

Aileen Cole Stewart became one of the first African American women to serve in the Army Nursing Corps.

Bessie Coleman soared across the sky as the first African American, and the first Native American woman pilot.

Chemist Virginia Spivey Coleman worked on the atomic weapons program during WWII.

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.

In October 2020, Amy Coney Barrett became the fifth woman confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Considered the Guardian of Heron Indian Cemetery, her appearance made her the third woman, and the first Native American, to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.

A hero of the American Revolution, Margaret Cochran Corbin was the first woman to receive a military pension.

Prudence Crandall bravely defied prevailing patterns of racial discrimination when she opened one of the first schools for African American girls in Connecticut in 1833.

Ann Pamela Cunningham was an early leader in historic preservation and is often credited with saving President George Washington’s estate Mount Vernon.

Lydia Darragh was a Patriot spy during the American Revolution.

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.

Agnes de Mille was one of the preeminent American choreographers of the twentieth century.

Jane Delano was the superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps and inspired many women to become nurses around the world.

Marie Dietrich was one of the most popular film and music stars of the 1930s and 1940s.

Dorothea Dix was an early 19th century activist who drastically changed the medical field during her lifetime.

Although she did not pick up a camera until she was thirty-two, Ava DuVernay has made history as a writer, director, and producer.

Amelia Earhart was a record-breaking female aviator whose international fame paved the way for other female pilots.

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.

Educator, soldier, and psychologist, Charity Adams Earley led the first African American women’s unit of the army on a tour of duty overseas during WWII.