Biographies

As co-chair of the world’s largest private charitable foundation, Melinda Gates is one of the most powerful women in philanthropy.

Sarah Grimké and her sister fought for abolition and women's rights.

Although raised on a slave-owning plantation, Angelina Grimké Weld became an ardent abolitionist.

Sarah Josepha Hale is best known for creating the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Her influence can also be seen in historic sites and a national holiday still widely celebrated today.

Florence Hall headed the Women's Land Army during World War II.

Fannie Lou Hamer was one of the most important, passionate, and powerful voices of the civil and voting rights movements .

In 1959, Lorraine Hansberry made history as the first African American woman to have a show produced on Broadway—A Raisin in the Sun.

Poet, activist, and musician Joy Harjo became the first Native American United States Poet Laureate in history.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was the first African American woman to publish a short story and was also an influential abolitionist, suffragist, and reformer.

Kamala D. Harris became the first woman, the first African American woman, the first Indian-American, the first person of Asian-American descent, and the first graduate of an HBCU to become the Vice-President Elect of the United States of America.

A symbolic figure in the American Revolutionary War, the woman known as “Molly Pitcher” reportedly brought water to the troops at the Battle of Monmouth and worked the cannon after her husband was wounded.

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

Dorothy Height was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

On May 2, 1963, 9 year old Audrey Faye Hendricks became the youngest known person arrested during the Civil Rights Movement. 

According to Antonia Hernández, she “went to law school for one reason: to use the law as a vehicle for social change.” Decades later, she can claim numerous legal victories for the Latinx community in voting rights, employment, and education.

Abstract painter, sculptor, and minimalist Carmen Herrera influenced a generation of artists.

Judith Heumann has improved accessibility and opportunities for the estimated 56 million people in the United States and one billion people around the world with disabilities.

Oveta Culp Hobby served as the director of the Women’s Army Corps and first secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

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.

A leading advocate for culturally sensitive mental health care, Dr. Reiko Homma True is dedicated to improving mental health treatment for the Asian-American community and other minority populations.