Biographies

As a poet, writer, activist, organizer, legal theorist, and priest, Murray was directly involved in, and helped articulate, the intellectual foundations of two of the most important social justice movements of the twentieth century.

Mary Musgrove become a negotiator between English and Native American communities and played an important role in the development of Colonial Georgia.

Nurse Florence Nightingale is best known for making hospitals a cleaner and safer place to be.

Mary Adelaide Nutting had a profound impact on American nursing. She was one of the key figures in modernizing the profession and her work is still influential in the field today.

O’Neal has received many honors in her life, including inclusion in the Alabama Social Work Hall of Fame (2017). She was also the first African American elected to the Alabama State Personnel Board (2006 and 2010). 

Annie Oakley is a famous markswoman known for her sharpshooting.

Miné Okubo is well known for her representations of daily life and humanity in drawings depicting Japanese American internment during WWII.

Adelina Otero-Warren, the first Hispanic woman to run for U.S. Congress and the first female superintendent of public schools in Santa Fe, was a leader in New Mexico’s woman’s suffrage movement.

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and set in motion one of the largest social movements in history, the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

A vocal leader of the 20th century women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul advocated for and helped secure passage of the 19th Amendment.

Ethel Payne is known as the First Lady of the Black Press, because of her fearlessness as a journalist and a Civil Rights activist.

Among the most famous women in early American history, Pocahontas is credited with helping the struggling English settlers survive.

Queen Lili‘uokalani was the last sovereign monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Often called the “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey was known for her deep-throated voice and mesmerizing stage presence that drew packed audiences and sold hit records in the early twentieth century.

Condoleezza Rice is the first African American woman to hold several positions, including Secretary of State.

Sally Ride was the first American woman in space.

Felisa Rincón de Gautier, affectionately known to the public as Doña Fela, became the first female mayor of a capital city in the Americas when she was appointed mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1946.

A veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising, Sylvia Rivera was a tireless advocate for those silenced and disregarded by larger movements.

Eleanor Roosevelt grew up to become one of the most important and beloved First Ladies, authors, reformers, and female leaders of the 20th century.

Ana Roqué de Duprey, a prolific educator, writer, and scientist, founded the first woman’s suffrage organization in Puerto Rico in 1917.