Discover the Women of the Hall

These are the Inductees of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Select any of the women to discover their stories and learn how they have influenced other women and this country.

Achievements Year Born Where Born Year Inducted Last Name
Year Born: to
Birth State or Country: or
Year Inducted: to
First Letter of Last Name: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Inductee Name Achievements Born Where Born Inducted More

Alice Evans Science 1881 1993

Alice Evans

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1881 - 1975
Achievements: Science

Scientist who found the organism which caused undulant fever, a killer disease. Evans’s discovery led to mandatory milk pasteurization, saving countless lives worldwide. An outstanding scientist, she also advocated women entering the scientific professions.


Shirley Chisholm Government 1924 New York 1993

Shirley Chisholm

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1924 - 2005
Born In: New York
Achievements: Government

First African American woman elected to the U.S. Congress. Chisholm was also the first African American woman to receive delegate votes for the presidential nomination of a major party. A member of Congress for many years, she was also an educator and writer.


Mary Mahoney Science 1845 Massachusetts 1993

Mary Mahoney

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1845 - 1926
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Science

First African American woman to study and work as a professionally trained nurse. Mahoney received her diploma from the New England Hospital in 1879, one of only four of 18 to pass the difficult course.


Katherine Siva Saubel Arts, Education, Humanities 1920 California 1993

Katherine Siva Saubel

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1920 - 2011
Born In: California
Achievements: Arts, Education, Humanities

Founder of the Malki Museum at the Morongo Reservation in California. Born on a reservation in great poverty, Saubel became determined to preserve her tribe’s culture and language, despite overwhelming odds. A learned ethno anthropologist, Saubel was a founder of this first museum run by Native Americans.


Annie Oakley Arts 1860 Ohio 1993

Annie Oakley

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1860 - 1926
Born In: Ohio
Achievements: Arts

Markswoman, was probably the nation’s finest. A performer for many years with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, Oakley was a staunch supporter of other women’s opportunities and raised funds to send needy women to college and nursing school.


Jacqueline Cochran Science 1906 1993

Jacqueline Cochran

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1906 - 1980
Achievements: Science

First woman aviator to break the sound barrier. A leader and pilot, Cochran held many speed, distance and altitude records. She led the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots during World War II, becoming the first woman to pilot a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean.


Fannie Lou Hamer Humanities 1917 Mississippi 1993

Fannie Lou Hamer

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1917 - 1977
Born In: Mississippi
Achievements: Humanities

Mississippi sharecropper and organizer of the Mississippi Freedom Party, which challenged the white domination of the Democratic Party. Hamer succeeded in integrating the state delegation, and she was a tireless champion for poor minorities in her state and nationwide.


Wilma Mankiller Humanities 1945 Oklahoma 1993

Wilma Mankiller

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1945 - 2010
Born In: Oklahoma
Achievements: Humanities

First woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. As Chief, Mankiller brought about major economic and social improvements for her tribe, including better health care, economic development, and education.


Antoinette Blackwell Humanities 1825 New York 1993

Antoinette Blackwell

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1825 - 1921
Born In: New York
Achievements: Humanities

First American woman ordained a minister by a recognized denomination (Congregational), despite great opposition to women in the ministry. Blackwell was a pastor, mother of seven children, and wrote many books and essays.


Betty Friedan Humanities 1921 Illinois 1993

Betty Friedan

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1921 - 2006
Born In: Illinois
Achievements: Humanities

Reshaped American attitudes toward women’s lives and rights through decades of social activism, strategic thinking and powerful writing. Her book The Feminine Mystique (1963) triggered the contemporary women’s movement. Her latest work is the best-selling The Fountain of Age.


Georgia O'Keeffe Arts 1887 Wisconsin 1993

Georgia O'Keeffe

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1887 - 1986
Born In: Wisconsin
Achievements: Arts

Artist and perhaps the best-known American woman painter. An American original in both her lifestyle and painting, O’Keeffe produced works of high energy and vision throughout her long life.


Ethel Percy Andrus Humanities 1884 California 1993

Ethel Percy Andrus

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1884 - 1967
Born In: California
Achievements: Humanities

Founded the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to help older Americans cope effectively in their later years. Her organization, now 36 million members strong and a political lobbying force, helps with health insurance, career assistance and discounts for senior citizens.


Ruth Colvin Education 1916 Illinois 1993

Ruth Colvin

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1916 - 2024
Born In: Illinois
Achievements: Education

Founder of the Literacy Volunteers of America, a group which she began in her upstate New York home. The organization has now taught nearly half a million people to read. Its unique approach, designed by Colvin, employs community tutors.


Emily Blackwell Science 1826 England 1993

Emily Blackwell

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1826 - 1910
Born In: England
Achievements: Science

Sister of Elizabeth Blackwell, was also a physician. Emily ran the infirmary for women and the medical college for women founded by her sister, providing excellent training for women in medicine.


Rosa Parks Humanities 1913 Alabama 1993

Rosa Parks

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1913 - 2005
Born In: Alabama
Achievements: Humanities

Known as “the mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” when, in 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. The event sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, the first major effort in the Civil Rights struggle.


Dorothy Height Education, Humanities 1912 Virginia 1993

Dorothy Height

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1912 - 2010
Born In: Virginia
Achievements: Education, Humanities

Began as a volunteer with the National Council of Negro Women. As its president and leader for forty years, she followed in the footsteps of her mentor, Mary McLeod Bethune. The NCNW represents organizations with more than four million members, works to create stong families as well as to assist young people and the needy.


Mary Putnam Jacobi Science 1842 1993

Mary Putnam Jacobi

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1842 - 1906
Achievements: Science

Physician who founded the Association for the Advancement of Medical Education of Women. Jacobi was a leader in obtaining quality medical education for women.


Gloria Steinem Humanities 1934 Ohio 1993

Gloria Steinem

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1934 -
Born In: Ohio
Achievements: Humanities

Feminist leader, writer and social activist. A founder of Ms. Magazine, Steinem also co-convened the National Women’s Political Caucus and helped create the Ms. Foundation for Women. A best-selling author, her latest works are Revolution from Within: A Book of Self Esteem for Women and Moving Beyond Words.


Helen Stephens Athletics 1918 Missouri 1993

Helen Stephens

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1918 - 1994
Born In: Missouri
Achievements: Athletics

Athlete who set a world record and won two track and field gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. As an amateur, Stephens set Olympic, American and Canadian records in running, broad jump and discus. The small-town Missouri girl went on to become the first woman owner/manager of a women’s semiprofessional ball team and a lifetime sports advocate.


Elaine Roulet Humanities 1930 1993

Elaine Roulet

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1930 - 2020
Achievements: Humanities

Crusader for some of society’s most sharply disadvantaged, children of women in prison. A Sister of St. Joseph, Roulet has created many social reform and welfare organizations. She is best known for her work at the Bedford Hills Correction Center in New York, where she enabled mothers in prison to keep their babies for a year, a program now being patterned nationwide.


Lillian Wald Science 1867 Ohio 1993

Lillian Wald

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1867 - 1940
Born In: Ohio
Achievements: Science

Nurse who organized the public health nursing service and the Henry Street Settlement in New York City to meet the needs of the urban poor. Wald created public health nursing services for many groups, and established the Public Health Nurses, known today as Visiting Nurse Service.


Mae Jemison Science 1956 1993

Mae Jemison

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1956 -
Achievements: Science

Physician, engineer and astronaut. Jemison was the first African American woman astronaut in space, traveling on the Endeavor in 1992. Jemison today works on linking space age technology with developing nations and encouraging women and minorities to enter scientific fields.


Esther Peterson Humanities 1906 Utah 1993

Esther Peterson

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1906 - 1997
Born In: Utah
Achievements: Humanities

Catalyst for change in the labor, women’s and consumer movements. The driving force behind President Kennedy’s creation of the first Presidential Commission on Women in 1962, Peterson headed the Women’s Bureau in the Department of Labor. She also served Presidents Johnson and Carter, and served at the United Nations under President Clinton.


Ella Grasso Government 1919 Connecticut 1993

Ella Grasso

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1919 - 1981
Born In: Connecticut
Achievements: Government

First woman elected a state governor in her own right. Grasso was elected Governor of Connecticut in 1974, serving until illness forced her retirement in 1980. She was also a Congresswoman and advocate for women, minorities and the elderly.

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