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

Rosalyn S. Yalow Science 1921 New York 1993

Rosalyn S. Yalow

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1921 - 2011
Born In: New York
Achievements: Science

First American woman trained in the U.S. to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Known for pioneering the use of radioisotopes to analyze physiological systems, Yalow made possible very detailed analysis of blood chemistry, saving lives and allowing for proper doses of medication.


Marian Wright Edelman Humanities 1939 South Carolina 1993

Marian Wright Edelman

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1939 -
Born In: South Carolina
Achievements: Humanities

Attorney and civil rights advocate who founded the Children’s Defense Fund, the nation’s strongest advocacy group for children. A passionate champion for youth, Edelman’s organization works on health care and assistance for homeless children.


Faye Wattleton Humanities 1943 Missouri 1993

Faye Wattleton

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1943 -
Born In: Missouri
Achievements: Humanities

Nurse who was the first woman since founder Margaret Sanger, and first African American to become president of the Planned Parenthood Foundation. Wattleton developed Planned Parenthood into an influential nationwide organization.


Gloria Yerkovich Humanities 1942 Unknown 1993

Gloria Yerkovich

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1942 -
Born In: Unknown
Achievements: Humanities

Founder of CHILDFIND, a nationwide organization which helps locate missing children. Yerkovich developed the program after her own daughter was abducted. Her concept was the prototype for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.


Ellen Swallow Richards Science 1842 1993

Ellen Swallow Richards

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1842 - 1911
Achievements: Science

The nation’s first professional woman chemist, an important figure in opening careers in science to women. By applying scientific principles to domestic life, Richards became a leader in the new disciplines of sanitary engineering, nutrition and home economics.


Mary Lyon Education 1797 1993

Mary Lyon

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1797 - 1849
Achievements: Education

Founded the first college for women, Mount Holyoke (1837). Mount Holyoke became the model for institutions of higher education for women nationwide. Lyon based her school on sound finances and high quality education in all disciplines, encouraging and educating women to reach beyond teaching and homemaking.


Dolores Huerta Humanities 1930 New Mexico 1993

Dolores Huerta

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1930 -
Born In: New Mexico
Achievements: Humanities

Co-founder (with Cesar Chavez) of the United Farm Workers of America, the nation’s first successful and largest farm workers union. The UFW is dedicated to helping immigrant / migrant people of all ages. Huerta is known as a brilliant organizer, speaker, lobbyist, political strategist and human rights advocate.


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.

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