Discover the Women of the Hall

First nurse to hold the rank of Rear Admiral and the title of Deputy Surgeon General for the United States. She developed the first tested coronary care unit. A national pioneer in nursing research, she has authored or co-authored more than 150 publications and helped change the focus of nursing from disease-centered to patient-centered.

A leader in the women’s suffrage movement, Shaw was a master orator for social justice, and the first woman to be ordained by the Protestant Methodist Church. She was the first living American woman to be awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal.

One the major leaders of the women’s right to vote and equal rights movements, she was co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union and author of the first national labor safety law guidelines. In 1919, she organized the First Feminist Congress, and she was one of the four authors of the Equal Rights Amendment proposed in 1923.

President of the Washington Equal Suffrage Association, successfully ran the campaign that resulted in Washington becoming the first state in the 20th century to grant full enfranchisement to women in 1910, a full decade before passage of the 19th Amendment. DeVoe established the first national organization of voting women, which eventually merged with the National League of Women Voters, leaving an invaluable legacy about the importance of the educated use of the franchise.

In her 33 years in the Armed Forces from 1942 to 1975, Major General Holm, USAF, Retired, rose from private to two-star general. Her promotion in 1973 made her the first woman in the history of the U.S. armed forces to achieve the rank of major general. Her work to open ROTC and the military academies to women gave educational benefits and the opportunity for a professional military career to women from all walks of life.

First female surgeon in the U.S. Army, she continually crossed the Confederate lines to treat civilians. After being taken prisoner in 1864 and imprisoned in Richmond, she was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the first woman to receive this award. In 1917, her medal, along with 910 others, was taken away when Congress revised the standards to include only “actual combat with the enemy.” She refused to return the medal, wore it until her death, and it was finally awarded to her posthumously.

As Florida State Attorney, she helped establish the Miami Drug Court and reform the juvenile justice system. Appointed by President Clinton to be the first woman Attorney General of the United States, she brought a personal and professional integrity to the office during times when issues were divided bitterly along partisan lines.

First woman elected to the Tribal Council, she became determined to lead the fight against tuberculosis among the Navajo. She wrote a dictionary to translate English words for modern medical techniques into Navajo, and hosted a radio broadcast in the Navajo language to explain how modern medicine could help in better care for pregnant women and new babies and other family health problems.

Founder and organizer of the Collar Laundry Union in 1864, she led a strike of 200 laundresses in Troy, NY, which resulted in a 25% wage increase and improvement of working conditions. Her efforts to organize women in New York City and financially assist both male and female unions were rewarded when she was appointed as an assistant secretary of the National Labor Union, making her the first female to hold a national labor post.

A Methodist bishop, Leontine T.C. Kelly was the first African American woman to be elected bishop in the United Methodist Church. She served as bishop of the California-Nevada Annual Conference and the president of the Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops. Committed to peace and justice, she was arrested several times for protesting nuclear weapons, and was one of 18 bishops who signed a letter to the Methodist Church in response to its policy toward gays and lesbians in the church.

Writer and editor, her expose of the Standard Oil Trust in the 1904 publication The History of the Standard Oil Company prompted the federal government to prosecute and break up Standard Oil for anti-trust violations. She founded the American Magazin, authored several biographies, and, in spite of her 1912 anti-feminist book, The Business of Being a Woman, remains a role model for women and men in journalism.

First female Secretary of State and highest ranking woman in the U.S. government under President Clinton. As a professor at Georgetown University, she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in international affairs and Russian and Central and Eastern European politics. In President Clinton’s first term, she was the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and a member of the National Security Council.

Foreign policy advisor under six consecutive U.S. presidents from Richard Nixon to William Clinton. Beginning in 1975, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State; her last appointment was Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs. A former Chair of the Atlantic Council of the U.S., a foreign policy think tank, her work has spanned almost four decades.

Massachusetts Congresswoman who introduced the “G.I. Bill of Rights” Act and Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp (WAC) legislation. The “Bill of Rights” guaranteed veterans’ health and education benefits (also small business loans). In addition, it supported research and development of prosthetic appliances. Rogers pushed for equality for women in and out of military until her death.

Founder in 1962 of Catalyst, the premier organization working with corporations to foster women’s leadership. She published studies (Women in Corporate Leadership in 1990 and Women in Engineering in 1992) illustrating the barriers to women’s workplace progress and then provided samples of model corporate practices to help women advance. Her work has had a lasting impact on the composition of American corporate leadership.

First woman to chair the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the first African American woman to serve on the Commission. Elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for her contribution to physical science, she became an advocate for women in the areas of science, education and public policy. As Chair of NRC, she rearticulated the vision of the NRC to include reaffirmation of the basic health and safety mission of the agency.

Pioneering sex educator and acknowledged “mother of sex education.” She established the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States, which established sexuality as a healthy entity. Dr. Calderone was President of the SIECUS board, as well as author and co-author of several books, professional journals and magazine articles.

Poet, author and early Civil Rights advocate. Angelou’s early career was in the theater, and she co-wrote Cabaret for Freedom to raise funds for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, for which she later became northern coordinator. She raised social consciousness through writings such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Heart of a Woman. She was a nominee for a Tony, an Emmy, and a Pulitzer Prize.

Founder of the Children’s Television Workshop for Public Television and creator of Sesame Street. Cooney created a study for the Carnegie Corporation on the possible use of television for preschool education. Acting on her own findings, she solicited funds to develop a program for television. For this, she was the winner of the Emmy and Peabody Awards, along with other honors.

Co-founder (with Carrie Chapman Catt) of the League of Women Voters in 1920, after ratification of the 19th Amendment. A graduate of MIT in 1904, she funded MIT’s first on-campus residence for women. She devoted her late husband’s wealth to contraceptive research and her own resources and energy to opening up doors for women in science and engineering.

Former dean of the Yale School of Nursing and founder of the Hospice movement in America, for which she was awarded the honorary Doctorate of Medical Sciences by Yale University in 1995. As a nurse, she went to Europe to study Hospice from the ground up.

First American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in science. Cori, along with her husband and Bernardo Houssay of Argentina, received the award in 1947 “for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen.” Their work, the first bioengineering of a large biological molecule in a test tube, became the foundation for our understanding of how cells use food and convert it to energy.

Trail-blazing journalist considered to be the “best reporter in America” who pioneered investigative journalism.

An educator and abolitionist, Mary Ann Shadd Cary was the first Black American woman to enroll in and graduate from Howard University Law School. She appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to argue for the right of women to vote (with Anthony and Stanton). During the 1870s, while practicing law, she lectured throughout the United States about the improvement of education for Black Americans.