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

Ella Baker Humanities 1903 Virginia 1994

Ella Baker

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1903 - 1986
Born In: Virginia
Achievements: Humanities

Premier behind-the-scenes organizer and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), headed by Martin Luther King, Jr. Baker also helped establish the civil rights movement’s foremost student organization, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.


Lucille Ball Arts, Business 1911 New York 2001

Lucille Ball

Year Honored: 2001
Birth: 1911 - 1989
Born In: New York
Achievements: Arts, Business

Undoubtedly one of the best known and best loved television comediennes of all time. The “I Love Lucy Show”, which began in 1951, is still shown in reruns in more than 70 countries around the world. She was a television pioneer who excelled both in the acting and the production aspects of television.


Ann Bancroft Education, Science 1955 Minnesota 1995

Ann Bancroft

Year Honored: 1995
Birth: 1955 -
Born In: Minnesota
Achievements: Education, Science

First woman to travel across the ice to the North and South Poles. She was the first woman to travel across Greenland on skis, and in 1993, was leader of the American Women’s Expedition, a group of four who skied more than 600 miles to the South Pole.


Clara Barton Science 1821 Massachusetts 1973

Clara Barton

Year Honored: 1973
Birth: 1821 - 1912
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Science

Founder of the American Red Cross, Barton ministered to injured soldiers during the Civil War and became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” Devoted to the organization, she later took to the field, providing relief in the Spanish American War at the age of 77.


Patricia Bath Science 1942 New York 2024

Patricia Bath

Year Honored: 2024
Birth: 1942 - 2019
Born In: New York
Achievements: Science

Patricia Era Bath was an American ophthalmologist, inventor, humanitarian, and academic. She was an early pioneer of laser cataract surgery and was the first Black woman physician to receive a medical patent, which she received in 1986, for the Laserphaco Probe and technique, which performed all steps of cataract removal.


Eleanor K. Baum Education, Science 1940 New York 2007

Eleanor K. Baum

Year Honored: 2007
Birth: 1940 -
Born In: New York
Achievements: Education, Science

As the former Dean of Engineering at Cooper Union and the Executive Director of the Cooper Union Research Foundation, Dr. Eleanor Baum is the first female engineer to be named dean of a college of engineering in the United States. In 1995, she became the first female president of the American Society for Engineering Education. An electrical engineer who has worked in the aerospace industry, Dr. Baum is a respected leader in recruitment and retention of women in the engineering profession.


Ruth Fulton Benedict Science 1887 New York 2005

Ruth Fulton Benedict

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1887 - 1948
Born In: New York
Achievements: Science

A student of Franz Boas and mentor to Margaret Mead, Ruth Fulton Benedict was a highly influential anthropologist whose theories tremendously influenced the field of cultural anthropology. Her 1934 Patterns of Culture became an American classic and is still a highly regarded publication today.


Mary McLeod Bethune Education 1875 South Carolina 1973

Mary McLeod Bethune

Year Honored: 1973
Birth: 1875 - 1955
Born In: South Carolina
Achievements: Education

African American teacher who, with only $1.50, began a school to help educate young African American women. After developing it into a college, she became a powerful leader, and through her leadership of the National Council of Negro Women, worked to end discrimination and increase opportunities for African Americans.


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.


Elizabeth Blackwell Science 1821 England 1973

Elizabeth Blackwell

Year Honored: 1973
Birth: 1821 - 1910
Born In: England
Achievements: Science

First American woman awarded an M.D. Blackwell founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and the Women’s Medical College, after having been banned from hospitals in New York. She paved the way for women in medicine.


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.


Amelia Bloomer Humanities 1818 New York 1995

Amelia Bloomer

Year Honored: 1995
Birth: 1818 - 1894
Born In: New York
Achievements: Humanities

First woman to own, operate and edit a newspaper for women, The Lily. First published in 1849 in Seneca Falls, New York, it became a recognized forum for women’s rights issues. She often wore full-cut pantaloons under a short skirt, giving birth to the term “bloomers.”


Louise Bourgeois Arts 1911 France 2009

Louise Bourgeois

Year Honored: 2009
Birth: 1911 - 2010
Born In: France
Achievements: Arts

One of the world’s most preeminent artists, Louise Bourgeois’s career spanned over seven decades. Best known for her work as a sculptor, Bourgeois used a variety of materials including wood, metal, marble and latex to create works often reflective of her childhood experiences and life relationships. In 1982, Bourgeois became the first female artist to be given a retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in 1997 she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Her varied and extensive body of work has been displayed in the collections of major museums worldwide.


Margaret Bourke-White Arts 1904 New York 1990

Margaret Bourke-White

Year Honored: 1990
Birth: 1904 - 1971
Born In: New York
Achievements: Arts

Trailblazing photographer, recording the Depression, London in the Blitz, Stalin and the Kremlin, World War II and more as the paramount photographer for Life, Fortune and other publications.


Lydia Moss Bradley Business, Philanthropy 1816 Indiana 1998

Lydia Moss Bradley

Year Honored: 1998
Birth: 1816 - 1908
Born In: Indiana
Achievements: Business, Philanthropy

Educator, founder of Bradley University and coeducation advocate. Bradley was a pioneer in business and education, the first female member of a national bank board in the United States. Noted as a philanthropist who financially supported many social causes, she determined that Bradley University would be for both women and men.


Myra Bradwell Government 1831 Vermont 1994

Myra Bradwell

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1831 - 1894
Born In: Vermont
Achievements: Government

America’s first woman lawyer. When denied permission to practice law in Illinois (despite passing the bar examination) because of her gender, she began publishing The Chicago Legal News, a very successful legal journal. When the laws changed in 1892, Bradwell was admitted to practice in Illinois and in the U.S. Supreme Court.


Mary Breckinridge Science 1881 Tennessee 1995

Mary Breckinridge

Year Honored: 1995
Birth: 1881 - 1965
Born In: Tennessee
Achievements: Science

The United States foremost pioneer in the development of midwifery and provision of care to rural areas. Breckinridge founded the Frontier Nursing Service.


Ruby Bridges Humanities 1954 Mississippi 2024

Ruby Bridges

Year Honored: 2024
Birth: 1954 -
Born In: Mississippi
Achievements: Humanities

Civil Rights icon, activist, author, and speaker, Ruby Bridges stepped into history books in 1960 when at six years old she single-handedly broke down barriers by desegregating the all-white William Frantz Elementary school in New Orleans.


Nancy Brinker Philanthropy 1946 Illinois 2015

Nancy Brinker

Year Honored: 2015
Birth: 1946 -
Born In: Illinois
Achievements: Philanthropy

The founder of Susan G. Komen®, Nancy Brinker pioneered in the concept of cause-related marketing allowing millions to participate in the commitment to eradicate breast cancer.  She is regarded as the leader of the global breast cancer movement.


Gwendolyn Brooks Arts 1917 Kansas 1988

Gwendolyn Brooks

Year Honored: 1988
Birth: 1917 - 2000
Born In: Kansas
Achievements: Arts

Poet and novelist. Brooks was the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize (Annie Allen, 1949). She was very active in the Black arts movement.


Pearl S. Buck Arts 1892 West Virginia 1973

Pearl S. Buck

Year Honored: 1973
Birth: 1892 - 1973
Born In: West Virginia
Achievements: Arts

Novelist whose writing evoked two different cultures, American and Asian. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize for The Good Earth and was later the first American woman awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for her body of work.


Betty Bumpers Humanities 1925 Arkansas 2005

Betty Bumpers

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1925 - 2018
Born In: Arkansas
Achievements: Humanities

Former first lady of Arkansas, Betty Bumpers dedicated herself to world peace and health initiatives for children across the United States. As First Lady of Arkansas, Mrs. Bumpers spearheaded an immunization program in her state that became a national model. She also co-founded Every Child by Two with Rosalynn Carter, a national immunization program. Mrs. Bumpers was active in the global campaign to eradicate polio.


Charlotte Anne Bunch Education, Humanities 1944 North Carolina 1996

Charlotte Anne Bunch

Year Honored: 1996
Birth: 1944 -
Born In: North Carolina
Achievements: Education, Humanities

Founder and director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University. Bunch has helped shape the global feminist movement and created consciousness about gender-based human rights. She is also a leader in national and international networking and advocacy for women.


Octavia E. Butler Arts 1947 California 2021

Octavia E. Butler

Year Honored: 2021
Birth: 1947 - 2006
Born In: California
Achievements: Arts