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

Katharine Graham Arts, Business 1917 New York 2002

Katharine Graham

Year Honored: 2002
Birth: 1917 - 2001
Born In: New York
Achievements: Arts, Business

As publisher and then Board Chair and CEO of the Washington Post, Graham became one of the most influential women in the country. Her courageous decisions to publish the Pentagon Papers and to proceed with the Watergate investigation earned her a reputation as a daring and thorough journalist, willing to take risks in order to give the American people full access to important information.


Bertha Holt Humanities 1904 Iowa 2002

Bertha Holt

Year Honored: 2002
Birth: 1904 - 2000
Born In: Iowa
Achievements: Humanities

A pioneer in international adoption, Bertha and her husband adopted 8 Korean children in addition to their own 6 children. The Holt Adoption program, later called Holt International Children’s Services, was established in 1956 to help those interested in inter-country adoptions.


Mary Engle Pennington Science 1872 Tennessee 2002

Mary Engle Pennington

Year Honored: 2002
Birth: 1872 - 1952
Born In: Tennessee
Achievements: Science

Chemist and refrigeration expert Mary Engle Pennington saved thousands of lives by creating national standards for milk and dairy inspection and improved the safety and convenience of refrigerated and frozen foods. She was also instrumental in developing safe and sanitary methods for the storage and handling of poultry, fish, and eggs, contributing techniques that solved humidity control problems, insulation and ventilation issues.


Martha Matilda Harper Business 1857 Canada 2003

Martha Matilda Harper

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1857 - 1950
Born In: Canada
Achievements: Business

After 25 years of low-wage service, Martha Matilda Harper started a beauty products system called the Harper Method, eventually realizing over 500 franchises world-wide in the 1920s. Harper is credited with creating the modern retail franchising method. She was also known as a social justice advocate ahead of her time, offering evening hours for working women, profit-sharing and personal time off. She refused to use permanents or hair dyes in her salons because of the associated chemicals.


Sacagawea / Sacajawea / Sakakawea Humanities c.1788 Idaho 2003

Sacagawea / Sacajawea / Sakakawea

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: c.1788 - 0
Born In: Idaho
Achievements: Humanities

A Shoshone woman who served as a guide to Lewis and Clark during their exploration of the American West, Sacagawea was an instrumental part in the success of this legendary Expedition.


Mildred Robbins Leet Philanthropy 1922 New York 2003

Mildred Robbins Leet

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1922 - 2011
Born In: New York
Achievements: Philanthropy

As Co-founder and Chairman of the Trickle Up Program, Inc., philanthropist Mildred Leet assisted people worldwide in rising out of poverty. Trickle Up provides seed capital to impoverished individuals, allowing them the opportunity to work their way to self-sufficiency. Leet also helped found United Cerebral Palsy and was a co-founder and Vice President of the U.S. Committee for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).


Patsy Takemoto Mink Government 1927 Hawaii 2003

Patsy Takemoto Mink

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1927 - 2002
Born In: Hawaii
Achievements: Government

As the first Asian-American Congresswoman in the history of the United States, attorney Patsy Takemoto Mink opened doors for women and minorities. Her persistence in securing the passage of Title IX in 1972 assured equal treatment for women in athletics in American educational institutions.


Sheila E. Widnall Education, Government, Science 1938 Washington 2003

Sheila E. Widnall

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1938 -
Born In: Washington
Achievements: Education, Government, Science

Appointed Secretary of the Air Force in 1993 by President Clinton, Widnall became the first woman to hold the position. A world-renowned scientist, she holds three patents in airflow technology. As a current member of MIT faculty, she is internationally known for her work in fluid dynamics, specifically in the areas of aircraft turbulence and the spiraling air flows called vortices created by helicopters.


Linda G. Alvarado Business 1951 New Mexico 2003

Linda G. Alvarado

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1951 -
Born In: New Mexico
Achievements: Business

Hispanic-American businesswoman who started her own construction firm in 1976 and has broken many barriers in a historically male-dominated world. As co-owner of The Colorado Rockies baseball team, Alvarado is also the first Hispanic-American, male or female, to own a major league baseball franchise.


Anne Sullivan Education 1866 Massachusetts 2003

Anne Sullivan

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1866 - 1936
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Education

Best known as the woman who taught Helen Keller to read, write and minimally speak, Anne Sullivan lost her own sight to trachoma at an early age. She went on to graduate from Perkins School for the Blind in Boston and eventually receive medical treatment that restored her sight. Both Sullivan and Keller became role models for thousands of physically challenged people around the world.


Donna de Varona Athletics 1947 California 2003

Donna de Varona

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1947 -
Born In: California
Achievements: Athletics

In 1960, at the age of 13, de Varona became the youngest member of a U.S. Olympic swim team. Just four years later, she won gold medals in the 400 IM and 400 Freestyle Relay at the Tokyo Olympics. She went on to set 18 world records in her career, and was the first President of the Women’s Sports Foundation.


Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle Athletics 1905 New York 2003

Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1905 - 2003
Born In: New York
Achievements: Athletics

In 1926, Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, setting a new time record that would stand for the next 35 years. Ederle’s accomplishment was a milestone as it expanded opportunity for other women in athletics.


Patricia Roberts Harris Government 1924 Illinois 2003

Patricia Roberts Harris

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1924 - 1985
Born In: Illinois
Achievements: Government

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Harris ambassador to Luxembourg, making her the first African-American women to hold the position of ambassador. She then served as the first African-American woman to head a law school, when she was appointed dean of Howard University School of Law in 1969. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter chose Harris to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and eventually Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, thus making her the first African-American woman to be appointed a Cabinet Secretary.


Stephanie L. Kwolek Stephanie L. Kwolek Science 1923 Pennsylvania 2003
Stephanie L. Kwolek

Stephanie L. Kwolek

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1923 - 2014
Born In: Pennsylvania
Achievements: Science

Interested in science and medicine from a young age, Kwolek graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology and then took a job at DuPont Chemicals to save for graduate studies. However, her love of working with polymers kept her at DuPont, where she discovered the fiber that led to the development of Kevlar, a bulletproof material five times stronger than steel. Kwolek is the recipient or co-recipient of 17 U.S. patents.


Dorothea Lange Arts 1895 New Jersey 2003

Dorothea Lange

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1895 - 1965
Born In: New Jersey
Achievements: Arts

Lange was a pioneer in documentary photography, remembered for her wide-ranging photographs of Americans during the depression and the Japanese-American internment during World War II, and for her later work in Asia. She put a human face on political issues of the day, such as poverty and social injustice. Lange was the first woman awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in photography in 1940.


Florence Ellinwood Allen Government 1884 Utah 2005

Florence Ellinwood Allen

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1884 - 1966
Born In: Utah
Achievements: Government

Judge Florence Ellinwood Allen was a legal pioneer, breaking barriers for women in law. Her numerous accomplishments include becoming the first American woman to hold the office of Assistant County Prosecutor, first woman judge of the highest court of a state by election (Ohio), and first female judge of a United States Circuit Court of Appeals by presidential appointment.


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.


Mother Marianne Cope Humanities 1838 Germany 2005

Mother Marianne Cope

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1838 - 1918
Born In: Germany
Achievements: Humanities

As a Sister of the Third Order of St. Francis, Mother Marianne Cope worked for several years in Syracuse, New York, helping to found St. Joseph’s Hospital. In 1883, she went to Kalaupapa, Hawaii where she spent thirty years ministering to those with leprosy. While in Hawaii, she worked hand in hand with Father Damien during the last part of his life.


Patricia A. Locke Education 1928 Idaho 2005

Patricia A. Locke

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1928 - 2001
Born In: Idaho
Achievements: Education

Locke worked for decades to preserve American Indian languages and became a pioneer in an effort to grant the tribes greater authority in the education of their children. Locke was a 1991 MacArthur Fellow for her work to save dying tribal languages. In 1993, she became the first Native American woman elected to the national governing body of the Baha’i faith.


Mary Burnett Talbert Humanities 1866 Ohio 2005

Mary Burnett Talbert

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1866 - 1923
Born In: Ohio
Achievements: Humanities

Civil Rights activist and suffragist, Talbert was the first African-American high school principal in the state of Arkansas. Moving to Buffalo in 1891, she went on to lecture internationally on race relations and women’s rights. In 1905, she helped found and organize the Niagara Movement, a forerunner of the NAACP.


Hillary Rodham Clinton Government 1947 Illinois 2005

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1947 -
Born In: Illinois
Achievements: Government

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first First Lady ever to be elected to the United States Senate. She is the first woman Senator from New York. Her efforts on behalf of women’s, family and children’s issues began during her earliest employment as an attorney and remain steadfast today. Senator Clinton is the first New York State Senator to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee.


Maya Y. Lin Arts 1959 Ohio 2005

Maya Y. Lin

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1959 -
Born In: Ohio
Achievements: Arts

Lin, an architectural designer who gained fame at the age of 21 as creator of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, is a Chinese-American who draws on a variety of culturally diverse sources for her inspiration. Some of her well-known works include the Civil Rights Memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, AL and The Wave Field at the University of Michigan.


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.


Rita Rossi Colwell Science 1934 Massachusetts 2005

Rita Rossi Colwell

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1934 -
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Science

Dr. Rita R. Colwell became the first woman and first biologist to head the National Science Foundation in 1998, spearheading the agency’s emphases in K-12 science and mathematics education, graduate science and engineering education/training and the increased participation of women and minorities in science and engineering.

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