These nine women will join the 217 already inducted into the Hall, the first national membership organization recognizing and celebrating the accomplishments of great American women.
Dr. Eleanor K. Baum (1940 - ) Currently serving as the 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.
Julia Child (1912 - 2004) A graduate of Smith College, Julia Child went on to attend classes at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. The famous American cook, author, and television personality introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to America through her cookbooks and television programs. Her most famous works include the 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and the television series The French Chef, which premiered in 1963. She is widely credited with demystifying the art of fine cooking.
Swanee Hunt (1950 - ) Swanee Hunt is Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. An internationally recognized expert on foreign affairs and diplomacy, Hunt is heralded for her trailblazing work to increase the participation and inclusion of women in peace processes around the world. She is also President of Hunt Alternatives Fund, a private foundation committed to advancing social change at local, national and global levels.
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004) After graduating from the University of Zurich medical school, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross married and moved to the United States. She began working in hospitals, where she was appalled at the treatment of terminally ill patients. Her 1969 bestseller On Death and Dying revolutionized the medical profession's treatment and understanding of dying patients, serving as a voice for the rights of the terminally ill. Her work was a catalyst for now commonly accepted ideas such as hospice care, living wills, and death with dignity.
Winona LaDuke (1959 - ) A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, Winona LaDuke advocates for public support and funding for frontline native environmental groups. In 1994, she was nominated by Time Magazine as one of America's most promising leaders under forty years of age. In 1998, she was named Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year. Ms. LaDuke was the vice-presidential candidate on the Green Party ticket in both 1996 and 2000. She currently serves as director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project in Minnesota.
Dr. Judith L. Pipher (1940- ) Dr. Judith Pipher's research in the field of Infrared Astronomy began in graduate school with work on some of the first rocket-borne telescopes. Since 1971, Dr. Pipher has served on the faculty of the University of Rochester, where she and her colleagues were the first U.S. astronomers to turn an infrared array toward the skies. Her experiments with ground-based and airborne telescopes culminated in development of a camera for, and infrared observations on, the Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003.
Catherine Filene Shouse (1896 - 1994) Known for her visionary work in education, arts, politics and women's affairs, Catherine Filene Shouse was the first woman to receive a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University and the first woman appointed to the Democratic National Committee in 1919. Ten years later, she launched the Institute for Women's Professional Relations. An ardent supporter of the arts and arts education, Catherine Filene Shouse founded and was the major benefactor of the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia - the first and only national park dedicated to the performing arts. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald R. Ford in 1977.
Henrietta Szold (1860 - 1945) The daughter of Hungarian immigrants, educator and social pioneer Henrietta Szold was an important figure in both American and Jewish history. In 1889, she opened a night school to educate immigrants in English and civics, creating a model for other night schools and immigrant education programs. Her groundbreaking work in the American Jewish community continued with her founding of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, in 1912. Ms. Szold moved to pre-state Israel in 1920, continuing her work with the American Zionist Medical Unit, which she organized in 1918.
Martha Coffin Wright (1806 - 1875) Martha Coffin Wright was one of five visionary women who organized the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, forever changing the course of American history. She was also one of the few women who attended the 1833 founding meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society. An accomplished author, she wrote for local and national publications on anti-slavery and women's rights issues. She was elected President of the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1874, serving until her death in 1875.
The National Women's Hall of Fame is a national membership organization recognizing and celebrating the achievements of individual American women. The Hall was founded in historic Seneca Falls, New York, the site of the first Women's Rights Convention in 1848. A not-for-profit educational organization, its programs include inductions of distinguished American women, educational activities, special exhibits, and events for the enrichment of public understanding and appreciation of the diverse contributions women make to society. Two hundred and seventeen women have been inducted since the Hall's founding in 1969. The National Women's Hall of Fame is supported by corporations, foundations, and individual benefactors.
Each of this year's 14 National Women's History Month Honorees has demonstrated the courage to pave new paths, to push beyond what was considered safe or appropriate. In so doing, they have created an expanded vision of what is possible for all of us to achieve. Their singular and combined work challenges social assumptions and stereotypes about who women are and what women can accomplish.
Their lives and work provide guideposts of hope for our future and remind us all of the tenacity, determination, and hard work needed to move history forward.
Matilda Joslyn Gage was a 19th century suffragist, historian of women, newspaper editor, author and lecturer, woman's rights activist and theorist, advocate for civil rights, and abolitionist, who served as a top officer in the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) for twenty years. A committed abolitionist who opened her home as a stop on the Underground Railroad, she challenged the laws of her nation, risking arrest and imprisonment by helping fugitive slaves escape to freedom. Gage wrote about the superior position of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) women and supported treaty rights and Native sovereignty. Influenced by the Haudenosaunee egalitarian culture, she in turn influenced the utopian feminist vision of her son-in-law, L. Frank Baum, in his fourteen Oz books.
Virginia Foster Durr was born near Birmingham in 1903, her long life bridged the post-Civil War era to the American Civil Rights Movement. The granddaughter of a former slave holder, she became an ostracized anti-racist convert. Her amazing life of determined tenacity testifies to the ability of an individual to be transform by observation, experience, and bsic sense of right and wrong from an unquestioning racist to a courageous activist, organizer, and leader for social justice.
Martha Wright Griffiths was born on January 29, 1912 in Pierce City, Missouri. As a young woman, she was inspired by the activism and leadership of her paternal grandmother, Jeanette Hinds Wright, a leading advocate for woman suffrage in Pierce City. She was a champion debater in her public high school and continued on the debate team when she went to the University of Missouri. She went to law school at the University of Michigan and graduated in 1940 along with her husband, Hick Griffiths (making them the first married couple to graduate from the law school).
Constance Baker Motley was born on September 14, 1921 in New Haven, Connecticut, the ninth of 12 children born to parents who had emigrated from the island of Nevis in the West Indies. Her pioneering career as a civil rights lawyer, lawmaker and judge spanned six decades and was highlighted by numerous historic achievements, including becoming the first African American woman accepted at Columbia Law School, the first African American woman elected to the New York Senate, the first woman and the first black woman to hold the position of Manhattan Borough President, and the first African American woman appointed to serve as a federal district judge.
Defying any single category of cause or action, Lupe Anguiano, an educator, has always worked for the equality of all people. She is a passionate environment volunteer, helping to protect "Mother Earth" from global warming and other destructive environmental hazards. In 1949, she joined Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters. As a nun, she worked for fifteen years to improve the social, educational, and economic conditions of poor people throughout the United States. Anguiano was also a United Farm Workers' Volunteer, working directly under the direction of Cesar Chavez in Delano, California. She led the successfully grape boycott in the entire State of Michigan in 1965.
In Brownie Ledbetter's life, we see a lifetime of dedication to making the world a better place. Her impact on a fair education for all is indelible. In response to the racial crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957, Brownie worked across racial lines to elect school board members one of the founding members of the Panel of American Women in Arkansas, in 1963. The Panel was composed of women of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, mothers of public school students who spoke to school, church and civic groups about their experiences and their commitment to diversity. In 1981 the Panel of American Women evolved into the Arkansas Public Policy Panel that organized and assisted grassroots groups, eventually founding the Arkansas Citizens Congress and Brownie Ledbetter served as founder and executive director for 20 years. Ledbetter founded the Arkansas Fairness Council, a coalition of education, labor, civil rights and women's organizations advocating for fair taxes in 1983 and served as president and lobbyist of the Council for 15 years.
Minnijean Brown Trickey was only sixteen years old when she became involved in one of the most pivotal acts of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. As one of The Little Rock Nine, she along with eight other Black American teenagers, defied death threats, hostile white demonstrators, and even the Arkansas National Guard, to attend the all-White Little Rock Central High in 1957. Rising above the adversity, she took a courageous step that not only changed her life and education, but the lives and educations of African Americans around the country.
Barbara Irvine is a national advocate for the recognition and preservation of women's historic sites. Based on her work to save one woman's site in New Jersey, Barbara learned that nationwide most historic resources associated with women were generally unrecognized and in jeopardy of being lost forever.She assumed a major role in calling attention to the plight of women's sites and the interpretation of women's history at historic sites throughout the United States.
In 1980, Ruthsdotter co-founded the National Women's History Project. Along with her co-founders, she developed materials for students, teachers, librarians, parents, workplace organizers, and the media. She produced curriculum units, organizing guides, teacher training sessions, and videos on U.S. women's history. The thousand of packets of press releases and women's history information she compiled to promote women's history were sent to radio, television, magazines, and newspapers throughout the nation. She coordinated the Women's History Network which linked historians, librarians, performers, and community organizers nationwide. With her efforts, the NWHP became the national clearinghouse for multicultural women's history resources. She and her husband, Dave, created two award-winning websites. Her amazing work encouraged new generations to discover women's history and contributed greatly to the knowledge of how women have history forward.
Rebecca Halstead enter the United States Military Academy in 1977. She was one of 104 women to enter in the second class that included women, which was made possible in 1975, when President Gerald Ford signed into legislation the opening for women applicants at all service academies.
Joanelle Romero, humanitarian, filmmaker, actress, recording artist/singer/songwriter, in 2006 launched Red Nation Media Internet and Television Channel with all Native programming. Her accomplishments as a pioneer in film, television, non-profit organizations, educator, philanthropist, producer, director, have established her as one of the most respected and admired public figures today. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico of Apache/Cheyenne, Jewish and Spanish descent, Romero was raised in Los Angeles on a variety of TV and movie sets, where she learned her craft. (www.RedNation.com).
Suzanne Lewis, becoming the first female Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park on February 10, 2002, testified to a 21st century change in the culture of the National Park Service. There had been a time when women in the National Park Service (NPS) including pioneer rangers, superintendents, and maintenance workers had to fight to win the right to wear the traditional Stetson hat and the gray and green uniform that conferred full authority on their positions in the eyes of the public. Today, the culture of the organization is visibly changed. NPS visitors now hear presentations that incorporate women's roles in their exhibits and talks. One-third of the fifteen thousand Park Service employees are women and twenty percent of the women represent minorities. Clearly, Lewis is a important representative of a generation of women who are moving history forward.
Toshi Reagon was born in Atlanta in 1964 and currently lives in New York City. A musician known for her energetic performances, she has an exemplary gift for writing engaging songs that provoke listeners to think and have fun at the same time. She is an amazing artist who in some ways is a throwback to classic R & B artists, like Stevie Wonder or Prince, or old school rock group like Led Zeppelin. With incredible ease, she can take any style, update it, and make it her own. Despite (or because of) her genre-bending, Reagon fits comfortably on a stage at Carnegie Hall, or in a dirty rock club.
Monique Mehta graduated from Colgate University with a concentration in Sociology and Women's Studies. Working effectively as a grassroots organizer she helped women and their families deal with compelling problems that included immigrant issues, reproductive health, violence against women, human trafficking, homelessness and organizing low-wage workers.