Honored: 1973 (1900 - 1993)
A major actress in all entertainment areas, from live theater to films and radio. In 1955, New York's Fulton Theatre was renamed in her honor to commemorate a distinguished 50-year career.
Honored: 1973 (1880 - 1968)
Author and lecturer. An illness at the age of 19 months left her deaf, blind and mute. Through the work of teacher Anne Sullivan, she learned to overcome these daunting handicaps and became a powerful and effective national spokesperson on behalf of others with similar disabilities.
Honored: 1993 (1918 - 1994)
Athlete who set a world record and won two track and field gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. As an amateur, Stephens set Olympic, American and Canadian records in running, broad jump and discus. The small-town Missouri girl went on to become the first woman owner/manager of a women's semiprofessional ball team and a lifetime sports advocate.
Honored: 1973 (1896 - 1986)
As Chief of the heart clinic at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she developed a pioneering operation in 1944 which solved the often fatal "blue baby" (children born with an anatomical heart defect) problem, saving countless infants.
Honored: 1994 (1949 - )
Creative philanthropist who has used her own resources and others to create women's funding institutions. Hunt is Co-founder of the National Network of Women's Funds, and creator of the New York Women's Foundation, the Dallas Women's Foundation, and The Sister Fund, all of which provide resources to support grass roots women's programs and projects.
Honored: 2011 (1923 - )
A pioneering chemist, Helen Murray Free conducted research that revolutionized diagnostic testing in the laboratory and at home. Free is the co-developer of Clinistix, the first dip-and-read diagnostic test strips for monitoring glucose in urine. Along with her husband, Alfred Free, she also developed additional strips for testing levels of key indicators for other diseases. Today, dip-and-read strips make testing for diabetes, pregnancy, and other conditions available in underdeveloped regions of the United States and in foreign countries. Free is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and the American Chemical Society’s 66th National Historic Chemical Landmark designation (2010).
Honored: 2007 (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.
Honored: 2005 (1947 - )
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.
Honored: 2000 (1857 - 1944)
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 Magazine, authored several biographies, and, in spite of her 1912 anti-feminist book, The Business of Being a Women, remains a role model for women and men in journalism.
Honored: 1988 (1862 - 1931)
African American leader, anti-lynching crusader, journalist, lecturer and community organizer who fought social injustice all her life. Wells-Barnett sued a railroad over segregated seating, criticized segregated education and became editor and part owner of a newspaper. The horrors of lynching inspired her to lead a major effort to abolish the atrocity.
