Honored: 1994 (1954 - )
The first African American woman to own her own television production company and who became television's highest-paid entertainer. As host of the nation's most successful talk show, Winfrey reaches more that 15 million people every day. She is an advocate for ending child abuse, and she contributes generously to colleges and universities.
Honored: 1996 (1905 - 1995)
Shaped the development of two major government institutions as first Director of the Women's Army Corps and first Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. She was the first female to attain the rank of United States Colonel and the only woman to serve in President Dwight D. Eisenhower's cabinet.
Honored: 1995 (1940 - )
Served as the senior woman in Congress, first elected in 1972 from Colorado. Schroeder worked to establish a national pro-family policy, promoting issues such as parental leave, child care and family planning.
Honored: 2005 (1928 - 2001)
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.
Honored: 2003 (1924 - 1985)
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.
Honored: 2003 (1927 - 2002)
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.
Honored: 2002 (1813 - 1876)
Born and raised in western New York, Davis headed the committee that organized the first National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, MA in 1850. She helped found the New England Women's Suffrage Association and established "Una," one of the first women's rights newspapers.
Honored: 1973 (1892 - 1973)
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.
Honored: 1973 (1907 - 1964)
Zoologist whose concern over the damaging effects of pesticides and other poisons on the environment led to her groundbreaking work, Silent Spring. Carson's book was a catalyst for the environmental movement of today.
Honored: 2009 (1866 - 1956)
In 1927, a time when very few agencies existed to promote adoption, Rebecca Talbot Perkins joined with the Alliance of Women’s Clubs of Brooklyn to create The Rebecca Talbot Perkins Adoption Society. Later known as Talbot Perkins Children’s Services, the organization provided foster care and adoption services to countless families across the country for 75 years. Throughout her lifetime, Perkins was active in various charitable and civic causes as a member of the Brooklyn Women’s Suffrage Society, chair of the Alliance of Women’s Clubs of Brooklyn, Vice President of the Memorial Hospital for Women and Children, and a director of the Welcome Home for Girls.
