Susette La Flesche (1854 - 1903)
Member of the Omaha Tribe and a tireless campaigner for native American rights. La Flesche was the first Native American published lecturer, artist and author. She helped change national perceptions about the rights of Native Americans.
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.
Dorothea Lange (1895 - 1965)
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.
Allie B. Latimer (1929 - )
An attorney, civil rights activist and humanitarian, Allie B. Latimer was instrumental in organizing Federally Employed Women (FEW) in 1968, and served as the organization’s founding president until 1969. In 1977, as a federal attorney, Latimer was the first African American and first woman to serve as General Counsel of a major federal agency as well as the first African American and first woman to attain the GS-18 salary level at the General Services Administration. She was also recognized as part of the 'second wave of feminist pioneers' by the Veteran Feminists of America (VFA).
Emma Lazarus (1849 - 1887)
‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ These famous words from The New Colossus, were written by Emma Lazarus, one of the first successful Jewish American authors. Originally created in 1883, the sonnet was later engraved in bronze and placed at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Throughout her lifetime, Lazarus authored and published numerous poems, essays, letters, short stories and translations. She was an important forerunner of the Zionist movement, having argued for the creation of a Jewish homeland thirteen years before the term Zionist was even coined.
Mildred Robbins Leet (1922 - )
As Co-founder and Chairman of the Trickle Up Program, Inc., philanthropist Leet assists 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).
Maya Y. Lin (1959 - )
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.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906 - 2001)
Author of numerous elegant essays, journals and other books. Lindbergh also excelled as co-pilot and navigator with her husband Charles on their historic flights to promote the development of international aviation.
Patricia A. Locke (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.
Belva Lockwood (1830 - 1917)
First woman to practice law and argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court (1879). Lockwood became a lawyer when she was 40 and used her knowledge to help secure women's suffrage, property law reforms, pay equity and world peace. She helped open the legal profession to women.
Juliette Gordon Low (1860 - 1927)
Founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912. Low was a tireless champion of young girls and raised a fortune to support the Girl Scouts by traveling nationwide for the cause.
Shannon W. Lucid (1943 - )
Astronaut who set the American record for the longest space flight by an American (July 15, 1996). She is a commercial, instrumental and multi-engine-rated pilot who was recently granted the Congressional Space Medal of Honor after logging 223 days in space. One of the first female astronauts, Lucid was a pioneer under scrutiny who demonstrated that women could contribute directly and significantly to the American space program.
Mary Lyon (1797 - 1849)
Founder of Mt. Holyoke, the first college for women, in 1837. It became the model for institutions of higher education for women nationwide. Lyon based her school on sound finances and high quality education in all disciplines, encouraging and educating women to reach beyond teaching and homemaking.
