Maria Tallchief (1925 - )
Prima ballerina with the New York City Ballet and artistic director for the Lyric Opera Ballet in Chicago. Tallchief created a distinctive style and interpretation which continues to influence contemporary ballet. She used her international acclaim to bring about greater understanding and appreciation of Native Americans.
Ida Tarbell (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.
Helen Brooke Taussig (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.
Sojourner Truth (c. 1797 - 1883)
Abolitionist born a slave who became a Quaker missionary. Truth eventually became a traveling preacher of great influence who worked in the antislavery movement. She learned about women's rights, and adopted that cause as well. She went on to counsel and help newly freed African Americans.
Harriet Tubman (c. 1820 - 1913)
Abolitionist born a slave in Maryland. Fleeing north to freedom, Tubman joined the Underground Railroad as a "conductor" who led people through the lines to freedom. Credited with saving more that 300 people from slavery, she became known as "Moses." During the Civil War, Tubman organized former slaves into scouts and spy patrols, and after the war worked to help needy African Americans.
