Women In History Ohio
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Women In History - Historical Figures

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These figures bring Ohio History to life.
V     These figures are available via virtual presentation only (e.g., Zoom or Webex).

Bella Abzug (1920-1998)​

United States Congresswoman and rights activist.

Abigail Smith Adams (1744-1818)​

Wife of John Adams, 2nd President of the United States and mother of John Quincy Adams, 6th President. Known for her letters and opinions on society.

Jane Addams (1860-1935)

Social Activist, founder of Hull House, charter member of the NAACP, Nobel Peace Prize winner and labor union organizer.

​Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Seamstress, servant, teacher, Civil War nurse, and finally, author and novelist

Judge Florence Allen (1884-1966)​

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First woman to serve as a state Supreme Court Justice (Ohio)​

Marion Anderson (1897-1993)

African American Contralto​

Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906)

Napoleon of the women's suffrage movement, mother of the 19th Amendment, abolitionist

Sara Lucy Bagby (1833-1906)

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One of the last fugitives to be surrendered by the North and returned to the South under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act before the Civil War.

Ida B. Wells Barnett (1862-1931)

African-American educator, newspaperwoman, anti-lynching campaigner, founder NAACP

Clara Barton (1821-1912)

Civil War nurse, founder of the American Red Cross

Sarah Bernhardt (1844 - 1923)

French Stage Actress at the turn of the last century

Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)

African-American educator, founder of Bethune-Cookman College, Daytona Beach, Florida, Presidential advisor, recipient of Spingarn Medal

Margaret "Molly" Tobin Brown (1867-1932)

Titanic survivor and a woman who was determined to break the rules of "high society"

Eliza Bryant (1827-1907)

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V     ​​African American founder of The Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People

Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Cannary (1852-1903)

A lone woman in the wilds of the Rocky Mountain west

Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

Marine biologist, science writer, and environmentalist

Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893)

African-American born pioneer journalist and lecturer

Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947)

Suffragette, founder of the League of Women Voters

Cassie L. Chadwick (1857-1907)

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Most infamous Cleveland financial con-artist

Julia Child (1912-2004)

American chef, author, and television personality​

Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

English Mystery Writer

Bessie Coleman (1893-1926)

V     ​American civil aviator, African American

Dorothy Dandridge (1923-1965)

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Actress, singer and dancer. Star of Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess

Sarah Emma Edmonds (1841-1898)

Served as a man with the Union Army​

​Ruth Etting (1897-1978)

Singing star and actress of the 1920s and 1930s, who had over 60 hit recordings and worked in stage, radio, and film.

Mary Fields (1832?-1914)

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African-American entrepreneur, stagecoach driver, pioneer – “Stagecoach Mary”

Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

African American Jazz singer – the First Lady of Song

Betty Ford (1918-2011)

Wife of President Gerald Ford, first lady of the United States from 1974-1977

Dorothy Fuldheim (1893-1989)

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Jewish-American news journalist and television broadcaster; developed format for television news programming

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933 – 2020)

Justice of the United States Supreme Court​

​Emma Goldman (1869-1940)

Vilified in her day as the "most dangerous woman in America," this Russian emigrant earned her title, “Queen of the Anarchists” as labor leader, lecturer, writer, women’s rights activist and free love advocate

​Julia Boggs Dent Grant (1826-1902)

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Wife of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States, was a determined woman who despite family objections married the man she loved. Outspoken, she also created her own plans for ending the Civil War and holding a secret Presidential Inauguration.

Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977)

African-American sharecropper turned civil rights worker and founder of the MS Freedom Democratic Party

Margaret Hamilton (1902-1985)

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Best known for her iconic portrayal of The Wicked Witch of the West

Florence Harding (1860-1924)

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Wife of Warren Harding, 29th President of the United States, the first presidential wife able to vote for her husband. Scandal plagued this First Lady throughout her life

Sally Hemings (1773-1835)

Thomas Jefferson’s concubine.  For more than 200 years, her name has been linked to Thomas Jefferson's, obscuring the facts of her life and her identity. She was a daughter, mother, sister, aunt, inherited as property, seamstress, world traveler, enslaved woman, and liberator. But was she his mistress or his slave?

Billie Holiday (1915-1959)

African American Jazz singer/songwriter – “Lady Day”

Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, USNR (1906-1992)

Amazing Grace! Computer pioneer and Navy veteran
​“We’ve tended to forget that no computer will ever ask a new question."

​Hedda Hopper (1890-1966)

In the golden age of Hollywood, Hedda could make or break careers. Gossip was her business and J. Edgar Hoover was her pen pal

Jane Edna Hunter (1882 – 1971)

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African-American social worker, attorney, founder of Phyllis Wheatley Association of Cleveland

Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643)

A Puritan woman who defied the male-dominated Massachusetts Bay Colony and after banishment helped settle Rhode Island and New York

Mahalia Jackson (1912-1972)

Extraordinary gospel singer and the first African-American woman to gain national acclaim for gospel music

Rebecca Cox Jackson (1795-1871)

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V     ​African-American eldress of the Shaker sect in Cleveland

Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)

American Mathematician, NASA Pioneer and Educator​

“Mother” Mary Harris Jones (1837-1930)

Irish immigrant who lost her family to yellow fever and became the self-proclaimed mother and “hell-raiser” for the downtrodden American laborer, especially children

​Elizabeth Keckley (1820-?)

V     ​Enslaved woman who bought her freedom and became an entrepreneur; personal modiste, dressmaker and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln​

Jacqueline Kennedy (Onassis) (1929-1994)

Wife of President John F. Kennedy​

Gypsy Rose Lee (1911 – 1970)

Stripper, Vaudevillian, Movie Star, Author, Playwright, TV Talk Show Host​

Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882)

Wife of President Abraham Lincoln, misrepresented by popular history and maligned by her peers

Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927)

Founder of the American Girl Scouts

Katie Luther (1449-1552)

The First Lady of the Reformation, beloved wife of Martin Luther

Loretta Lynn (1932-2022)

The Coal Miner’s Daughter - Country Western Singer and Song Writer​

Ida Saxton McKinley (1847-1907)

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Wife of William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, developed a unique way of coping with her epileptic seizures during her public appearances as First Lady

​Lucretia Mott (1793-1880)

Founding Mother of the Women’s Movement.  Suffragist, Abolitionist, Quaker

​Louise Nevelson (1899-1988)

Russian born New York sculptor famous for her shadow box, wall sculptures and her flamboyant personality

​Florence Nightingale (1810 – 1920)

Founder of Modern Nursing​

Salem Witch Trials: Rebecca Nurse (1621 - 1692)

Woman accused and convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692

Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-2023)

The first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court​

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)

Famed American artist who defied convention in both her art and her private life

Louella Parsons (1881-1972)

In the golden age of Hollywood, Louella was a pioneer in the gossip industry ​

Alice Paul (1885-1977)

The woman who rescued the woman suffrage movement (1910) and made sure women got the vote

Rosa Parks (1913-2005) ​

V     ​Civil rights activist, know for refusing to give up her bus seat

Molly Pitcher (Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley) (1754-1832)

Born Mary Ludwig, this revolutionary heroine followed the Continental Army for more than 3 years, doing what was needed to free the colonies from the tyranny of England

Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973)

First woman to hold federal office in the United States.

Sally Ride (1951 - 2012)

First American woman to fly in space.

Rosie the Riveter​

Media icon associated with female defense workers during World War II. 

Eleanor Anna Roosevelt (1884-1962)

Wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, first activist First Lady

Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994)

V     ​African American sprinter, track star Olympiad

​Sacagawea (1788 – 1812 or 1884) 

Shoshone Native American woman who traveled the Louisiana Purchase with Lewis and Clark​

​Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)

​First president of the National Woman's Suffrage Association

Harriet Beecher Stowe ( 1811-1896)

Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin​

Annie Sullivan (1866-1936)

​Helen Keller's teacher

Helen Herron Taft (1861-1943)

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Wife of William H. Taft, 27th President of the United States, always longed to live in the White House. Known for planting Washington D.C.’s legendary cherry trees

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)

V     ​African-American lecturer, suffragette, civil rights leader

Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree) (1797-1883)

African-American abolitionist, Civil War nurse, suffragette

Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913)

​Underground Railroad conductor, Army scout, African-American suffragette

Tasha Tudor (1915 - 2008)

 Children's Book Illustrator, avid gardener​

Elizabeth Van Lew (1818-1900)

Crazy Bet, an abolitionist in the South during the Civil War, who feigned insanity to help free slaves and help the Union Army

Dorothy Vaughan (1910-2008)

V     ​African American mathematician and human computer featured in the movie "Hidden Figures"

Madame C.J. Walker (1867-1919)

V     ​African-American entrepreneur, millionaire and philanthropist

Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919)

Prisoner of war during the Civil War, writer, doctor, fashion trend-setter and the only female to receive the Medal of Honor

Mae West (1892-1980)

First woman to earn a million dollars in the movie business

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957)

Famed children’s author and “storyteller of the prairie”

Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927)

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First woman to run for President, center of a scandal that rocked the nation
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  • Home
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  • Figures
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    • Robin Echols Cooper
    • Molly Cornwell
    • Rose Gabriele
    • Jeannine Gaskin
    • Lynna Metrisin
    • Anne McEvoy
    • Ruth Pangrace
    • Robin Pease
    • Juliette Regnier
    • Debra Rose
    • Allison Smith
    • Sherrie Tolliver
    • Julie Warren
    • Lisa L. Wiley
    • Linda Witkowski
  • Calendar
  • Programs
    • Standard & Custom
    • Suffragists
    • First Ladies Tea
    • Hollywood's Golden Age
    • Legendary Ladies
  • Gallery
  • Connect