Discover the Women of the Hall

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.

Following a forced retirement at age 65, Kuhn began work forming the Gray Panthers, an organization which addressed age discrimination and pension rights. Kuhn also addressed large public issues, including nursing home reform, forced retirement and fraud against the elderly.

A medical and pharmaceutical researcher for the Food and Drug Administration, she refused to approve the use of thalidomide in this country, saving countless babies from terrible deformities. As a result of her testimony before Congress, the 1962 drug act was passed, giving the FDA greater control over the manufacture, testing and distribution of drugs. During a career with the FDA which spanned over 39 years, her supervision of clinical investigators has institutionalized the protection of the patient in drug investigations.

A Methodist bishop, Leontine T.C. Kelly was the first African American woman to be elected bishop in the United Methodist Church. She served as bishop of the California-Nevada Annual Conference and the president of the Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops. Committed to peace and justice, she was arrested several times for protesting nuclear weapons, and was one of 18 bishops who signed a letter to the Methodist Church in response to its policy toward gays and lesbians in the church.

Interested in science and medicine from a young age, Kwolek graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology and then took a job at DuPont Chemicals to save for graduate studies. However, her love of working with polymers kept her at DuPont, where she discovered the fiber that led to the development of Kevlar, a bulletproof material five times stronger than steel. Kwolek is the recipient or co-recipient of 17 U.S. patents.

After graduating from the University of Zurich medical school, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross married and moved to the United States. She began working in hospitals, where she was appalled at the treatment of terminally ill patients. Her 1969 bestseller On Death and Dying revolutionized the medical profession’s treatment and understanding of dying patients, serving as a voice for the rights of the terminally ill. Her work was a catalyst for now commonly accepted ideas such as hospice care, living wills, and death with dignity.

One of the most celebrated champions of human and civil rights, Coretta Scott King, in partnership with her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ignited democracy movements worldwide. For over forty years, King traveled extensively as a messenger of peace, justice and social action. Notably, in 1974, she formed and co-chaired the National Committee for Full Employment, formed the Coalition of Conscience (1983), and co-convened the Soviet-American Women’s Summit (1990). In 1969, she became the founding president, chair and chief executive officer of The King Center, the first institution built in memory of an African American leader. As a lifelong advocate for non-violence and coalition building, King’s legacy will continue to serve as an example for years to come.

The first contemporary woman to head both a major women’s college (Wellesley) and a research university (Duke). Her efforts have increased minority student enrollment and improved faculty diversity.

Susan Kelly-Dreiss has worked for over 30 years to enact legal protections, implement innovative services and heighten public awareness on behalf of battered women and their children. In 1976, Kelly-Dreiss lobbied for passage of Pennsylvania’s first domestic violence law, and later that same year, she co-founded the nation’s first domestic violence coalition, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV). She was a founding member of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, and has played a key role in drafting federal legislation including the Federal Violence Prevention and Services Act and the Violence Against Women Act.

Through her pioneering work studying images of women in advertising, Jean Kilbourne has changed the conversation as to how organizations and educational institutions address many public health problems including smoking, high-risk drinking eating disorders, obesity, sexualization of children, and violence against women.

Dominated the world of tennis for more than 20 years, winning 20 Wimbledon titles, 13 U.S. Open titles and more. King was the founder of the Women’s Tennis Association and helped create the Women’s Sports Foundation.

With more than 3,700 career wins, Julie Krone is the leading female Thoroughbred horse racing jockey of all time. Krone made history in 1993 when she became the first woman to win a Triple Crown event at the Belmont Stakes. In 2003, she went on to become the first woman to win a Breeders’ Cup event at the Juvenile Fillies and the first woman to win a million dollar event at the Pacific Classic. Krone initially retired from horse racing in 1999 and became a commentator and analyst for the TVG racing network, but returned to the sport in 2002, retiring for a second time in 2004. Krone was named ESPN’s 1993 Professional Female Athlete of the Year, and in 2000, she became the first woman inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame.