Discover the Women of the Hall

These are the Inductees of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Select any of the women to discover their stories and learn how they have influenced other women and this country.

Achievements Year Born Where Born Year Inducted Last Name
Year Born: to
Birth State or Country: or
Year Inducted: to
First Letter of Last Name: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Inductee Name Achievements Born Where Born Inducted More

Rebecca Halstead Government 1959 New York 2021

Rebecca Halstead

Year Honored: 2021
Birth: 1959 -
Born In: New York
Achievements: Government

Mia Hamm Athletics 1972 Alabama 2021

Mia Hamm

Year Honored: 2021
Birth: 1972 -
Born In: Alabama
Achievements: Athletics

Joy Harjo Arts 1951 Oklahoma 2021

Joy Harjo

Year Honored: 2021
Birth: 1951 -
Born In: Oklahoma
Achievements: Arts

Emily Howland Humanities 1827 New York 2021

Emily Howland

Year Honored: 2021
Birth: 1827 - 1929
Born In: New York
Achievements: Humanities

Barbara Hillary Athletics 1931 2020

Barbara Hillary

Year Honored: 2020
Birth: 1931 - 2019
Achievements: Athletics

The first Black woman to have ever traveled to both the North and South Pole- both after the age of 75. Inspired by her expeditions, Hillary took interest in the effects of climate change on the polar caps and became a fierce advocate for combating climate change.


Lorraine Hansberry Arts, Humanities 1930 Illinois 2017

Lorraine Hansberry

Year Honored: 2017
Birth: 1930 - 1965
Born In: Illinois
Achievements: Arts, Humanities

A groundbreaking playwright and essayist best known as the author of A Raisin in the Sun, which ensured a place for the Black experience in American theatre. She was the first Black woman to have a show produced on Broadway, the first Black playwright and the youngest American to receive the prestigious New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play, and the first Black American to win the distinguished Drama Desk Award.


Billie Holiday Arts 1915 Maryland 2011

Billie Holiday

Year Honored: 2011
Birth: 1915 - 1959
Born In: Maryland
Achievements: Arts

Considered by many to be one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time, Billie Holiday forever changed the genres of jazz and pop with her unique style. Holiday began her career as a singer in Harlem nightclubs in 1931, without formal musical training. She went on to record and tour with a number of famous musicians like Benny Goodman and Lester Young, and officially began recording under her own name in 1936. Holiday, known for her deeply moving and personal vocals, remains a popular musical legend more than fifty years after her death.


Swanee Hunt Philanthropy 1950 Texas 2007

Swanee Hunt

Year Honored: 2007
Birth: 1950 -
Born In: Texas
Achievements: Philanthropy

Swanee Hunt is the former Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. An internationally recognized expert on foreign affairs and diplomacy, Hunt is heralded for her trailblazing work to increase the participation and inclusion of women in peace processes around the world. She is also President of Hunt Alternatives Fund, a private foundation committed to advancing social change at local, national and global levels.


Patricia Roberts Harris Government 1924 Illinois 2003

Patricia Roberts Harris

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1924 - 1985
Born In: Illinois
Achievements: Government

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.


Martha Matilda Harper Business 1857 Canada 2003

Martha Matilda Harper

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1857 - 1950
Born In: Canada
Achievements: Business

After 25 years of low-wage service, Martha Matilda Harper started a beauty products system called the Harper Method, eventually realizing over 500 franchises world-wide in the 1920s. Harper is credited with creating the modern retail franchising method. She was also known as a social justice advocate ahead of her time, offering evening hours for working women, profit-sharing and personal time off. She refused to use permanents or hair dyes in her salons because of the associated chemicals.


Bertha Holt Humanities 1904 Iowa 2002

Bertha Holt

Year Honored: 2002
Birth: 1904 - 2000
Born In: Iowa
Achievements: Humanities

A pioneer in international adoption, Bertha and her husband adopted 8 Korean children in addition to their own 6 children. The Holt Adoption program, later called Holt International Children’s Services, was established in 1956 to help those interested in inter-country adoptions.


Beatrice A. Hicks Science 1919 New Jersey 2001

Beatrice A. Hicks

Year Honored: 2001
Birth: 1919 - 1979
Born In: New Jersey
Achievements: Science

Engineer, inventor, and business owner, Beatrice Hicks was a pioneer in gaining recognition for women engineers at a time when less than 1% of all U.S. employed engineers were women. She was a founding member and first president of the Society of Women Engineers (1950), which now has a membership of more than 16,000.


Barbara Holdridge Arts, Business 1929 New York 2001

Barbara Holdridge

Year Honored: 2001
Birth: 1929 -
Born In: New York
Achievements: Arts, Business

Barbara Holdridge is the co-founder of Caedmon Records, the first commercially successful project to record and distribute the works of living authors as well as recordings of past literary works by distinguished actors.


Jeanne Holm Government 1921 Oregon 2000

Jeanne Holm

Year Honored: 2000
Birth: 1921 - 2010
Born In: Oregon
Achievements: Government

In her 33 years in the Armed Forces from 1942 to 1975, Major General Holm, USAF, Retired, rose from private to two-star general. Her promotion in 1973 made her the first woman in the history of the U.S. armed forces to achieve the rank of major general. Her work to open ROTC and the military academies to women gave educational benefits and the opportunity for a professional military career to women from all walks of life.


Julia Ward Howe Humanities 1819 New York 1998

Julia Ward Howe

Year Honored: 1998
Birth: 1819 - 1910
Born In: New York
Achievements: Humanities

Suffragist and author of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Howe was a lecturer on religious subjects, a playwright and an organizer of a women’s peace movement. Co-founder (with Lucy Stone et al) of the New England Women Suffrage Association, she lectured and wrote extensively in support of the freedom of women to have an equal place with men in both public and private life.


Mary A. Hallaren Government 1907 1996

Mary A. Hallaren

Year Honored: 1996
Birth: 1907 - 2005
Achievements: Government

Leader who, as Director of the Women’s Army Corps, championed permanent status for women in the military after World War II. Later, as Director of Women in Community Service, Hallaren advocated employment opportunities for at-risk women.


Oveta Culp Hobby Government 1905 1996

Oveta Culp Hobby

Year Honored: 1996
Birth: 1905 - 1995
Achievements: Government

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.


Wilhelmina Cole Holladay Arts, Business, Philanthropy 1922 1996

Wilhelmina Cole Holladay

Year Honored: 1996
Birth: 1922 - 2021
Achievements: Arts, Business, Philanthropy

Founder of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., which brings national and international attention to the vast achievements of women in art.


Helen LaKelly Hunt Philanthropy 1949 Texas 1994

Helen LaKelly Hunt

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1949 -
Born In: Texas
Achievements: Philanthropy

Creative philanthropist who has used her own resources and others to create women’s funding institutions. Hunt is Co-founder of the National Network of Women’s Funds, and creator of the New York Women’s Foundation, the Dallas Women’s Foundation, and The Sister Fund, all of which provide resources to support grass roots women’s programs and projects.


Zora Neale Hurston Arts 1891 Alabama 1994

Zora Neale Hurston

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1891 - 1960
Born In: Alabama
Achievements: Arts

Novelist, anthropologist and folklorist who contributed greatly to the preservation of African American folk traditions and to American literature. Hurston’s best known works include Their Eyes Were Watching God and her autobiography, Dust Tracks on the Road.


Anne Hutchinson Humanities 1591 England 1994

Anne Hutchinson

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1591 - 1643
Born In: England
Achievements: Humanities

Religious leader who insisted on practicing her religious faith as she chose, including holding religious meetings in her home, the first woman in the new world to do so. As a result, she was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.


Grace Hopper Science 1906 New York 1994

Grace Hopper

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1906 - 1992
Born In: New York
Achievements: Science

A mathematics genius and computer pioneer, Grace Hopper created computer programming technology that forever changed the flow of information and paved the way for modern data processing. In 1952, Hopper was credited with creating the first compiler for modern computers, a program that translates instructions written by a programmer into codes that can be read by a computer. Hopper was the first woman to hold the rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy.


Dolores Huerta Humanities 1930 New Mexico 1993

Dolores Huerta

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1930 -
Born In: New Mexico
Achievements: Humanities

Co-founder (with Cesar Chavez) of the United Farm Workers of America, the nation’s first successful and largest farm workers union. The UFW is dedicated to helping immigrant / migrant people of all ages. Huerta is known as a brilliant organizer, speaker, lobbyist, political strategist and human rights advocate.


Fannie Lou Hamer Humanities 1917 Mississippi 1993

Fannie Lou Hamer

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1917 - 1977
Born In: Mississippi
Achievements: Humanities

Mississippi sharecropper and organizer of the Mississippi Freedom Party, which challenged the white domination of the Democratic Party. Hamer succeeded in integrating the state delegation, and she was a tireless champion for poor minorities in her state and nationwide.