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

Mary Mahoney Science 1845 Massachusetts 1993

Mary Mahoney

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1845 - 1926
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Science

First African American woman to study and work as a professionally trained nurse. Mahoney received her diploma from the New England Hospital in 1879, one of only four of 18 to pass the difficult course.


Nicole Malachowski Government 1974 2019

Nicole Malachowski

Year Honored: 2019
Birth: 1974 -
Achievements: Government

Colonel Nicole Malachowski (USAF, Ret.) has over 21 years of experience as an officer, leader, and fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. Upon her commission into the military, she was competitively selected to fly combat aircraft and embarked on an adventure among the first group of women to fly modern fighters. She has commanded a fighter squadron, piloted within the USAF air demonstration squadron, (better known as the “Thunderbirds”) and served as a White House Fellow and as an advisor to the First Lady of the United States during the Obama Administration. Colonel Malachowski is also committed to work focused on tick-borne diseases.


Wilma Mankiller Humanities 1945 Oklahoma 1993

Wilma Mankiller

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1945 - 2010
Born In: Oklahoma
Achievements: Humanities

First woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. As Chief, Mankiller brought about major economic and social improvements for her tribe, including better health care, economic development, and education.


Philippa Marrack Science 1945 United Kingdom 2015

Philippa Marrack

Year Honored: 2015
Birth: 1945 -
Born In: United Kingdom
Achievements: Science

Her work investigating T-cells, the family of cells that help the body fight disease, has led to a greater knowledge of the molecular basis of the immune system and contributed to medicine’s current understanding of vaccines, HIV, and other immune disorders.


Barbara McClintock Science 1902 1986

Barbara McClintock

Year Honored: 1986
Birth: 1902 - 1992
Achievements: Science

Geneticist who pioneered work in maize genetics and the complex mechanisms which control and regulate cell development. McClintock helped to advance scientific understanding of this important field. In 1983 she received the first unshared Nobel Prize in medicine ever awarded to a woman.


Katharine Dexter McCormick Humanities, Philanthropy 1875 Michigan 1998

Katharine Dexter McCormick

Year Honored: 1998
Birth: 1875 - 1967
Born In: Michigan
Achievements: Humanities, Philanthropy

Co-founder (with Carrie Chapman Catt) of the League of Women Voters in 1920, after ratification of the 19th Amendment. A graduate of MIT in 1904, she funded MIT’s first on-campus residence for women. She devoted her late husband’s wealth to contraceptive research and her own resources and energy to opening up doors for women in science and engineering.


Peggy McIntosh Education, Humanities 1934 New York 2024

Peggy McIntosh

Year Honored: 2024
Birth: 1934 -
Born In: New York
Achievements: Education, Humanities

Peggy McIntosh is renowned as an educational innovator, feminist activist, author, and public speaker. McIntosh derived her understanding of white privilege from observing parallels with male privilege.


Louise McManus Science 1896 1994

Louise McManus

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1896 - 1993
Achievements: Science

First American nurse to earn a Ph.D. Louise McManus was central to the establishment of schools of nursing in colleges and universities, providing the fundamental basis for nursing science growth.


Margaret Mead Science 1901 1976

Margaret Mead

Year Honored: 1976
Birth: 1901 - 1978
Achievements: Science

Trailblazing anthropologist whose book, Coming of Age in Samoa, caused scientific and social rethinking of adolescence. Mead’s career included the study of numerous tribes as well as extensive and innovative field work.


Barbara A. Mikulski Government 1936 Maryland 2011

Barbara A. Mikulski

Year Honored: 2011
Birth: 1936 -
Born In: Maryland
Achievements: Government

The first female Democratic United States Senator elected in her own right, Barbara Mikulski has been a political trailblazer for more than thirty years. During her tenure as a Senator, Mikulski has developed and supported legislation promoting equal healthcare for American women, Medicare reform, better care for veterans, greater student access to quality education, increased funding for scientific research, and more. Senator Mikulski currently serves as the Dean of the Women in the Senate, and is a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; a senior member of the Appropriations Committee; and a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. In 2011, Senator Mikulski officially became the longest serving female Senator in United States history.


Kate Millett Arts, Education, Humanities 1934 Minnesota 2013

Kate Millett

Year Honored: 2013
Birth: 1934 - 2017
Born In: Minnesota
Achievements: Arts, Education, Humanities

A feminist activist, writer, visual artist, filmmaker, teacher and human rights advocate, Kate Millett has been described as one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century. Millett began her career as an English instructor and in 1966, became the first Chair of the Education Committee of the newly formed National Organization for Women. In 1968, she authored a pioneering report published by NOW, Token Learning: A Study of Women’s Higher Education in America, in which she challenged women’s colleges to provide an equal education for women. Millett is perhaps best-known for her landmark work in feminist theory, Sexual Politics (1970). She currently serves as the Director of the Millett Center for the Arts, a creative work space that provides artist in residence accommodation and studio facilities to women artists from around the world.


Patsy Takemoto Mink Government 1927 Hawaii 2003

Patsy Takemoto Mink

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1927 - 2002
Born In: Hawaii
Achievements: Government

As the first Asian-American Congresswoman in the history of the United States, attorney Patsy Takemoto Mink opened doors for women and minorities. Her persistence in securing the passage of Title IX in 1972 assured equal treatment for women in athletics in American educational institutions.


Maria Mitchell Science 1818 Massachusetts 1994

Maria Mitchell

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1818 - 1889
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Science

An astronomer who discovered a new comet in 1847, Maria Mitchell was the first woman named to membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She was also a founder of the Association for the Advancement of Women.


Toni Morrison Arts, Humanities 1931 2020

Toni Morrison

Year Honored: 2020
Birth: 1931 - 2018
Achievements: Arts, Humanities

An author and book editor who fostered a new generation of Black writers. Morrison has been unapologetic about her focus on Black people’s experiences, and the power with which she has brought this focus.


Constance Baker Motley Government 1921 1993

Constance Baker Motley

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1921 - 2005
Achievements: Government

Attorney and jurist who, after performing landmark work with the NAACP with Thurgood Marshall and others, became the first African American woman elected to the New York State Senate. Motley was the first woman and African American to become Manhattan Borough President; she was the first African American women named to the federal bench.


Lucretia Mott Humanities 1793 1983

Lucretia Mott

Year Honored: 1983
Birth: 1793 - 1880
Achievements: Humanities

Quaker anti-slavery advocate, who, after meeting Elizabeth Cady Stanton, became a leader in the women’s rights movement. Mott was a planner of the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls in 1848, and she remained true to her sense of justice for African Americans and women throughout her life.


Kate Mullany Humanities 1845 2000

Kate Mullany

Year Honored: 2000
Birth: 1845 - 1906
Achievements: Humanities

Founder and organizer of the Collar Laundry Union in 1864, she led a strike of 200 laundresses in Troy, NY, which resulted in a 25% wage increase and improvement of working conditions. Her efforts to organize women in New York City and financially assist both male and female unions were rewarded when she was appointed as an assistant secretary of the National Labor Union, making her the first female to hold a national labor post.


Aimée Mullins Arts, Athletics, Humanities, Philanthropy 1976 Pennsylvania 2017

Aimée Mullins

Year Honored: 2017
Birth: 1976 -
Born In: Pennsylvania
Achievements: Arts, Athletics, Humanities, Philanthropy

She is a world record holding athlete, ground-breaking high fashion model, beacon for design tech, dedicated advocate, and avant-garde actor. She conceived of, and was the first to wear and compete in, prostheses modeled after the hind legs of a cheetah – now the international standard for amputee runners.


Carol A. Mutter Government, Humanities 1945 Colorado 2017

Carol A. Mutter

Year Honored: 2017
Birth: 1945 -
Born In: Colorado
Achievements: Government, Humanities

A Lieutenant General who entered the Marines when only 1% of Marines were women and no women were in the deployed services. Among her numerous activities, she has served as Chair of the Department of Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services and is a Past President of the Women Marines Association where she remains active at the national level.