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
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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

Sophia Smith Education, Philanthropy 1796 Massachusetts 2000

Sophia Smith

Year Honored: 2000
Birth: 1796 - 1870
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Education, Philanthropy

Born to a family known for its frugality and thrift, she was left at the age of 65 as the sole survivor of her immediate family, and with the funds to endow the establishment of Smith College, an institution that she hoped would provide undergraduate education for young women equal to that provided at the time for young men.


Lydia Moss Bradley Business, Philanthropy 1816 Indiana 1998

Lydia Moss Bradley

Year Honored: 1998
Birth: 1816 - 1908
Born In: Indiana
Achievements: Business, Philanthropy

Educator, founder of Bradley University and coeducation advocate. Bradley was a pioneer in business and education, the first female member of a national bank board in the United States. Noted as a philanthropist who financially supported many social causes, she determined that Bradley University would be for both women and men.


Mary Edwards Walker Philanthropy, Science 1832 New York 2000

Mary Edwards Walker

Year Honored: 2000
Birth: 1832 - 1919
Born In: New York
Achievements: Philanthropy, Science

First female surgeon in the U.S. Army, she continually crossed the Confederate lines to treat civilians. After being taken prisoner in 1864 and imprisoned in Richmond, she was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the first woman to receive this award. In 1917, her medal, along with 910 others, was taken away when Congress revised the standards to include only “actual combat with the enemy.” She refused to return the medal, wore it until her death, and it was finally awarded to her posthumously.


Frances Wisebart Jacobs Philanthropy 1843 Kentucky 1994

Frances Wisebart Jacobs

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1843 - 1892
Born In: Kentucky
Achievements: Philanthropy

The driving force behind the concept of today’s United Way, founder of the Frances Jacobs Hospital (National Jewish Hospital for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine), an educator and philanthropist.


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.


Dorothy Harrison Eustis Philanthropy 1886 Pennsylvania 2011

Dorothy Harrison Eustis

Year Honored: 2011
Birth: 1886 - 1946
Born In: Pennsylvania
Achievements: Philanthropy

A philanthropist, Dorothy Harrison Eustis combined her love of animals and her passion for helping others to co-found the nation’s first dog guide school, The Seeing Eye. In 1921, Eustis began her career in Switzerland, breeding German shepherds for civic duty. She was later contacted by Morris Frank, a blind American man seeking a guide dog. After bringing Frank to Switzerland and providing him with a dog, Eustis returned to the United States, and in 1929, they established The Seeing Eye to help blind people achieve greater independence, dignity and self-confidence through the use of Seeing Eye dogs. To date, The Seeing Eye has bred and trained 15,000 dogs to assist nearly 8,000 men and women.


Catherine Filene Shouse Arts, Philanthropy 1896 Massachusetts 2007

Catherine Filene Shouse

Year Honored: 2007
Birth: 1896 - 1994
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Arts, Philanthropy

Known for her visionary work in education, arts, politics and women’s affairs, Catherine Filene Shouse was the first woman to receive a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University and the first woman appointed to the Democratic National Committee in 1919. Ten years later, she launched the Institute for Women’s Professional Relations. An ardent supporter of the arts and arts education, Catherine Filene Shouse founded and was the major benefactor of the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia – the first and only national park dedicated to the performing arts. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald R. Ford in 1977.


Clare Boothe Luce Arts, Government, Humanities, Philanthropy 1903 New York 2017

Clare Boothe Luce

Year Honored: 2017
Birth: 1903 - 1987
Born In: New York
Achievements: Arts, Government, Humanities, Philanthropy

She was instrumental in the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission and later established an endowment for what has become one of the single most significant sources of private support for women in science, mathematics, and engineering.


Mildred Robbins Leet Philanthropy 1922 New York 2003

Mildred Robbins Leet

Year Honored: 2003
Birth: 1922 - 2011
Born In: New York
Achievements: Philanthropy

As Co-founder and Chairman of the Trickle Up Program, Inc., philanthropist Mildred Leet assisted people worldwide in rising out of poverty. Trickle Up provides seed capital to impoverished individuals, allowing them the opportunity to work their way to self-sufficiency. Leet also helped found United Cerebral Palsy and was a co-founder and Vice President of the U.S. Committee for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).


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.


Matilda Raffa Cuomo Education, Government, Humanities, Philanthropy 1931 New York 2017

Matilda Raffa Cuomo

Year Honored: 2017
Birth: 1931 -
Born In: New York
Achievements: Education, Government, Humanities, Philanthropy

Established the nation’s first school-based one-to-one mentoring program, connecting over 10,000 students to trained mentors, and helping them to succeed in school, graduate, and advance in the workplace. The reach of this program, Mentoring USA, has expanded internationally.


Alice Waters Business, Education, Humanities, Philanthropy 1944 New Jersey 2017

Alice Waters

Year Honored: 2017
Birth: 1944 -
Born In: New Jersey
Achievements: Business, Education, Humanities, Philanthropy

A chef, author and food activist, and the founder and owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California. She has been a champion of local sustainable agriculture for over four decades, and is credited with popularizing the organic food movement.


Sherry Lansing Arts, Business, Humanities, Philanthropy 1944 Illinois 2017

Sherry Lansing

Year Honored: 2017
Birth: 1944 -
Born In: Illinois
Achievements: Arts, Business, Humanities, Philanthropy

A trailblazer, visionary leader and creative filmmaker. She was involved in the production, marketing and distribution of more than 200 films and the first woman to head a major film studio.


Nancy Brinker Philanthropy 1946 Illinois 2015

Nancy Brinker

Year Honored: 2015
Birth: 1946 -
Born In: Illinois
Achievements: Philanthropy

The founder of Susan G. Komen®, Nancy Brinker pioneered in the concept of cause-related marketing allowing millions to participate in the commitment to eradicate breast cancer.  She is regarded as the leader of the global breast cancer movement.


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.


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.


Oprah Winfrey Arts, Business, Philanthropy 1954 Mississippi 1994

Oprah Winfrey

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1954 -
Born In: Mississippi
Achievements: Arts, Business, Philanthropy

The first Black woman to own her own television production company and who became television’s highest-paid entertainer. She is an advocate for ending child abuse, and she contributes generously to colleges and universities.


Victoria Jackson Business, Philanthropy 1955 New York 2017

Victoria Jackson

Year Honored: 2017
Birth: 1955 -
Born In: New York
Achievements: Business, Philanthropy

A cosmetic entrepreneur who created, funded, and led a research foundation that has shaped a paradigm-breaking approach to medical research. The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation has created a global community of patients, advocates, and healthcare stakeholders, with significant positive impact on the treatment of autoimmune and related diseases.


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.