Dr. Sylvia Earle holds the record for deepest walk on the sea floor and is a world-renowned expert on marine biology. The first woman to lead the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Earle advocates for ocean conservation and education.

Throughout her long life, Hedgeman advocated for civil rights, education, social justice, poverty relief, and women.

As the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the New York Times in 1974, Wade transformed the industry and newsrooms across the nation. 

Lillian D. Wald helped to bring health care to the residents of New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the twentieth century.

An educator, translator, and clubwoman, Lopez helped win the vote for Californian women with her oratory and the writings she translated into Spanish.

At age eleven, Malala Yousafzai was already advocating for the rights of women and girls.

As an activist, community organizer, and executive, Tarana Burke has made quite an impact.

Chilean author and educator Gabriela Mistral became the first Latin American author to receive the Nobel Prize in literature.

Autherine Lucy was the first African American student to attend the University of Alabama

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American to be canonized as a saint.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the senior US Representative from Florida, the first Latina elected to the US Congress, and the first Republican in congress to publicly support the passage of the marriage equality act.

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the first First Lady of the United States.