US Rep Frances Bolton pursued a life of philanthropy, politics, and social reform, and was a lifelong advocate of education, healthcare, and civil rights.

Mary Adelaide Nutting had a profound impact on American nursing. She was one of the key figures in modernizing the profession and her work is still influential in the field today.

Mary Eliza Mahoney pursued a nursing career which supported these aims. She is noted for becoming the first African American licensed nurse.

Pearl S. Buck produced works of fiction and non-fiction throughout her lifetime, many of which focused on her experiences in China.

Mary Church Terrell was a well-known African American activist who championed racial equality and women’s suffrage.

Bates' work with the NAACP transformed the Civil Rights Movement.

Dorothy Height was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

"Goddess of Mercy!" During the Rape of Nanking (1937-38), the Chinese women refugees under Minnie Vautrin’s protection gratefully addressed her this way.

Mercy Otis Warren was a published poet, political playwright and satirist during the age of the American Revolution.

Despite spending much of her life enslaved, Phillis Wheatley was the first African American woman to publish a book of poems.

A prominent essayist of the American republic, Judith Sargent Murray was an early advocate of women’s equality, access to education, and the right to control their earnings.

Maria Mitchell was the first female astronomer in the United States and the first American scientist to discover a comet.

Undeterred by deafness and blindness, Helen Keller rose to become a major 20th century humanitarian, educator and writer.