<<

INSPIRATION: In this photo from June 2, 1920, Mrs. James Rector, Mary Dubrow, and , officers of the National Woman’s Party, stand in front of the Washington headquarters before leaving for the Convention to take charge of the suffrage attack on the convention of the Republican Party. PHOTO: Library of Congress FIRST LADIES

The names in this quilt are • women who were the first of their sex or ethnicity to do things that were previously done only by men or people of other ethnicity or sexual orientation • notable women who moved equality forward for others in their generation IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY FIRST NAME: 1. Aida Alvarez: first Hispanic women to hold a cabinet-level position 2. Alice K. Kurashige: first Japanese-American woman commissioned in the Marine Corps 1964 3. Alice Paul: proposed the for the first time, 1923 4. : first African-American tennis player to win a singles title at Wimbledon 1967 5. : first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic 6. : campaigner against 7. : first woman to reach the by foot and dogsled 1986 8. Ann Baumgartner: first woman to fly a jet aircraft 1944 9. Anna Leah Fox: first woman to receive the Purple Heart 1942 10. Anna Mae Hays and Annise Parker: first openly gay individuals to serve as mayor of one of the top ten US cities 2008 11. : first woman (and first Hispanic) U.S. Surgeon General 1990 12. Aretha Franklin: first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 13. Arlene Violet: first woman elected as a state's attorney general 1984 14. Barbara C. Harris: first woman consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church 1989 15. Barbara Walters: first female network news anchor 16. Belva Lockwood: the first woman admitted to practice law before the U.S Supreme Court 1872 17. Bertha K. Landes: first woman elected mayor in a major American city (Seattle) 1926 18. : writer, activist, and feminist who co-founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women 19. Betty Robbins: first female cantor (hazzan) in the 5,000-year-old history of Judaism 1955 20. Carla Hayden: first female (and Black woman) Librarian of Congress 2016 21. Carol Moseley Braun: first Black woman and the first woman of color to be elected to the U.S. Senate 1992 22. Chase G. Woodhouse: first woman secretary in the House Democratic Caucus 1945 23. : founded the American Red Cross 24. Clara Cressingham (R), Carrie C. Holly (R), and Frances Klock (R), The first three women elected to a state legislature in the country 1894 25. Colleen Hanabusa: first woman of color and the Asian Pacific Islander to hold the top leadership position in a state legislative chamber 2007 26. Condoleezza Rice: first Black woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State 2005 27. Consuelo Bailey: first woman ever elected lieutenant governor of a state and only woman in the country ever to preside over both chambers of a state legislature 1955 28. Cora Belle Reynolds Anderson: first Native American woman in a state legislature 1924 29. : author, activist, civil rights leader 30. Corrie Chapman Catt: president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association 31. Crisanta Duran: first Latina to lead either house of a state legislature. 2017 32. Crystal Dreda Bird Fauset: first Black woman elected to a state legislature 1938 33. Crystal Lee Sutton: union organizer & inspiration for the film Norma Rae 34. Danica Roem: first openly transgender person to be elected and to serve in a state legislature in the United States 2017 35. Denise Juneau: first Native American woman elected to any statewide executive office in the U.S. 2008 36. Diane Crump: first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby 1970 37. Drew Gilpin Faust: first woman president of 2007 38. Edith Ellen Greenwood: first woman to receive the Soldier's Medal 1943 39. : first woman in America to win the Pulitzer Prize 1920 40. Edith Wharton: first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize, 1921 41. Effa Manley: first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame 2006 42. : first woman to command a mission 1999 43. Elaine Chao: first Asian American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet 2001 44. Elaine Noble: first openly lesbian or gay candidate elected to a state legislature 1974 45. : first lady and human rights activist 46. was the first woman to run for the U.S. House of Representatives 1866 47. Elizabeth P. Hoisington first woman in the US promoted to brigadier general 1972 48. Ellen Church: first female flight attendant in America 1930 49. Ellen DeGeneres: first openly lesbian actress to play an openly lesbian character on television. 50. : first woman to become an American airline captain 1976 51. Emma Elizabeth Johnson first woman president of a coeducational university 52. Emma J. Harvat: first woman to be elected mayor of a US municipality with a population exceeding 10,000 1923 53. Esther McGowin Blake: first woman in the U.S. Air Force 1948 54. Eugenie Anderson was the first woman to be a United States Ambassador 1949 55. Eunice Sato: first Asian American woman mayor of a major American city (Long Beach, CA) 1980 56. Fae Adams: first female to receive regular commission as a doctor in the United States Army 1953 57. Fedelina Lucero Gallegos and Porfirria Hidalgo Saiz: first Latina state legislators 1930 58. Florence King: first woman to win a case before the U.S. Supreme Court 1923 59. : first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet 1933 60. Frances Warren: first woman delegate to a Republican National Convention 1900 61. Genevieve R. Cline: first woman appointed as a United States federal judge 1928 62. Geraldine A. Ferraro: first woman ever to run on a major party's national ticket for Vice President 1984 63. Geraldine Morrow: first female president of the American Dental Association 1991 64. Gertrude Atherton: first woman to be president of the (American) National Academy of Literature 1934 65. : feminist, journalist, and social political activist 66. Hattie Wyatt Caraway: first woman elected to the US Senate 1932 67. Helen Richey: first female airline pilot 1934 68. Helen Zia: Chinese-American journalist and activist for Asian American and LGBTQ rights 69. Hillary Rodham Clinton: first woman to be a major party's nominee for president 2016 70. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: first Hispanic woman and first Cuban American to be elected to Congress 1989 71. Ilhan Omar: Somali-American former refugee, one of two first Muslim Women nominated for the US Congress 72. Isabel Benham: first female partner at any bond house 1964 73. Jane Adams: co-founder of the ACLU & first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 74. Janet Guthrie: first woman to drive in the Indy 500, 1977 75. : first woman to serve as Attorney General of the United States 1993 76. Janet Reno: first woman to serve as U.S. Attorney General 1993 77. : first chairwoman of the Federal Reserve Board 2014 78. Jean Westwood: first woman to chair the Democratic National Committee 1972 79. : first woman to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations 1981 80. : first woman ever elected to US Congress 1916 81. Jeannie Marie Leavitt: 's first female fighter pilot in 1993, and was the first woman to command a USAF combat fighter wing 82. : first woman to fly solo around the world 1964 83. Jewel Prestage: first African-American woman to complete a doctorate in political science in the US 1954 84. : first women’s marathon gold medal 85. Juanita Kreps: first woman director of the Stock Exchange 1972 86. Judy Garland: first woman to win the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award 1962 87. Karen Bass: first woman of color to serve as speaker of a state house and the first Black woman to lead either house of a state legislature 2008 88. Kate Brown: first openly bisexual governor and the first person to be openly LGBT at the time of assuming the governor's office 89. first female publisher of a major American newspaper 1946 90. Kathryn Bigelow: first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director, 2010 91. Kathryn D. Sullivan: first American woman to conduct a spacewalk 1984 92. Katie Wilder: first female green beret 93. Kay Orr: first woman to defeat another woman in a gubernatorial race 1987 94. Kyrsten Sinema: first openly bisexual person elected to Congress 2012 95. Laura Eisenhuth: first woman elected to statewide executive office in any state 1892 96. Lelia Foley-Davis: first elected black woman mayor 1973 97. Lena Springs: first woman to chair committee at the Democratic National Convention 1924 98. Lettie Pate Whitehead: first American woman to serve as a director of a major corporation 1934 99. Libby Riddles: first woman to win the Iditarod 1985 100. Lorna Lockwood: first woman to serve as chief justice of a state supreme court 1963 101. Lottie Shackleford: first Black woman elected mayor of one of the 100 largest cities in the U.S 1987 102. : Cogovernor of first women’s rights convention 1848 103. Madeleine K. Albright: first woman U.S. Secretary of State 104. Mae Ella Nolan: first woman to chair a US congressional committee 1925 105. : first black female astronaut 106. Mahalia Jackson: singer and civil rights activist 107. March Fong Eu: first Asian Pacific Islander to hold a statewide elected executive office 108. : first woman elected to the US Senate & first woman to serve in both houses of Congress 1948 109. Margaret Newburgh first woman to vote under the 19th amendment 110. : opened the first birth-control clinic in the United States, 1916 111. Maria Frances Cabrini: first U.S. citizen to become a saint 112. : first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics 113. Marie Luhring: first woman in America to become an automotive engineer 1920 114. Martha Hughes Cannon: first woman state senator in the country 1896 115. Mary Davenport-Engberg: first woman to conduct a symphony orchestra 1914 116. Mary E. Clarke: first woman to achieve the rank of major general in the United States Army 117. Maura Healey: first openly gay state attorney general elected in the United States as well as the first openly gay woman to be elected to any statewide office in the country 2014 118. Mazie Hirono: first Asian-Pacific Islander woman — and only the second woman of color — elected to the U.S. Senate 2012 119. Michelle Obama: First Black first lady 120. Mildred H. McAfee: first woman commissioned in the U.S. Naval Reserve and the first woman to receive the Navy Distinguished Service Medal 1942 121. Minnie Buckingham Harper: first black woman in a state legislature 1929 122. Minnie Davenport Craig: first woman speaker of the House in a state legislature 1933 123. Molly Kool was North America's first registered female sea captain or ship master 1939 124. Mona Van Duyn: first woman named US poet laureate 1992 125. Muriel "Mickey" Siebert becomes the first woman to own a seat on the and the first woman to head one of its member firms 1967 126. : first female member of the New York Stock Exchange 1967 127. Nancy Landon Kassebaum: first woman elected to the Senate without having previously filled an unexpired Congressional term 1978 & first woman to chair a major Senate committee 1995 128. : first woman to serve as Speaker of the U.S. House 2007 129. Nancy Ruth Mace: first female cadet to graduate from the Citadel 130. Nellie Tayloe Ross: The First Woman Governor 1925 131. Nydia Velasquez: first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress 1992 132. : "Queen of All Media" and the greatest black philanthropist in American history 133. : first Black woman to serve in a presidential cabinet and the first woman to hold two different cabinet positions. 134. Patsy Takemoto Mink: first Asian Pacific Islander woman elected to a state legislature 1962 135. Pearl S. Buck: first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature 1938 136. Peggy Whitson: first woman to command the International Space Station & most time in space by any NASA astronaut 2017 137. Penny Harrington: first woman to lead a major-city police department 1985 138. Rashida Tlaib: one of the first two Muslim American women nominated for US Congress 139. : first lady of civil rights 140. Rosie the Riveter: symbol of American and women's economic power 141. : first woman to hold a major diplomatic post 1933 142. Sally Jean Priesand: first woman rabbi in the United States 1972 143. : first woman in space 144. Sandra Day O'Connor: first woman U.S. Supreme Court justice 1981 145. Sara Christian: first woman to compete in a major-league stock car race 1949 146. Sarah Caldwell: first woman to conduct at New York's Metropolitan Opera House 147. Dixon: first black woman to serve as mayor of a major US city (Washington DC) 1991 148. : first Black woman to serve in Congress 1968 149. Soledad Chacon: first Latina and first woman of color to hold a statewide elected executive office 1923 150. : first Hispanic and third female member of the US Supreme Court 151. Susan B. Anthony: founded National American Woman Suffrage Association and first woman on an American coin. 152. Susana Martinez and Nikki Haley: first women of color chief executives in any states 2011 153. Susanna Salter: the first woman mayor in the country 1887 154. Tammy Baldwin: first openly gay or lesbian person elected to the US Senate. 1998 155. : first woman in America to win the Olympic gold medal in 156. Tina Kotek: first openly lesbian state House speaker 2013 157. Vanessa L. Williams: first African-American winner of the Miss America pageant 1983 158. Velvalea Phillips first black woman to hold a statewide elected executive office 1979 159. Vesta Roy: first woman to hold the position of president of a state senate 1983 160. : ran for president of the United States on the Equal Rights Party ticket 1872 161. : first woman to serve as chief of the Nation 1985