Leading Ladies

Who: Dr. Olivia Hooker, first Black woman in the U.S. Coast Guard, civil rights activist, and one of the last known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre; February 12, 1915–November 21, 2018

Who: Norma Smallwood, crowned Miss Tulsa and the first Native American to win the title of Miss America; May 12,1909­–May 8, 1966

Who: Jane Heard Clinton, transformed Tulsa into a city of arts and culture; April 16, 1875-November 8, 1945

Who: Adah Robinson, an art teacher who designed an ecclesiastical icon—Boston Avenue United Methodist Church—during the art deco movement in the 1920s; July 13, 1882­–March 10, 1962

Who: Susan B. Anthony, leader in the women’s rights and suffrage movements in the United States and abolitionist; February 15, 1820­–March 13, 1906

Who: Ida B. Wells, investigative journalist, civil rights crusader, and women’s rights activist; July 16, 1862–March 25, 1931

Who: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, leader in the women’s rights and suffrage movements in the United States, activist, and author; November 12, 1815–October 26, 1902

Who: Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing; trailblazing statistician; health care hero; May 12, 1820–August 13, 1910

Who: Gerda Taro, one of the first women to photograph the front lines of war; a pioneer in war photography; August 1, 1910–July 26, 1937

Who: Eva "Evita" Perón (full name: María Eva Duarte de Perón), a legendary figure in Argentine politics who used her position as first lady to fight for women's voting rights and the underprivileged; May 7, 1919–July 26, 1952

Who: Maria Tallchief, America’s first major prima ballerina and the first Native American to achieve the status of prima ballerina; January 24, 1925–April 11, 2013

Who: Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress; first woman to seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. president; educator; November 30, 1924–January 1, 2005