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: 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

Who: Maud Wagner, the first known female tattoo artist in the United States; February 12, 1877–January 30, 1961

Who: Annie Oakley, international sensation known for her sharpshooter performances in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show; August 13, 1860–November 3, 1926

Who: Zora Neale Hurston, world-renowned author, folklorist, and anthropologist known for her significant contributions to American literature; January 7, 1891–January 28, 1960