Firsts In Women's Achievement

Ann Teresa Mathews	1715	First woman whose invention received a patent (for cleaning and curing corn) - it was granted to her husband
Mary Katherine Goddard	1775	First woman postmaster
Betsy Ross	1776/77	First person to be a U.S. flagmaker
Hannah Adams	1784	First woman to become professional writer
Lucy Brewer	1812	First woman marine
Elizabeth Blackwell	1849	First woman to receive a medical degree
Amelia Jenks Bloomer	1849	Publisher/editor of first prominent women's rights newspaper
Harriet Tubman	1850	First woman to run underground railroad to help slaves escape
Lucy Hobbs	1866	First woman to graduate from dental school
Susan B. Anthony	1869	Co-Founder of first US woman's suffrage organization
Arabella Mansfield Babb	1869	First woman admitted to the bar
Frances Elizabeth Willard	1871	First woman to become a college president (Evanston College)
Victoria Chaflin Woodhull	1872	First woman to be presidential candidate
Helen Magill	1877	First woman to receive a Ph.D. degree (Boston University)
Belva Ann Lockwood	1879	First woman to practice law before U.S. Supreme Court
Clara Barton	1881	Founder of the American Red Cross
Maud Booth	1887/96	Co-Founder of Salvation Army and Volunteers of America
Suzanna Madora Salter	1887	First woman mayor (Argonia, Kansas)
Mary McLeod Bethune	1904	First woman to establish secondary school that became 4-year accredited college
Mary McLeod Bethune	1935	Founder of National Council of Negro Women
Blanche Scott	1910	First woman to fly an airplane
Jeannette Rankin	1916	First woman U.S. House Representative (Montana)
Kate Gleason	1917	First woman president of a national bank
Jeannette Rankin	1917	First woman in Congress
Florence E. Allen	1920	First woman judge
Hallie Ferguson	1924	First woman governor of U. S. state (Texas)
Katherine Bement Davis	1929	First person to conduct national survey of sexual attitudes
Jane Addams	1931	First woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize
Hattie Wyatt Caraway	1932	First woman elected to U.S. Senate
Amelia Earhart	1932	First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
Ruth Bran Owen	1933	First woman foreign diplomat
Pearl S. Buck	1935	First woman to win a Nobel Prize for Literature
Hattie McDaniel	1939	First African-American of any gender to win an Academy Award (she won for Best Supporting Actress in the film, Gone with the Wind).
Linda Darnell	1941	First woman to sell securities on the New York Stock Curb Exchange
Conchita V. Cintron	1949	First U.S. woman bullfighter in Spain
Georgia Nesse Clark	1949	First woman treasurer of the United States
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova	1963	First woman to fly in space, aboard Vostok 6.
Muriel Siebert	1967	First woman to own seat on the New York Stock Exchange
Janice Lee York Romary	1968	First woman to carry U.S. flag at the Olympic Games
Mary Clarke	1978	First woman to be named major general in U.S. Army
Ella Grasso	1978	First woman governor to be re-elected (Connecticut)
Sandra Day O'Connor	1981	First woman a justice of the U. S. Supreme Court
Sally Kristen Ride	1983	First American woman to reach outer space.
Joan Benoit (Samuelson)	1984	First woman to win an Olympic marathon
Penny Harrington	1985	First woman police chief of major U. S. city (Portland, OR)
Ann Bancroft	1986	First woman to walk to North Pole
Christa McAuliffe	1986	First woman citizen passenger on a space mission
Lt. Col. Eileen Collins	1995	First American woman to pilot a Space Shuttle
Madeleine K. Albright	1997	First woman Secretary of State and highest ranking woman in the U.S. government
Hillary Rodham Clinton	2000	Only First Lady ever elected to the United States Senate
Halle Berry	2002	First African-American woman to win a Best Actress Oscar
Condoleezza Rice	2005	First African-American woman to be appointed Secretary of State
Nancy Pelosi	2007	First woman to become Speaker of the House