Liang May Seen was the first woman of Chinese descent to live in Minnesota. She overcame an impoverished childhood in China and teenage years spent in a San Francisco brothel to become a respected leader in the Chinese immigrant community in Minneapolis.
Milagros Benet de Newton was a conservative women’s suffrage leader in Puerto Rico who supported voting rights for educated women.
While advocating for Philippine independence and living in D.C., Sofia de Veyra and other Filipinas joined local women’s organizations that supported the American suffrage movement. Upon returning to the Philippines, these pioneering women formed women’s clubs and eventually won the right to vote on April 30, 1937.
Hannah Jensen Kempfer was the first woman from rural Minnesota elected to the state legislature, serving nine terms in the Minnesota legislature between 1922 and 1942.
Civil rights activist Hilda Simms became a national celebrity for her leading role in the first all-Black performance of the Broadway show Anna Lucasta. Frustrated by her struggling career and the lack of roles for Black actors, Simms worked as the creative director for the New York State Human Rights Commission to address racial discrimination in the entertainment industry.
Secretary Deb Haaland made history when she became the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary.
Mexican writer, editor, columnist and cultural promoter.
American composer, instructor, activist, and businesswoman
Irish novelist, translator, and composer
Civil rights activist who helped found the National League of Colored Women in 1893