Eugenia Charles
Dominica’s first female prime minister
Dominica’s first female prime minister
Journalist born in Trinidad who dedicated her life to fighting racism inequality and injustice.
First wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, and first Empress of France.
American ethnologist, widely known in scientific circles as a worker for Native Americans.
Loretta Ross is an academic and activist who has dedicated many years to advocating for women’s rights and reproductive justice. Most notably, she is a cofounder of SisterSong and Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, served as a previous Executive Director of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, and is one of twelve women credited with coining the phrase and framework “reproductive justice.”
Celebrated Venezuelan pianist, composer and conductor
Argelia Velez-Rodriguez is a Cuban-American mathematician and educator. She was the first Black woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics in Cuba.
Rita Moreno has influenced the entertainment industry for over 70 years as an actress, singer, and dancer. After earning the four major entertainment awards: an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, Moreno became the first Latina woman to have an “E.G.O.T.” In 2004, she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her many contributions to the arts.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the senior US Representative from Florida, the first Latina elected to the US Congress, and the first Republican in congress to publicly support the passage of the marriage equality act.
Forcing awareness and reassessments of historical and current socio-political issues in Cuba, her legacy comes not only from her work itself, but also the media coverage of her numerous arrests, incarcerations, and interrogations by Cuban authorities, who view her work as a threat to their political system.