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.
The first North American indigenous person to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church
Chicana socialist working for women, LGBT, workers’ and immigrant rights
A New Zealander through and through, she asserted her nationality and championed the cause of urban Maori and working-class women fearlessly and with total commitment.
As the first Latina and third woman appointed to the Supreme Court, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor has made an impact in and out of the courtroom.
US congresswoman (1942-1946), ambassador, playwright, socialite, and war reporter
Sister Marjorie Tuite, O.P. was a Catholic feminist nun who fought for gender equality, especially within the Catholic Church. Tuite was a longtime activist in the broader struggle for civil rights. She was fiercely committed to her church and worked for several decades to make it more inclusive.
Sister Margaret Traxler was a Catholic feminist nun and a civil rights activist who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the famous march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. She was also an important supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment as well as a co-founder of the National Coalition of American Nuns, an important feminist organization for religious women in the United States.
American civil rights activist
Emma Tenayuca was a Mexican-American labor organizer and civil rights activist who led strikes by women workers in Texas in the 1930s.