First women in the Air: 

first woman to complete round world flight	CLARA ADAMS
first lady to solo sail the Pacific	SHARON SITES ADAMS
first U. S.woman to jump from an airplane	GEORGIA "TINY" BROADWICK
first airline stewardess	ELLEN CHURCH
first woman to break the sound barrier	JACQUELINE COCHRAN
first American woman to pilot a spacecraft	EILEEN COLLINS
first black female pilot	BESSIE COLEMAN
first woman to receive an international pilot's license	BESSIE COLEMAN
first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean	AMELIA EARHART
first to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean	AMELIA EARHART
first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California	AMELIA EARHART
first Black woman astronaut in space	MAE JEMISON
first woman to fly from England to Australia solo	AMY JOHNSON
first woman to do a parachute jump [balloon]	GENEVIEVE LABROSSE
first woman citizen passenger on a space mission	CHRISTA McAULIFFE
first  woman to complete a solo flight around the world	JERRIE MOCK
first licensed woman pilot in the United States	HARRIET QUIMBY
first woman to fly across the English Channel	HARRIET QUIMBY
first American woman astronaut in space	SALLY RIDE
first female to captain a 747 across the Atlantic	LYNN RIPPELMEYER
first woman to fly an airplane	BLANCHE SCOTT
first U.S. female astronaut to walk in space	KATHRYN D. SULLIVAN  webpage
first woman in space	VALENTAINA TERESHKOV
first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon	MARIE THIBLE

 

First Women of Sports: 

first woman to travel across the ice to the North Pole	ANN E. BANCROFT
first woman to travel across Greenland on skis	ANN E. BANCROFT
first woman to win an Olympic marathon	JOAN BENOIT (SAMUELSON)
first woman to swim the English Channel - both directions	FLORENCE CHADWICK
first U.S. woman bullfighter in Spain	CONCHITA V. CINTRON
first woman to sail around the world	LISA CLAYTON
first woman to circle the globe alone and unassisted	KAY COTTEE
first woman to sail solo across Atlantic Ocean	ANN DAVIDSON
first U.S. winner of the British Ladies' Amateur Tournament	MILDRED "BABE" DIDRIKSON
first black tennis star to win the Wimbledon, women's singles, tennis title	ALTHEA GIBSON
first woman to compete in a National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Winston Cup event	JANET GUTHRIE
first woman to hold world record in the heptathlon	JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE
first athlete to win multi-event medals in 3 Olympics	JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE
first woman athlete to earn more than $100,000 in a year	BILLIE JEAN KING
first woman to win an olympic gold medal	HALINA KNONPACKA
first woman to officiate a men's pro basketball (USBL) game	SANDHI ORTIZ-DELVALLE
first woman pro football player	PATRICIA PALINKAS
first U.S. woman to win three gold medals in the Olympics	WILMA RUDOLPH
first woman to carry U.S. flag at the Olympic Games	JANICE LEE YORK ROMARY
first woman owner/manager of a women's semiprofessional ball team	HELEN STEPHENS
first woman to reach the peak of Mount Everest	JUNKO TABEI
first woman to climb the highest mountains in Earth's seven major regions	JUNKO TABEI

 

First Women of Politics: 

first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize	JANE ADDAMS
first woman Secretary of State and highest ranking woman in the U.S. government	MADELINE K. ALBRIGHT
first woman judge	FLORENCE E. ALLEN
first female ambassador	HELEN EUGENIE MOORE ANDERSON
first black woman judge	JANE MATILDA BOLIN
first female prime minister	KIM CAMPBELL
first woman elected to U.S. Senate from Arkansas	HATTIE WYATT CARAWAY  webpage
first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress	SHIRLEY CHISHOLM
first woman treasurer of the United States	GEORGIA NESSE CLARK
first woman to run for mayor in Massachusetts	ELIZA GREEN WILLIAMS BROWN DAGGETT
first woman to head a major NYC agency	KATHARINE BEMENT DAVIS
first woman ever to run for NY statewide office (delegate- at- large) on a major party slate	KATHARINE BEMENT DAVIS
first woman to hold a cabinet positions as Secretary of Transportation	ELIZABETH HANFORD DOLE
first woman nominated by a major political party as a candidate for Vice President of the United States	GERALDINE FERRARO
first woman postmaster	MARY KATHERINE GODDARD
first woman elected a state governor in her own right	ELLA GRASSO
first woman police chief of major U.S. city	PENNY HARRINGTON
first woman to serve as commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission	FRIEDA HENNOCK
first African-American woman to serve on the NRC	SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON
first woman and African-American to lead the NRC	SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON
first Black woman elected to Congress from the South since Reconstruction	BARBARA JORDAN
first Black woman to deliver the keynote address at the convention of a major political party	BARBARA JORDAN
first woman elected Principal Chief of Cherokee Nation	WILMA MANKILLER
first elected woman Judge to a court of record for the State of Georgia	RUFE DORSEY EDWARDS McCOMBS
first woman elected to NC Senate	GERTRUDE DILLS McKEE
first woman magistrate	ESTHER MORRIS
first black woman elected to the US Senate	CAROL MOSELEY-BRAUN
first Black woman elected to the New York State Senate	CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY
first woman and Black person to become  Manhattan borough president	CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY
first Black woman named to the federal bench	CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY
first woman and first Hispanic to be named Surgeon General of the United States	ANTONIA NOVELLO
first woman named to the U.S. Supreme Court	SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR
first woman foreign diplomat	RUTH BRAN OWEN
first female to hold FBI special agent in charge position	BURDENA G. PASENELLI
first woman to become Secretary of Labor	FRANCES PERKINS
first woman in the World elected to a parliamentary body	JEANNETTE RANKIN   more links to Rankin
first woman mayor (Argonia, Kansas)	SUZANNA MADORA SALTER
first woman to serve as Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York.	MURIEL SIEBERT
first woman Senator	MARGARET CHASE SMITH
first woman to address a US presidential cconvention	SARA SPENCER
first woman to be executed by the US government	MARY E. SURRATT
first woman governor on the Federal Reserve Board	NANCY H. TEETERS
first woman chosen to head Democratic Natl Committee	JEAN WESTWOOD
first woman to be a presidential candidate	VICTORIA CHAFLIN WOODHULL

 

First Women in Suffrage, Civil Rights & Humanities: 

founded the American Association of Retired Persons	ETHEL PERCY ANDRUS
Co-Founder of first US woman's suffrage organization	SUSAN B. ANTHONY
premier behind-the-scenes organizer and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)	ELLA BAKER
founder of the American Red Cross	CLARA BARTON
Co-Founder of Salvation Army and Volunteers of America	MAUD BOOTH
founder of the Literacy Volunteers of America	RUTH COLVIN
led a march of women in the South's first suffrage parade	ANNE DALLAS DUDLEY
first feminist statement by an American writer	MARGARET FULLER
founder of the Girls Scouts of America	JULIETTE GORDON LOW
founder of the Association for the Advancement of Women	MARIA MITCHELL
leader in the women's rights movement	LUCRETIA MOTT
"the mother of the Civil Rights Movement"	ROSA PARKS
first person to conduct a national survey of sexual attitudes	KATHARINE BEMENT DAVIS
co-convened the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York	ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
first woman traveling preacher of great power who worked in the antislavery movement	SOJOURNER TRUTH
abolitionist born a slave who eventually became a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad	HARRIETT TUBMAN
first American woman to speak out against slavery and for the equality of women	FANNY WRIGHT

 

First Women in Religion: 

first American woman ordained a minister by a recognized denomination	ANTOINETTE BLACKWELL
first person hanged during the Salem Witch Trials	BRIDGET BISHOP
first United States saint	FRANCESCA XAVIER CABRINI
only American woman to found a lasting American-based religion	MARY BAKER EDDY
first woman in the new world to  insisted on practicing her religious faith as she chose	ANNE HUTCHINSON
first woman to become a full-fledged Diocesan Bishop in the Episcopal Church	Rt. Rev. MARY ADELIA McLEOD
first woman rabbi in the U.S.	SALLY JAN PRIESAND
first native-born American woman canonized a saint	ELIZABETH BAYLEY SETON  webpage
first woman missionary to China	HENRIETTA HALL SHUCK

 

First Women in Entertainment: 

first Black singer to perform with the Metropolitan Opera	MARIAN ANDERSON
first pop musician awarded the Lincoln Centre Medallion	ELLA FITZGERALD
first black prima donna of an opera company	CATERINA JARBORO
first woman to write an opera  and conduct it	ETHEL LEGINSKA
first black to win an Oscar	HATTIE McDANIEL
first Miss America	[MRS.] TOD ROBBINS
first woman General Director and then President of the New York City Opera	BEVERLY SILLS  webpage
first woman chair of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts	BEVERLY SILLS  webpage
first US woman film director	LOIS WHEELER
first black Miss America	VANESSA WILLIAMS

 

First Women in Science: 

"the first woman geologist in this country."	FLORENCE BASCOM
first woman hired by the U.S. Geological Survey	FLORENCE BASCOM
first woman elected to the Council of the GSA	FLORENCE BASCOM
first woman officer of the GSA	FLORENCE BASCOM
first woman discoverer of a comet	CAROLINE HERSCHEL  webpage
first U.S. woman and second woman ever to win the Nobel Prize in Physics	MARIA GOEPPERT MAYER
trailblazing anthropologist whose book, Coming of Age in Samoa caused scientific and social rethinking of adolescence	MARGARET MEAD
Astronomer, first woman named to membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences	MARIA MITCHELL
first professional woman chemist	ELLEN RICHARDS
first determined that the "X" and "Y" chromosomes determined the sex of humans	NETTIE STEVENS
first American women to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine	ROSALYN YALOW
first woman to win the Lasker Prize	ROSALYN YALOW

 

First Women in Education:

first woman to establish secondary school that became 4-year accredited college	MARY McLEOD BETHUNE
first American woman awarded an M.D.	ELIZABETH BLACKWELL
first matron of Belgium's first training school for nurses	EDITH CAVELL
first woman graduate from a U.S. collegiate law school	PHOEBE COUZINS
first woman to graduate from dental school	LUCY HOBBS
first African-American woman to receive a doctorate in any field from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology	SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON
founded Association for the Advancement of Medical Education of Women	MARY JACOBI
first woman to graduate from an accredited American law school	ADA KEPLEY
founder of Mt. Holyoke, the first college for women	MARY LYON
first woman to receive a Ph.D. degree	HELEN MAGILL
first American nurse to earn a Ph.D.	LOUISE MCMANUS
founded first US kindergarten	ELIZABETH PALMER PEABODY
received first diploma awarded by nation's first school of nursing	LINDA RICHARDS
first woman graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and first woman to teach there	FLORENCE SABIN
first woman to become a college president	FRANCES ELIZABETH WILLARD

First Women in the Professions and Business: 

first woman admitted to the bar	ARABELLA MANSFIELD BABB
first professional woman architect in America.	LOUISE BLANCHARD BETHUNE
first woman admitted to the American Institute of Architects	LOUISE BLANCHARD BETHUNE
first woman to own, operate and edit a newspaper	AMELIA JENKS BLOOMER
trailblazing photographer	MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE
America's first woman lawyer	MYRA BRADWELL
founder of the Frontier Nursing Service	MARY BRECKINRIDGE
first woman to sell securities on New York Stock Curb Exchange	LINDA DARNELL
first American woman to serve as a foreign correspondent	MARGARET FULLER
first woman president of a national bank	KATE GLEASON
first president of major U.S. corporation	JOHANNA (BANTLE) HIELEMAN
first woman president of the National Bar Assn	ARNETTE HUBBARD
co-founder of United Farm Workers union	DOLORES HUERTA
first woman in the ice and coal business	JANE MCGOWAN KING
first woman to practice law and argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court	BELVAANNLOCKWOOD
first woman head of modern U.S. firm	REBECCA WEBB (PENNOCK) LUKENS
first Black woman to study and work as a professionally trained nurse	MARY MAHONEY
first American female attorney	ARARELLA MANSFIELD
first woman whose invention received a patent	ANN TERESA MATHEWS
first woman head of major U.S. newspaper	ANNA BEHR UHL OTTENDORFER
first black woman lawyer	CHARLOTTE  E. RAY
first person to be a U.S. flagmaker	BETSY ROSS
first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange	MURIEL SIEBERT
first- ever discount broker	MURIEL SIEBERT
first Black woman to become a millionaire	MADAME C. J. WALKER Sarah Breedlove
first woman bank director/philanthropist	MAGGIE MITCHELL WALKER
first African-American woman to own her own television production company	OPRAH WINFREY

 

First Women in Literature: 

first woman to become professional writer	HANNAH ADAMS
first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry	GWENDOLYN BROOKS
first American woman awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature	PEARL S. BUCK
"Silent Spring" and others paved the way for the  environmental movement of today.	RACHEL CARSON
first Native American published lecturer, artist and author	SUSETTE LA FLESCHE
first woman to win the Nobel literature prize	SELMA LAGERLOF
one of the first women to earn a living by writing	HARRlET BEECHER STOWE

 

Women at War: 

first woman marine	LUCY BREWER
first woman to be named major general in U.S. Army	MARY CLARKE
first woman who manned a gun during a battle first woman to receive a U. S.  government pension as a  disabled soldier	MARGARET COCHRAN CORBIN
first woman to attain rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy	GRACE HOPPER
first woman issued a warrant as a noncommissioned officer -- the 2nd time on an American battlefield, a woman manned a gun	MARY HAYS McCAULY (Molly Pitcher)
first woman U.S. NAVY deep sea diver	DONNA TOBIAS
first Army female surgeon	MARY EDWARDS WALKER
first woman to receive the Medal of Honor	MARY EDWARDS WALKER

 

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