Bobbi Wilson 2013– In February, 2023, the Yale School of Public Health honored 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson for her efforts to curb the presence of the invasive spotted lantern fly. In October 2022, after learning in school how to eradicate these insects, the fourth-grader was spraying these flies around her home in Caldwell, New Jersey. She… Continue reading Bobbi Wilson
Category: Art
Maisie Brown
Maisie Brown 2001– A Glamour woman of the year in 2022, at 21, Maisie Brown helped with the Mississippi water crisis, leading the effort to deliver drinking water to residents unable to access the city’s distribution centers. As a grassroots activist, she distributed 250 LifeStraw Home water-filtering pitchers to Jackson, Mississippi, households in just one… Continue reading Maisie Brown
Marie Maynard Daly
Dr. Marie Maynard Daly 1921 -2003 Dr. Marie M. Daly is best known for being the first African American woman to receive a Ph. D. in chemistry in the United States. In her research, she found a strong correlation between high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels in the blood. This was a groundbreaking discovery… Continue reading Marie Maynard Daly
Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie 1897–1973 “But there were plenty of men who wanted to play guitar like Memphis Minnie. She once even beat the great Big Bill Broonzy in a picking contest. Her title “Queen of the Country Blues” was no hype. Minnie did everything the boys could do, and she did it in a fancy gown… Continue reading Memphis Minnie
Ruth Bateson
Ruth Batson 1921-2003 Inspired by her mother’s interest in civil rights, Ruth Bateson became the Chairman of the Public Education Sub-Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1953. In the early 1960s, she challenged the Boston School Committee. In addition to the Boston Public Schools being largely segregated, she… Continue reading Ruth Bateson
Belle de Costa Greene
Belle de Costa Greene 1879–1950 Belle da Costa Greene was an American librarian who managed and developed the personal library of J. P. Morgan. After Morgan’s death in 1913, Greene continued as librarian for his son, Jack Morgan, and in 1924 was named the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library. As a child in… Continue reading Belle de Costa Greene
Mari Copeny
Mari Copeny 2007– Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny captured the nation’s attention when she became an advocate for clean drinking water in Flint, Michigan at the start of the water crisis in 2014. In 1916, when she was eight, she wrote a letter to President Barack Obama bringing international attention to lead-tainted drinking water in her hometown.… Continue reading Mari Copeny
Allyson Felix
Allyson Felix 1985– Allyson Felix is both the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field history and the most decorated American track and field athlete in Olympic history. She earned 11 total medals from five consecutive Olympic Games. In 2018, pregnant Felix developed pre-eclampsia, a condition marked by high blood pressure along with a… Continue reading Allyson Felix
Annie Easley
Annie Easley 1933 -2011 Two weeks after reading an article on twin sisters working as human computers, Annie Easley began a career in 1955 as a ‘human computer’, doing computations for researchers. This involved analyzing problems and doing calculations by hand. In the face of discrimination, her motto was “[I]f I can’t work with you,… Continue reading Annie Easley
Ellen Jackson
Ellen Jackson 1935–2005 Ellen Swepson Jackson was an American educator and activist. She is best known for founding Operation Exodus in 1965. This program bused students from overcrowded, predominantly black Boston schools to less crowded, predominantly white schools in the 1960s. Operation Exodus paved the way for the desegregation of Boston’s public schools.