City: Madison

A headshot of Estella Leopold.

Estella Leopold

Estella Leopold is a paleobotanist and conservationist who conducted ground-breaking research on fossilized pollen.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Gerda Lerner.

Gerda Lerner

University of Wisconsin scholar Gerda Lerner founded the academic field of women's history.
Image description: A headshot of Barbara Lawton in front of an American flag.

Barbara Lawton

Barbara Lawton, forty-third lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, was the first woman to be elected to that position.
Image description: A black-and-white portrait-style photo of Belle Case La Follette.

Belle Case La Follette

Belle Case La Follette was the first woman to graduate from law school in Wisconsin and an outspoken advocate for women's right to vote.
A photo of bell hooks speaking into a microphone.

bell hooks

Best known for her work on gender, race, and class, University of Wisconsin graduate bell hooks was a prolific writer, speaker, and scholar.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Anita Herrera.

Anita Herrera

Anita Herrera grew up in a family of migrant farm workers and devoted her career to improving education, employment, and living conditions for People of Color in Wisconsin.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Cordelia Harvey.

Cordelia Harvey

Cordelia Harvey became known as the Wisconsin Angel for her work as a nurse and advocate for soldiers during the U.S. Civil War.
Image description: A black-and-white photo of Lorraine Hansberry holding a pencil with her right hand and using her left to lean on a desk.

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry's first Broadway play, A Raisin in the Sun, changed how Black people's lives were shown in American theater.
Image description: A black-and-white photo of Margaret H’Doubler standing next to a model of the human skeleton and raising her right arm.

Margaret H’Doubler

Margaret H’Doubler, “founder of American college dance,” created a dance major — the first in the U.S. — at the University of Wisconsin in 1926.
Image description: A black-and-white photo of Frances Hamerstrom holding her arm out for a raptor with its wings spread.

Frances Hamerstrom

Frances Hamerstrom, an ornithologist who helped save the prairie chicken population in Wisconsin, was the first woman in the U.S. to earn a master’s degree in wildlife management.