City: Madison

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.
Image description: A portrait-style photo of Ruth Gruber sitting on a chair.

Ruth Gruber

Ruth Gruber was a journalist and humanitarian known for her work documenting the lives of refugees.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Camille Guérin-Gonzales

Camille Guérin-Gonzales

Historian Camille Guérin-Gonzales, who directed the UW–Madison’s Chican@ and Latin@ Studies Program, was devoted to justice for working people.
Image description: A photo of Ann D. Gordon speaking into a megaphone.

Ann D. Gordon

A student activist in the 1960s, Ann D. Gordon became a history professor and an important scholar of women’s suffrage in the U.S.
Image description: A headshot of Debora Gil Casado.

Debora Gil Casado

Community activist and educator Debora Gil R. Casado cofounded the first Spanish-language immersion school in Madison, Wisconsin.
Image description: A black-and-white photo of Suzy Favor Hamilton wearing a Wisconsin uniform while running at a track event.

Suzy Favor Hamilton

Suzy Favor Hamilton is a record-breaking runner, a three-time Olympic athlete, and a vocal advocate for mental health.
Image description: A photo of Margaret Farrow sitting at a desk with a microphone.

Margaret Farrow

Margaret Farrow was the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor in Wisconsin.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Ada Deer.

Ada Deer

Ada Deer was the first woman to head the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and the first Native American woman from Wisconsin to run for U.S. Congress.