Timeline: 1951-Present

Image description: A portrait-style photo of Gwen Moore in front of an American flag.

Gwen Moore

Gwen Moore was the first African American from the state of Wisconsin to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Image description: A black-and-white portrait-style photo of Golda Meir.

Golda Meir

Golda Meir was a teacher and organizer in Milwaukee before becoming Israel's first female prime minister in 1969.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Katherine Lyall.

Katharine Lyall

Katharine Lyall was the first woman president of the University of Wisconsin System.
Image description: A headshot of Patty Loew.

Patricia “Patty” Loew

Patricia "Patty" Loew is a celebrated journalist, filmmaker, and educator about Native Americans in Wisconsin.
A headshot of Estella Leopold.

Estella Leopold

Estella Leopold was 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 headshot of April Ulring Larson.

April Ulring Larson

Elected by the La Crosse Area Synod in 1992, Rev. April Ulring Larson became the first female Lutheran bishop in North America and the second in the world.
Image description: A headshot of Hellen Kort.

Ellen Kort

Ellen Kort was Wisconsin’s first poet laureate.
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.