Anna May Wong (1905-1961)

Despite dealing with racism that plagued her career, Wong is still considered Hollywood's first-ever Asian American movie star. Her talent earned her roles in over 50 domestic and foreign films, and she was also the first Asian American to star in a TV show, The DuMont Television Network's "The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong." A year before her death in 1961, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of fame.

PHOTO: William Davis

Tammy Duckworth (1968-)

Tammy Duckworth, the Illinois senator and retired National Guard lieutenant colonel, is responsible for an impressive list of firsts. She's the first Congress member to be born in Thailand, the first to give birth while in office, the first Asian American woman to represent Illinois' Congress, and the first woman with a disability to be elected to Congress. She lost both of her legs following a helicopter attack during the Iraq War.

“People always want me to hide it in pictures," she told Vogue in 2018. "I say no! I earned this wheelchair. It’s no different from a medal I wear on my chest. Why would I hide it?”

PHOTO: MANDEL NGAN

Kalpana Chawla (1961-2003)

In 1996, after being named a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia by NASA, Kalpana Chawla became the first woman of Indian descent to fly in space. The shuttle orbited around earth 252 times in a little over two weeks. Her second—and last—trip to space came in 2003 when she and six other astronauts completed more than 80 experiments over the course of 16 days. She and the entire crew died when the ship disintegrated upon reentering the Earth's atmosphere. In 2020, Northrop Grumman named a spacecraft after Chawla in her memory.

PHOTO: Getty Images

Katharine Graham (1917-2001)

As chairman of The Washington Post Co. for 20 years, Katharine Graham was one of the first female publishers of a U.S. newspaper and the first woman CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. Graham led The Washington Post from 1963 to 1991, seeing it through its groundbreaking publication of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate scandal. This move helped establish the Post as one of the most esteemed journalistic institutions in the world. Graham herself won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for her autobiography, Personal History.

PHOTO: Wally McNamee

Wilma Mankiller (1945-2010)

In 1985, Oklahoma native Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to be Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, leading the largest tribe in the United States. During her decade-long chiefdom from 1985 to 1995, "tribal enrollment grew, infant mortality dropped and employment rates doubled," according to Time. In 1998, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton.

PHOTO: Peter Turnley

Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)

Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator and civil rights advocate. In 1904, she founded the Daytona Educational and Industrial School for Negro Girls (now known as Bethune-Cookman University) in Florida, becoming the first woman to start a historical Black college and university (HBCU). She was also a prominent member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Black Cabinet" in 1932.

Nellie Bly (1864-1922)

Born Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, Seaman adopted the pen name "Nellie Bly" to go undercover as an investigative journalist in the 1880s. She's most known for infiltrating an insane asylum on Blackwell's Island in New York to expose the unfair treatment patients endured. Her reporting led to the New York City municipal government shelling out more money to improve conditions for the mentally ill. The movie "10 Days in a Madhouse" is based on her life and legacy.

PHOTO: H.J. Myers/Library of Congress

Donyale Luna (1945-1979)

Before Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks, there was Donyale Luna (née Peggy Ann Freeman). Luna is hailed as "the first Black supermodel," and she was the first African American model to appear on the cover of British Vogue in March 1966. Luna also appeared in several indie films, including Andy Warhol's Camp in 1965. Unfortunately, she died at the age of 33 from an accidental heroin overdose in Rome, Italy.

PHOTO: Jack Garofalo/Paris Match

Althea Gibson (1927-2003)

In 1956, author and tennis star Althea Gibson became the first Black person to win the French championships, and in 1957, she won Wimbledon and the U.S. National Tennis Championships tournament as the first African American. Without Gibson crossing color lines during segregation and making an impact both on and off the tennis court, female athletes of color such as Venus Williams, Serena Williams, and Naomi Osaka wouldn't be able to enjoy the fruits of her hard-fought labor today.

Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952)

Hattie McDaniel was the first Black actor to receive a Oscar in 1940 for her portrayal of the maid "Mammy" in "Gone with the Wind." When actress Regina King was asked in 2019 about following in McDaniel's footsteps with her recent Best Supporting Actress win, she said she felt "blessed."

"It’s just a reminder of when Hattie McDaniel won, she didn’t win just because Black people voted for her," King told reporters, according to Entertainment Weekly. "She won because she gave an amazing performance and especially then, the Academy was not as reflective as it is now."

Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911-2015)

Amelia Boynton Robinson was at the forefront of the civil rights movement in Georgia and Alabama. She is most recognized for the brutal photographs showing her being attacked by officers during the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Robinson also championed voting rights for African Americans, and her efforts and attack were depicted in Ava DuVernay's 2014 film, "Selma."

PHOTO: Stephen Lovekin

Zelda Fitzgerald (1900-1948)

Zelda Fitzgerald was married to beloved writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote the classic novel The Great Gatsby. But what literary fans may not know is that Mrs. Fitzgerald was a talented dancer and writer in her own right. It's been long speculated that she served as his muse. But in a piece she wrote for The New York Tribune, Fitzgerald also accused her husband of stealing from her journal entries, intimating that he "seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home."

María Elena Salinas (1954-)

Heralded as the "Voice of Hispanic America" by The New York Times, María Elena Salinas is the first Latina to receive a Lifetime Achievement Emmy. She's the longest running female network anchor in the U.S., and had two seasons of her investigative series, The Real Story. Upon leaving Univision in December 2017 after a 36-year run at the network, the journalist said, "I am grateful for having had the privilege to inform and empower the Latino community through the work my colleagues and I do with such passion."

PHOTO: Ethan Miller

Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972)

Powerhouse singer Mahalia Jackson is hailed as the "The Queen of Gospel." And while music fans are familiar with songs and hymns such as "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," what you may not know is that Jackson played a significant role in the March on Washington in 1963. Not only was she a good friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as we saw in the "Selma" movie, but she was also the inspiration behind Dr. King's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. Adviser Clarence Jones reportedly said that it was Jackson who yelled from the stage, "Tell them about the dream, Martin!"

Effa Manley (1897-1981)

During a time when sports predominantly consisted of white male owners and athletes, Effa Manley refused to subscribe to gender and racial stereotypes. She made history as a sports executive who co-owned the Newark Eagles baseball franchise in the Negro leagues with her husband Abe Manley from 1935 to 1946. Her team won the Negro League World Series in 1946. However, after her husband's death in 1952, she became the sole owner and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

PHOTO: Baseball Hall of Fame

Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005)

Constance Baker Motley has a long list of historic achievements. In 1964, she became the first African American woman to serve in the New York State Senate. Two years later, in 1966, she was the first Black female federal judge who won significant civil rights victories in the U.S. Supreme Court. She also represented Dr. King.

PHOTO: Bettmann

Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964)

Celebrated as one of the most prominent Black scholars and feminists in the 19th and 20th centuries, Anna Julia Cooper was a beacon for racial progress among African Americans. In 1892, she published her first book and manifesto, A Voice from the South. She's the only woman of color ever to be quoted in the current edition of the U.S. Passport. It reads: "The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class — it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity."

PHOTO: Scurlock Studios/Smithsonian

Bertha Von Suttner (1843-1914)

In 1905, Bertha Von Suttner (otherwise known as Baroness Bertha Felicie Sophie von Suttner) became the second female Nobel laureate and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The honor was bestowed upon her for her 1889 novel, Lay Down Your Arms, and for her contributions in organizing an anti-war peace movement.

Hazel Dorothy Scott (1920-1981)

The Trinidadian jazz singer trended after Alicia Keys paid homage to Scott's ability to play two pianos at the same time at the 2019 Grammy Awards. Scott was a musical prodigy who caught the attention of the founder of The Juilliard School in New York at age eight. The celebrated classical pianist also performed on Broadway and had several small cameos in films, such as the 1943 musical, The Heat's On.

PHOTO: Michael Ochs Archives

Jeanette Rankin (1880-1973)

Jeanette Rankin was the first woman, and one of the few suffragists, elected to Congress. Though she is applauded by Congress today, her decision to vote against U.S. participation in World War I and World War II was met with disapproval at the time. After her election in 1916, she said, "I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won’t be the last." She was right because as of 2021, there are a record number of women making up more than a quarter of Congress today.

PHOTO: New York Times Co.

Florence Griffith Joyner (1959-1998)

Though her life was tragically cut short at the age of 38, Olympic sprinter Florence "Flo-Jo" Griffith Joyner's record remains undefeated. She is still considered the fastest woman of all time for the records she set in 1988 for the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes in Seoul that still stand today. In 2018, Beyoncé honored Griffith's athletic ability and her coveted style on Halloween.

Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)

No longer a "hidden figure," Katherine Johnson's famous mathematical computations finally were highlighted in the 2016 movie "Hidden Figures" starring Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe, and Octavia Spencer. Henson portrayed Johnson in the film, the African American woman whose hand-calculations successfully launched John Glenn into orbit in 1962. In 2019 it was announced that The Independent Verification and Validation Facility (IV&V) in Fairmont, West Virginia, was renamed in honor of Johnson. Following her death at the age of 101, in 2021 Northrop Grumman named a spacecraft after her.

Sonia Sotomayor (1954-)

Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history. She was appointed by former President Barack Obama in May 2009 and later confirmed in August 2009. She is also the third female justice in U.S. Supreme Court history. Sotomayor continues to support women's issues, criminal justice reform, and legal immigration.

PHOTO: NBC

Marie Curie (1867-1934)

Not only was French physicist and chemist Marie Curie the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, she also won the award twice. In addition, the Poland native was the first woman to earn a doctorate degree in Europe and was the first female professor of the University of Paris. Curie made significant contributions in cancer research and discovered the elements radium and polonium.

Georgia Gilmore (1920-1990)

When you hear about the Montgomery bus boycotts, the names Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin probably come to mind. Although Georgia Gilmore didn't refuse to give up her seat, she was a huge part in making the boycotts a success as a cook. She fed activists like Dr. King during segregation, selling her famous fried chicken sandwiches, as documented in John T. Edge's book, The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South.

"She offered these women, many of whose grandmothers were born into slavery, a way to contribute to the cause that would not raise suspicions of white employers who might fire them from their jobs, or white landowners who might evict them from the houses they rented," Edge wrote.

PHOTO: Associated Press/NPR

Ibtihaj Muhammad (1985-)

In 2016, fencing champion Ibtihaj Muhammad became the first Muslim woman to represent the U.S. at the Olympics, and she also won an Olympic medal. She also commanded attention for being the first Olympian to wear a hijab. Doll manufacturer Barbie recreated a hijab-wearing figure in her honor in 2018.

Grace Hopper (1906-1992)

U.S. Navy admiral and mathematician Grace Hopper paved the way in computer programming, modern data processing, and technology. She was responsible for inventing one of the first application-friendly computer languages and the UNIVAC I, which was the first commercial electronic computer.

Ellen Ochoa (1958-)

On April 8, 1993, Ellen Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman in the world to go into space aboard the Discovery shuttle. She spent nine days surveying the Earth’s ozone layer and solar activity. Since that mission, she’s made three additional trips into space. In 2013, she accomplished another major feat by becoming the first Hispanic director, and second female director, of the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

PHOTO: picture alliance

Patsy Takemoto Mink (1927-2002)

The late Hawaii representative was the first Asian American woman elected to Congress. She co-authored the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Amendment that prohibits sex discrimination.

"What you endure is who you are," Mink said in the documentary Ahead of the Majority. "And if you just accept and do nothing, then life goes on. But if you see it as a way for change, life doesn’t have to be so unfair... I can’t change the past, but I can certainly help somebody else in the future so they don’t have to go through what I did."

PHOTO: Bettmann

Lynda Blackmon Lowery (1950-)

At the age of 15, Lynda Blackmon Lowery was on a mission to bring about change in the segregated South. She was the youngest person to take part in the Selma Voting Rights March of 1965 at the age of 15. She wrote the memoir Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom to share her unique experience during the civil rights movement.

PHOTO: Robin Cooper/Penguin Random House

Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994)

As a child, Wilma Rudolph suffered from polio and scarlet fever. Despite being told that she wouldn't be able to walk again, she would go on to become one of the world's fastest women. At the 1960 Summer Olympics, she won three gold medals, becoming the first American woman to win three medals in track and field at the same Olympic games. She also used her sports platform for social causes.

Raye Montague (1935-2018)

Raye Montague was credited "with revolutionizing the way the Navy’s ships are designed by developing a computer program that creates rough drafts of ship specifications," according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Montague's trailblazing efforts were also showcased in "Hidden Figures," with Janelle Monáe playing her in the film. The Arkansas native and former Naval engineer died in October 2018 at the age of 83.

PHOTO: Harry

Raven Wilkinson (1935-2018)

Today, we praise Misty Copeland as the first African American woman principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater company. But Raven Wilkinson set the groundwork for Black ballerinas, and she also happens to be one of Copeland's inspirations and mentors. Wilkinson was one of the first African American dancers to perform with a major ballet company, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

PHOTO: Ballets Russes

Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002)

Along with Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, a Venezuelan-Puerto Rican trans woman, was one of the original LGBTQ activists. She launched the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) organization in 1970, which provided aid and shelter for trans youth living in New York City. The Sylvia Rivera Law Project was named in her honor, and serves as a resource to protect the rights of the LGBTQ community.

PHOTO: Val Shaff

Mildred Loving (1939-2008)

We love an epic love story, especially when it results in much-needed change. Thanks to Mildred and Richard Loving, an interracial couple whose historic Supreme Court case helped to erase segregation laws in the U.S., partners can now marry outside of their race. In 1958, the Lovings were arrested for violating the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. However, they fought for their love, and their case was reimagined in the 2016 movie "Loving."

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (1952-)

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was the first Latina to serve in the Florida House, the Florida Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives. The Cuban-American's platforms included championing for marriage equality and education and opposing Fidel Castro's regime. She retired in 2017, telling the Miami Herald, "It’s been such a delight and a high honor to serve our community for so many years and help constituents every day of the week."

PHOTO: SOPA Images