In honor of the 19th Amendment, take a glance at these other female firsts.
On January 23, 1849, ELIZABETH BLACKWELL graduates from New York’s Geneva Medical School, making her the first woman to earn a MEDICAL DEGREE in the U.S.
In 1865, Mary Edwards Walker becomes the first woman to receive the MEDAL OF HONOR. Still the only woman to receive the honor, she was recognized for her work as a surgeon during the American Civil War.
Janet Guthrie races into the history books in 1978 when she becomes the first woman to drive a car in the INDIANAPOLIS 500.
Anna Sutherland Bissell takes over the EXECUTIVE BOARD of the famous Bissell vacuum company in 1889 and becomes the first American woman to serve in a CEO role.
In 1933, Frances Perkins joins President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s cabinet as theU.S. Secretary of Labor. The appointment marked the first time a woman was asked to serve in aU.S. Cabinet position.
MARGARET ABBOTT the first American woman to win an Olympic event, finishes first in the women’s golf tournamentat the1900 Paris Olympic Games.
The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, earns some R-E-S-P-E-C-T on January 3, 1987 when she takes the title of FIRST WOMAN elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
