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UMKC Libraries Book Displays

Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood - first woman to argue before the US Supreme Court.

Kathryn Bigelow - first woman to win Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker.

Simone Biles - tied as the most decorated gymnast of all time. 

Elizabeth Blackwell - first female doctor in the United States.

Anne Bradstreet - first woman author published in America. 

Maia Chaka - first African American official in the NFL.

Shirley Chisholm - first African American woman in Congress and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for President of the US from one of the two major political parties.

Jackie Cochran - first woman to break the sound barrier in flight.

Bessie Coleman - first woman of African American and Native American descent to hold a pilot's license. 

Marie Curie - first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

Sharice Davids - first openly LGBT Native American elected to the US Congress and first openly lesbian person elected to the US Congress from Kansas.

Tammy Duckworth - first woman with a disability elected to Congress and the first Senator to give birth while in office.

Amelia Earhart - first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Emerald Fennell and Chloe Zhao - 2021 was the first year that two women were nominated in the Academy Award Best Director category.

Aretha Franklin - first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Indira Gandhi -  first (and to date) only female prime minister of India. 

Bobbi Gibb - first woman to run the entire Boston Marathon.

Cammi Granato - first woman to be hired as an Assistant General Manager of an NHL team (Vancouver Canucks) and became the first woman to be inducted into the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame and the US Hockey Hall of Fame.

Kristen Griest & Shaye Haver - first women to graduate from the US Army Ranger school.

Avril Haines - first woman to serve as director of National Intelligence. 

Carla Hayden - first woman and first African American to be Librarian of Congress.

Joy Harjo - first Native American United States Poet Laureate.

Kamala Harris - sworn in as Vice President of the United States.

Mazie Hirono -  first elected female senator from Hawaii, and the first Asian American woman elected to the Senate.

Erin Jackson - first African American woman to win Olympic gold in speed skating.

Betty Mae Tiger Jumper - first (and so far) the only female Chief to the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Sarah McBride - first openly transgender state senator.

Wilma Mankiller - first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Rita Moreno - first Latinix to win an Oscar and first Latinix EGOT winner.

Juliana Morell - first woman to earn a Doctorate Degree.

Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson - 2021 the first African American women to win Academy Award for best makeup and hair.

Sandra Day O'Connor - first female US Supreme Court Justice.

Ellen Ochoa - first Latinix in space and first Latinix director of the Johnson Space Center in 2012.

Frances Perkins - first woman to serve as a Presidential Cabinet Member.

Jeannette Rankin - first woman elected to the US House of Representatives.

Michaela Jae Rodriguez - first transgender woman to be nominated for an Emmy award in a major acting category.

Svetlana Savitskaya - first woman to walk in space.

Sonia Sotomayor - first Latina/x Supreme Court Justice.

Junko Tabei - first woman to climb Mt. Everest.

Valentina Tereshkova - first woman in space.

Sarah Thomas - became the NFL's first permanent female game official.

Edith Wharton - first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.

Janet Yellen - first woman to serve as Secretary of the Treasury.

banner with pictures of numerous women that were the first to accomplish something or be in a position

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