Women.Born.Before | 12.30

Josefa [Chipita] Rodriguez (30 dec 1799 – 13 nov 1863 | Mexico, New Spain – San Patricio TX) Mexican-American innkeeper, convicted / hanged for murder, first and only woman hanged in Texas, subject of books / operas / newspaper and magazine articles, Texas Legislature resolved [a century later in 1985] that Josefa did not receive a fair trial and should not have been hanged | women.born.before © susan.powers.bourne

Agnes Irwin (30 dec 1841 – 05 dec 1914 | Washington DC – Philadelphia PA) author, editor, educator, girls’ school founder, political family member, first dean at Radcliffe College, principal at West Penn Square Seminary for Young Ladies (later named Agnes Irwin School) | women.born.before © susan.powers.bourne

Katharine Jeannette Bush (30 dec 1855 – 19 jan 1937 | Scranton PA – New Haven CT) author, essayist, zoologist, dictionary editor, first to earn PhD in Sciences at Yale | women.born.before © susan.powers.bourne

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Rachel Foster Avery (30 dec 1858 – 26 oct 1919 | Pittsburgh PA – Philadelphia PA) suffragist, journalist, political activist, organized International Council of Women for National American Woman Suffrage Association, organizer / corresponding secretary for both organizations

Chansonetta Stanley Emmons (30 dec 1858 – 1937 | Kingfield ME – Kingfield ME) pioneering female photographer, hand-colored glass slide artist

Jane Yelvington McCallum (30 dec 1877 – 14 aug 1957 | LaVernia TX – Austin TX) author, suffrage / prohibition activist, longest-serving Secretary of State of Texas, one of first mothers to attend UTexas at Austin, first married woman to join UTA sorority

Henrietta Eleanor Goodnough Deuell (30 dec 1889 – 19 jun 1967 | Bennington KS – Carmel Valley CA) journalist, pen name: Peggy Hull, American female WWI / WWII war correspondent, first female war correspondent accredited by US War Department

Nina Koshetz (30 dec 1891 – 14 may 1965 | Kiev, Ukraine – Santa Ana CA) Russian-American actress, recital singer, operatic soprano

Helen von Kolnitz Hyer (30 dec 1896 – 14 nov 1983 | Charleston SC – Beaufort SC) poet, curator, novelist, children’s author

Rachel Henderlite (30 dec 1905 – 06 nov 1991 | Henderson NC – Austin TX) author, professor, religious leader, ecumenical activist, first woman ordained pastor of Presbyterian Church of the United States (PCUS)

Jane Gillson Langton (30 dec 1922 – 22 dec 2018 | Boston MA – Lincoln MA) author, children’s books / adult novel illustrator

Yvonne Madelaine Claeys Brill (30 dec 1924 – 27 mar 2013 | Winnipeg, Manitoba – Princeton NJ) Canadian-American, rocket scientist, jet propulsion innovator / researcher

Lorna Jolley Kesterson (30 dec 1925 – 16 jan 2012 | St George UT – Las Vegas Valley NV) journalist, politician, newspaper editor / reporter, first female mayor in Henderson Nevada 

Margaret Holland [Meg] Sargent (30 dec 1927 – Hollywood CA) portrait artist

Nancy Van de Vate (30 dec 1930 – Plainfield NJ) American-Austrian pianist, composer

Susan Subtle (30 dec 1941 – Atlantic City NJ) author, curator, reviewer, columnist, product designer, known for focus on recycled and outsider art

Betty Kay Ageloff Aberlin (30 dec 1942 – New York NY) poet, writer, actress, literary website contributor, late-night jazz / poetry / spoken radio show host

Patricia Lee [Patti] Smith (30 dec 1946 – Chicago IL) poet, memoirist, visual artist, singer-songwriter, children’s book author

Fatima Jibrell (30 dec 1947 – Somalia) Somali-American, environmental activist, co-founder of Sun Fire Cooking, co-founder / former executive director of Horn of Africa Relief and Development Association [now Adeso], instrumental in creating the Women’s Coalition for Peace

Sarah Marshall Kernochan (30 dec 1947 – New York NY) film director, producer, screenwriter, singer-songwriter, documentary filmmaker

Marjorie [Molly] Greene Hahn (30 dec 1948 – US) mathematician, tennis player, research focus on probability theory, professor emerita at Tufts University

Daria Halprin (30 dec 1948 – San Francisco Bay CA) author, dancer, former actress, psychologist

Marcia Kramer (30 dec 1948 – New York NY) electronic journalist, chief political correspondent

Sharon [Safiya] Henderson-Holmes (30 dec 1950 – 08 apr 2001 | Bronx NY – New York NY) poet, natural birth / physical therapist, professor at Syracuse University, involved in Poets and Writers, Art Against Apartheid, National Council of American-Soviet Friendship

June Anderson (30 dec 1952 – Boston MA) coloratura soprano, bel canto performer

Louann Brizendine (30 dec 1952 – US) author, clinician, neuropsychiatrist, specializes in researching effects of hormones on male / female brains

Tina Davidson (30 dec 1952 – Stockholm, Sweden) Swedish-American pianist, composer, essayist, composer-in-residence

Melissa Fay Greene (30 dec 1952 – Macon GA) nonfiction author

Mary Ellen Miller (30 dec 1952 – New York NY) author, curator, academic, art historian, college dean, archaeologist, Mayan / Meso-American scholar

Meredith Louise Vieira (30 dec 1953 – Providence RI) tv show host, broadcast journalist

Glenda R. Taylor (30 dec 1955 – Brooklyn NY) editor, essayist, community activist, philanthropy executive, Olympic Vision charity founder, Dewey educational philosophy proponent

Sheryl Lee Ralph (30 dec 1956 – Waterbury CT) author, singer, actress, HIV / adis activist, youngest female graduate (19 in 1972) from Rutgers University

Silda Alice Wall Spitzer (30 dec 1957 – Chapel Hill NC) lawyer, social activist, former First Lady of New York State, cofounded children’s volunteering not-for-profit, cofounder / CEO of woman-owned New York States of Mind digital magazine / marketplace

Sabina Magliocco (30 dec 1959 – Topeka KS) author, essayist, folklorist, anthropologist, Fulbright Scholar, professor of anthropology

Jennifer Diane Reitz (30 dec 1959 – Baker City OR) writer, trans woman, webcomic author, computer programmer, Transsexuality information website founder / facilitator

Tracey Ullman (30 dec 1959 – Slough UK) English-American singer, dancer, author, actress, director, comedian, screenwriter, businesswoman

Elizabeth Humphreys Penrose (30 dec 1960 – Wilmington DE) science-fiction genre poet

Heather Ann Wilson (30 dec 1960 – Keene NH) author, private pilot, state politician, former US Air Force officer, first female military veteran elected to full-term in US Congress, president of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology