STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.4, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.2, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.7, W.6-8.4

NCSS: Culture • Time, Continuity, and Change • Individual Development and Identity • Science, Technology, and Society • Civic Ideals and Practices

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Do You Know These Names?

This month, the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, will honor 10 new members. Some are famous, like tennis legend Serena Williams. Here are three you may not have heard of. How did they help shape our country? 

Anna Wessels Williams
(1863-1954) 

Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images

At the turn of the 20th century, Williams was a pioneering pathologist, a scientist who studies infectious diseases. She helped develop vaccines for such widely feared diseases as smallpox and diphtheria, an illness that was especially fatal in children.

Ruby Bridges
(born 1954)

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP Images

Bridges is a living symbol of the civil rights movement. In November 1960, the 6-year-old was the first Black child to attend William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana. One iconic photo shows Ruby leaving school surrounded by federal officers for protection.

Elouise Cobell
(1945-2011) 

Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images

A member of the Blackfeet Tribe, Cobell helped found the first Native American bank. She also discovered that the U.S. government had grossly underpaid Native people for the rights to oil and timber from their lands. The court case she set in motion won $3.4 billion.

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