Nettie Craig Asberry
Asberry is believed to be the first African American woman in the United States to receive a doctorate degree.
Danni Askini
International NGOs including Amnesty International have written an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, voicing their concern over U.S. not allowing Askinki to renew her passport. The UN also attempted an investigation into human rights complaints caused by this but have not received a response from the State department.
Bernadette Bascom
As the daughter of civil rights leader, Rev. Marion C. Bascom, whose remarkable vocal skills landed her as one of the first female artists signed to Stevie Wonder’s label, Bernadette Bascom’s passion for music has led her to create a local music program for children with special needs in Seattle.
Sue Bird
Her most embarrassing memory while competing in basketball at UConn is her mom dancing in the stands on national television. She also wears the number 10 because both her and her sister are October babies.
Patricia Bostrom
Bostrom led a momentous legal battle against the University of Washington condemning their underfunding of women’s athletic programs and unfair treatment of female athletic programs.
Carrie Brownstein
Brownstein’s show, Portlandia, has won 7 awards. Among these are 3 Primetime Emmys and a Peabody Award.
Monyee Chau
Chau, who explores the journey of healing through decolonization and reconnecting with her roots and ancestors through art, credits her initial interest in the arts to drawing anime girls when she was a child.
Ruby Chow
Ruby Chow is famously known in Seattle for her ownership and creation of Ruby Chows Resturant; the first Chinese restaurant located out of China Town. An influential actor, kung-fu master, and former staff of Chows restaurant was Seattle legend Bruce Lee!
Bessie Hall Dempsey
Before becoming Boeing’s first female engineer, Bessie Hall Dempsey pursued a performing arts career under the stage name Yvonne St. Clair.
Marie D. Equi
The longest intimate relationship in Equi’s life was to partner Harriet Speckart, well-known niece of the founder of Olympia Brewing Company.
Rosa Franklin
Rosa Franklin was the first black woman elected to the Washington State Senate and has sponsored bills such as the Washington Housing Policy Act, which establishes affordable housing and anti-discrimination policy. Franklin has been married to her husband for more than 57 years.
Clara Fraser
Clara Fraser was an inspiring teacher who trained women to be leaders and men to be feminists, once led a strike in 1948 against Boeing with the help of other female mother workers to create a picket-line with strollers as protest.
Rosalinda Guillen
From from Fall of 1993 to December 5, 1995, she ran a grassroots farm worker organizing campaign, which resulted in the first union contract for farm workers in Washington state.
Kathleen Hanna
“Famous Nirvana song ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ got its name from a drunken message Kathleen Hanna penned in sharpie on Kurt Cobain’s apartment walls.”
Aki Kurose
The first Seattle school named after an Asian American woman was the Aki Kurose Middle School Academy in 2000 inside the Aki Kurose Village community in North Seattle.
Sharon McMurtry
McMurtry was the first recipient of the U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year award in 1985.
Margaret Murie
In 1956, the Murie and her husband began a campaign to convince President Eisenhower to set aside 8,000,000 acres of land in Alaska for wildlife (Arctic National Wildlife Range).
Nikkita Oliver
Oliver is not only a politician, but also a poet. In 2016, Oliver collaborated with Seattle rapper Macklemore on his song “White Privilege II”.
Ijeoma Oluo
Oluo penned the New York Times Best Seller, So You Want to Talk About Race, and first began writing on subjects such as misogyny and race on her food blog after the death of Trayvon Martin who was the same age as her own son.
Deborah Parker
“My question for Congress was, and has always been: Why did you not protect me or my family? Why is my life and the life of so many other Native American womxn less important?” (Quote derived from speech given by Deborah Parker regarding the Violence Against Women Act)
Megan Rapinoe
She was involved in what became the most expensive trade in Women’s Professional Soccer history when the Philadelphia Independence sent her to the magic Jack in 2011, with $100,000 in cash considerations going to Philadelphia.
Tracy Rector
Rector has made over 400 short films, some of which have been featured on Independent Lens, Cannes Film Festival, ImagineNative, National Geographic, Toronto International Film Festival, and in the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian.
Harriet “Hattie” Redmond
Hattie Redmond was an early proponent of women’s suffrage in Oregon during a time when black women were mostly invisible and not included in civil and legal rights protections.
Carolyn (Carrie) Shaw Rice
Carrie Shaw Rice was a pioneering educator in Washington, who in 1894 was appointed to the State Board of Education where she was one of the first women to serve on the board. Aside from her role in education, Carrie Shaw Rice was also active in the Chautauqua movement, that united millions in common cultural and educational experiences. In 1895 she was named the vice president of the National Chautauqua Association and was named as trustee for the Puget Sound.
Julie Shayne
Recipient of the 2019 Distinguished Teacher Award, senior lecturer and Gender Women Studies Faculty Coordinator Julie Shayne believes in the freedom to innovate when developing interdisciplinary curriculum. (“One of the things I tell new faculty is be careful–You’re going to have an idea that is really fun, and nobody will stop you. They’ll let you run with it. On the down side, new ideas are really time consuming.”)
Monae Smith
Aside from being known for her influence in the underground hip-hop scene, Monae “Medusa” Smith, has worked with other artists that have also gone to change music genres. From Tupac Shakur in “Life is a Traffic Jam”, to sharing the stage with Stevie Wonder, Eryka Badu, and many more, it’s clear why Smith is considered a legend.
Esperanza Spalding
After teaching herself to play the violin at the age of four, Spalding, age 20, became the youngest-ever faculty member at the prestigious Berklee College of Music.
Helen Cecile Beck Stafford
The first African-American caseworker for what was then the Tacoma Department of Public Assistance, as well as the first African-American woman in the state to receive State Woman of Achievement by the Washington State Business.
Velma Veloria
Veloria was not only the first Filipino American but also the first Asian American woman to be elected to the Washington State Legislature in 1992.
Lindy West
In January 2017, Lindy West deactivated her Twitter account in “protest” of the social networks reluctance to clamp down on far right movements use of the platform to spread hate, racism, and antisemitism.
