1790s
Margaret [Peggy] O’Neal Eaton (03 dec 1799 – 08 nov 1879 | Washington DC – Washington DC) folk / political figure, involved in US President Andrew Jackson Petticoat Affair
1800s
1810s
Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte [E. D. E. N.] Southworth (26 dec 1819 – 30 jun 1899 | Washington DC – Washington DC ) novelist, short fiction writer
1820s
1830s
1840s
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)
Elizabeth Benton [Lily] Frémont (15 nov 1842 – 28 may 1919 | Washington DC – Los Angeles CA) memoirist, letter correspondent, political family member
1850s
Margaret Howell Davis Hayes (25 feb 1855 – 18 jul 1909 | Washington DC – Colorado Springs CO) Daughters of the Confederacy leader, Confederate political family member
Maria Campbell Bache Wainwright Schroeder (14 mar 1856 – 12 jul 1926 | Washington DC – Jamestown RI) socialite, military / political family member, great-great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin
1860s
Anita Newcomb McGee (04 nov 1864 – 05 oct 1940 | Washington DC – Washington DC) author, physician, biographer, medical pioneer, expert professional organizer, author of manual on military nursing, military women’s rights activist / advocate, wrote the Army Reorganization Act of 1901 / founded US Army Nurse Corps, first female Acting Assistant US Army Surgeon General
1870s
Ynés Mexia (24 may 1870 – 12 jul 1938 | Washington DC – Berkeley CA) artist, botanist, essayist, lecturer, photographer, independent scholar | women.born.today © susan.powers.bourne
Marie Manning (22 jan 1872 – 28 nov 1945 | Washington DC – Washington DC) novelist, journalist, suffragist, aka Beatrice Fairfax, magazine founder, short fiction writer, autobiographical author, first US newspaper advice columnist
Leonora Speyer (07 nov 1872 – 10 feb 1956 | Washington DC – New York NY) poet, violinist, aka Lady Speyer, awarded 1927 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry
Leila Mechlin (29 may 1874 – 04 may 1949 | Washington DC – Washington DC) author, art critic, manager, editor of The American Magazine of Art
1880s
Nellie Mae Quander (11 feb 1880 – 24 sep 1961 | Washington DC – Washington DC) educator, civic / community activist, founder / first international preside Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority for African-American women
Catherine Lemmon Manning (24 jan 1881 – 14 apr 1957 | Washington DC – Washington DC) US philatelist, National Postal Museum curator, first woman elected to American Philatelic Society
Grace Hubbard Bell Fortescue (03 nov 1883 – 24 jun 1979 | Washington DC – Arlington VA) socialite, convicted [with three men] of kidnapping-murdering an innocent man for allegedly raping her daughter
Belle da Costa Greene (13 dec 1883 – 10 may 1950 | Washington DC – New York NY) Bohemian, fashion figure, private librarian to J. P. Morgan
Gretchen Hood (15 sep 1886 – 02 may 1978 | Washington DC – Bethesda MD) composer, opera singer
Dorothy Payne Whitney (23 jan 1887 – 14 dec 1968 | Washington DC – Devon UK) social activist, philanthropist
Norma Elizabeth Boyd (09 aug 1888 – 14 mar 1985 | Washington DC – New York NY) educator, civic / political activist, established the Non-Partisan Council, founding member of first African-American Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority
1890s
Frances Carpenter Huntington (30 apr 1890 – 02 nov 1972 | Washington DC – Washington DC) children’s book author
Lillian Evanti (12 aug 1890 – 06 dec 1967 | Washington DC – Washington DC) operatic soprano, African-American, civil rights activist
Eva Beatrice Dykes (13 aug 1893 – 29 oct 1986 | Washington DC – Huntsville AL) author, professor, first black American woman to fulfill doctoral degree requirements / third awarded PhD., Seventh Day Adventist activist / educator
Justina Hamilton Hill (01 oct 1893 – 01 nov 1980 | Washington DC – Fulton GA) author
Lois Meek Stolz (19 oct 1894 – 24 oct 1984 | Washington DC – Palo Alto CA) author, educator, psychologist, adult education activist
Florence Winfrey Mills (24 jan 1896 – 01 nov 1927 | Washington DC – New York NY) African-American, aka Queen of Happiness, cabaret singer / dancer / comedian, civil rights activist / supporter / ambassador
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (08 aug 1896 – 14 dec 1953 | Washington DC – St Augustine FL) poet, novelist, memoirist, short fiction writer, letter correspondent
Eslanda [Essie] Cardozo Goode Robeson (15 dec 1896 – 13 dec 1965 | Washington DC – New York NY) African-American actor, author, activist, anthropologist
Isabel Briggs Myers (18 oct 1897 – 05 may 1980 | Washington DC – Swarthmore PA) author, personality inventory co-creator
May Sullivan Miller (26 jan 1899 – 08 feb 1995 | Washington DC – Washington DC) African-American poet, playwright, educator, member of Harlem Renaissance
1900s
Ruth Winifred Howard Beckham (25 mar 1900 – 12 feb 1997 | Washington DC – Washington DC) social worker, child psychologist, pioneering African-American female PhD in psychology
Helen Hayes Brown MacArthur (10 oct 1900 – 17 mar 1993 | Washington DC – Nyack NY)actress, memoirist, philanthropist, autobiographical writer, aka First Lady of American Theatre
Hildegarde Howard (03 apr 1901 – 28 feb 1998 | Washington DC – Laguna Hills CA) author, pioneering avian paleo-ornithologist
Nancy McMichael Hoyt (01 oct 1902 – 1955 | Washington DC – unknown) poet, painter, romance novelist
Margerie Bonner Lowry (17 feb 1905 – 28 sep 1988 | Washington DC – Los Angeles CA) actress, novelist, scriptwriter
Merze Tate (06 feb 1905 – 27 jun 1996 | Blanchard MI – Washington DC) author, scholar, professor, US diplomacy expert
Lilian Rixley (17 aug 1907 – 07 jun 1997 | Washington DC – Sag Harbor NY) writer, editor, biographer
Marion Holland (17 jul 1908 – 06 apr 1989 | Washington DC – Washington DC) children’s book writer / illustrator
Ruby Hurley (07 nov 1909 – 09 aug 1980 | Washington DC – Atlanta GA) teacher, civil rights activist, aka The Queen of Civil Rights
1910s
Thalia Fortescue Massie (14 feb 1911 – 03 jul 1963 | Washington DC – Palm Beach FL) member of socially prominent family, involved in heavily publicized trials in Hawaii
Elizabeth Catlett (15 apr 1915 – 02 apr 2012 | Washington DC – Cuernavaca, Mexico) sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist
Beth Krush (31 mar 1918 – 02 feb 2009 | Washington DC – Bryn Mawr PA) artist, children’s book illustrator, drawing / illustration professor, creative collaborator with husband Joe Krush
Elfriede Martha Abbe (06 feb 1919 – 31 dec 2012 | Washington DC – Manchester VT) sculptor, wood engraver, botanical illustrator
Adelaide McGuinn Cromwell (27 nov 1919 – 08 jun 2019 | Washington DC – Boston MA) author, sociologist, professor emerita, focus on black histories
1920s
Mathilda [Mimi] Boal Lee (01 may 1920 – 09 aug 2011 | Washington DC – Laurel MD) chemist, athlete, swimmer, philanthropist, First Lady of Maryland
Jean Eichelberger Ivey (03 jul 1923 – 02 may 2010 | Washington DC – Baltimore MD) author, composer, electronic music pioneer
Evelyn Boyd Granville (01 may 1924 – Washington DC) educator, mathematician, pioneering computing work, second African-American female PhD in mathematics
Jane Tunstall Lingo (07 sep 1924 – 23 feb 2007 | Washington DC – Alexandria VA) pioneering journalist
Angela Dorothea Ferguson (15 feb 1925 – Washington DC) author, African-American, pediatric physician, research physiologist, known for groundbreaking work on sickle-cell disease
Elizabeth [Betita] Martinez (12 dec 1925 – Washington DC) author, educator, Chicana feminist, community organizer, first Latina to graduate from Swarthmore College
Dolores Kendrick (07 sep 1927 – 07 nov 2017 | Washington DC – Washington DC) poet, professor emerita, second Poet Laureate of the District of Columbia
1930s
Gladys-Marie Fry (06 apr 1931 – 07 nov 2015 | Washington DC – Silver Spring MD) author, historian, folklorist, professor, African-American textiles expert
Mary Elizabeth Williamson McHenry (23 jan 1933 – Washington DC) professor, African-American, credited with bringing African-American literature to Mount Holyoke College
Wilburta Cartwright Locke (13 may 1933 – 16 jan 2012 | Washington DC – Scottsdale AZ) artist, violinist, teacher
Barbara Murray Holland (05 apr 1933 – 07 sep 2010 | Washington DC – Bluemont VA) essayist, memoirist, biographical / historical nonfiction author
Jean Anne Carpenter Carnahan (20 dec 1933 – Washington DC) author, activist, politician, memoirist
Sandra Bundy (12 mar 1934 – Washington DC) civil rights activist, domestic violence survivor, won first federal appeals court case over workplace sexual harassment / employment discrimination / violation of Civil Rights Act of 1964
Shirley Valerie Horn (01 may 1934 – 20 oct 2005 | Washington DC – Brentwood MD) author, jazz musician
Doris Buchanan Smith (01 jun 1934 – 08 aug 2002 | Washington DC – Jacksonville FL) children’s book
Diane Aed Rehm (21 sep 1936 – Washington DC) author, memoirist, retired US National Public Radio talk show host, right-to-die activist / advocate / fundraiser
Carolyn Bruce Owens Reeder (16 nov 1937 – 20 jan 2012 | Washington DC – Washington DC) children’s historical fiction / adult non-fiction author
Judith Perlman Martin (13 sep 1938 – Washington DC) author, journalist, aka Miss Manners, etiquette authority
Clarissa Sligh (30 aug 1939 – Washington DC) African-American essayist, lecturer, book artist, photographer
1940s
Elizabeth Walton Vercoe (23 apr 1941 – Washington DC) composer, feminist, music educator, multi-instrumentalist
Charlene Rosella Drew Jarvis (31 jul 1941 – Washington DC) educator, university president, neuropsychologist, former politician and scientific researcher
Rosalind Epstein Krauss (30 nov 1941 – Washington DC) art critic, curator, theorist, art historian
Diana Walker (20 jan 1942 – Washington DC) author, photographer, photojournalist, TIME magazine White House photographer [1984-2004]
Audrey Anne Terras (10 sep 1942 – Washington DC) author, lecturer, mathematician, focus on number theory / quantum chaos / types of zeta functions
Eileen Christelow (22 apr 1943 – Washington DC) photographer, graphic designer, children’s book author / illustrator
Elizabeth Morris [Lally] Graham Weymouth (03 jul 1943 – Washington DC) journalist, senior editor
Leslie R. Wolfe (24 nov 1943 – 30 nov 2017 | Washington DC – Rockville MD) author, women’s and civil rights activist, leader of Center for Women Policy Studies in DC
Sandra Alcosser (03 feb 1944 – Washington DC) poet, professor, first Poet Laureate of Montana State
Linda Byrd Johnson Robb (19 mar 1944 – Washington DC) chairwoman, magazine editor, social / cultural activist, former US Presidential family member
Lilliana Diane Lakich (04 jun 1944 – Washington DC) author, neon sculptor, first director Museum of Neon Art
Paula Danziger (18 aug 1944 – 09 jul 2004 | Washington DC – New York NY) teacher, children’s / young-adult author
Nancy Wexler (19 jul 1945 – Washington DC) author, geneticist, professor of neuropsychology, genetic testing / counseling advocate, co-discoverer of gene causing Huntington’s disease
Jewell Jackson McCabe (02 aug 1945 – Washington DC) dancer, feminist, business executive, social / political activist, former leader / spokesperson for National Coalition of 100 Black Women’s movement
Frances Temple (15 aug 1945 – 05 jul 1995 | Washington DC – New York NY) author, teacher, illustrator, children’s / young adult fiction writer
Ming C. Lowe (13 oct 1945 – Washington DC) author, large-scale painter, fine art photographer
Goldie Jeanne Hawn (21 nov 1945 – Washington DC) actress, director, producer, autobiographical author
Jessica Benjamin (17 jan 1946 – Washington DC) author, feminist, psychoanalyst, social thought expert / specialist
Eleanor Stein Raskin (16 mar 1946 – Washington DC) author, aka Sarah [Sally] Maynard, law professor, administrative law judge, former radical political activist / member of the Weathermen
Devra Lee Davis (07 jun 1946 – Washington DC) author, epidemiologist, disease prevention / environmental health activist / specialist
Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich (20 aug 1946 – Washington DC) reporter, news anchor, broadcast journalist, aka Connie Chung and Connie Povich
Ellen F. Golden (08 oct 1946 – Washington DC) non-profit executive, women’s microenterprise / women’s business development specialist
Christina Schlesinger (19 nov 1946 – Washington DC) artist, painter, muralist, founding member of Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC)
Catherine G. Wolf (25 may 1947 – 07 feb 2018 | Washington DC – Katonah NY) author, essayist, psychologist, artificial intelligence and collaboration specialist, human-computer interaction expert, ALS / Lou Gehrig’s disease researcher
Luci Baines Johnson (02 jul 1947 – Washington DC) memoirist, cookbook author, political family member
Ann Beattie (08 sep 1947 – Washington DC) novelist, short story writer
Ruth Carolyn Duck (21 nov 1947 – Washington DC) United Church of Christ pastor, liturgical theologian, retired professor of worship, writer / composer /adaptor of hymns, recognized leader / developer of inclusive language for worship sources
Julie Nixon Eisenhower (05 jul 1948 – Washington DC) editor, author, political family figure
Tipper Gore (19 aug 1948 – Washington DC) photographer, social activist, non-fiction author, former US Second Lady, née Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson
Anne Marie Callaway (28 oct 1948 – Washington DC) music composer, founding member New York Women Composers
Angela Marie [Bay] Buchanan (23 dec 1948 – Washington DC) LDS, author, memoirist, biographer, former US Treasurer, conservative political commentator
Mary Cennamo Robison (14 jan 1949 – Washington DC) novelist, professor, short fiction writer
1950s
Marita Golden (28 apr 1950 – Washington DC) novelist, teacher, non-fiction writer, African-American writing resource center co-founder
Kathy Cronkite (05 sep 1950 – Washington DC) author, actress, mental health activist
Gail Varina Gilmore (21 sep 1950 – Washington DC) jazz / gospel / operatic mezzo-soprano
Ann Marie Fudge (23 apr 1951 – Washington DC) corporate executive, for-profit / non-profit board member, former CEO / chair of Young & Rubicam Brands
Sharon Camille Farmer (10 jun 1951 – Washington DC) photographer, first female African-American White House photographer and White House Photography Office director
Sharon Gannon (04 jul 1951 – Washington DC) dancer, author, painter, choreographer, philosopher, yoga teacher, singer-songwriter, animal rights advocate, Jivamukti Yoga Method co-founder
Jayne Kennedy Harrison Overton (27 oct 1951 – Washington DC) model, writer, actress, producer, sportscaster, philanthropist, television personality
Paula Vogel (16 nov 1951 – Washington DC) playwright, university professor, awarded Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Maureen Bridgid Dowd (14 jan 1952 – Washington DC) author, NYTimes columnist, Pulitzer Prize winning writer
Judith [Judy] Rubin Young (15 sep 1952 – 23 may 2014 | Washington DC – Amherst MA) astronomer, created UMass Sunwheel installation, professor of physics and astronomy
Constance L. [Connie] Rice (05 apr 1953 – Washington DC) attorney, civil rights activist, National Public Radio commentator, co-founder / co-director of LA Advancement Project
Gayil Nalls (17 jul 1953 – Washington DC) interdisciplinary artist and theorist, pioneer in olfactory art / interactions among scent / memory / neurology / crowd theory, known for artistic, spiritual, philosophical iconoclastic aesthetics
Patsy Lynch (21 jul 1953 – Washington DC) documentary photographer, focus on GLBT civil rights advocacy, founding member of DC chapter of National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association
Nancy [Nan] Goldin (12 sep 1953 – Washington DC) photographer with LGBT focus
Lois Kleinsasser (11 apr 1954 – Washington DC) romance novelist, pen names: Cait Logan, Cait London
Shari Ellin Redstone (14 apr 1954 – Washington DC) media executive, president of National Amusements, vice-chair of Viacom and CBS Corporation
Dianne Houston (22 jul 1954 – Washington DC) African-American film director, producer, screenwriter
Stephanie Nakasian (29 aug 1954 – Washington DC) author, jazz vocalist, voice teacher
Anne Barrett Rouse (26 sep 1954 – Washington DC) American-British poet
Kristie Anne Kenney (24 may 1955 – Washington DC) career ambassador, first female US Ambassador to Thailand and the Philippines
Harolyn Blackwell (23 nov 1955 – Washington DC) teacher, music educator, operatic lyric coloratura soprano
Mary Jean Eisenhower (21 dec 1955 – Washington DC) biographer, social activist, political family member, People to People International activist / advocate
Caroline Thompson (23 apr 1956 – Washington DC) novelist, producer, director, screenwriter
Joyce Evans (14 jun 1956 – Washington DC) news anchor / reporter, broadcast journalist, member of National Association of Black Journalists
Diane Ward (09 nov 1956 – Washington DC) poet, poetry teacher, associated with first wave of Language poetry
Susan Elizabeth Ford Bales (06 jul 1957 – Washington DC) author, photojournalist, mystery co-novelist, former US Presidential family member, sobriety / heart health / breast cancer awareness advocate
Tracy M. Barker (10 dec 1957 – Washington DC) author, researcher, herpetologist, python specialist
Dorothy Elmhirst Straight (25 may 1958 – Washington DC) children’s writer, one of youngest published authors
Jacqueline Hewitt (04 sep 1958 – Washington DC) author, astrophysicist, discovered Einstein rings
Judy A. Smith (27 oct 1958 – Washington DC) author, crisis manager, television producer
Carey Elizabeth Perloff (09 feb 1959 – Washington DC) playwright, theater director, Artistic Director of American Conservatory Theater
Elizabeth Baldwin Letchworth (05 jul 1959 – Washington DC) political consultant, radio show host, founded GradeGov.com, legislative strategist, small business owner