Women | US-DE | Delaware

1800s

Elizabeth Margaret Chandler (24 dec 1807 – 02 nov 1834 | Centre DE – Tecumseh MI) poet, writer, children’s anti-slavery author, first US female writer to focus on abolition of slavery as her principal theme


1810s


1820s

Mary Ann Shadd Cary (09 oct 1823 – 05 jun 1893 | Wilmington DE – Washington DC) lawyer, teacher, publisher, journalist, African-American, anti-slavery / Underground Railroad activist, first black woman publisher in Canada and North America

Anne Elizabeth McDowell (23 jun 1826 – 30 sep 1901 | Smyrna DE – Drexel Hill PA) editor, journalist, publisher, founded Woman’s Advocate weekly newspaper, founded McDowell Free Library for Women for workers at Wanamaker’s Department Store


1830s


1840s


1850s

Ida Elizabeth Smith Noyes (16 apr 1853 – 05 dec 1912 | Croton DE – Chicago IL) poet, speaker, club woman, member of Daughters of the American Revolution


1860s

Emily Perkins Bissell (31 may 1861 – 08 mar 1948 | Wilmington DE – Wilmington DE) essayist, health activist, social reformer, Christmas Seals founder

Katharine Pyle (23 nov 1863 – 19 feb 1938 | Wilmington DE – Wilmington DE) poet, artist, illustrator, children’s author

Annie Jump Cannon (11 dec 1863 – 13 apr 1941 | Dover DE – Cambridge MA) author, astronomer, pioneer cataloguer / developer of contemporary stellar classification


1870s

Amelia [Amy] Elizabeth du Pont (07 aug 1875 – 16 feb 1962 | Wilmington DE – Montecito CA) heiress, aka Miss Amy, philanthropist, founded Unidel Foundation, funded Delaware education / university


1880s

Esther Lape (08 oct 1881 – 17 may 1981 | Wilmington DE – New York NY) author, journalist, publicist, researcher, compulsory health insurance advocate

Mabel Vernon (19 sep 1883 – 02 sep 1975 | Wilmington DE – Washington DC) Quaker, pacifist, suffragist leader, member of American Woman Suffrage Association


1890s


1900s


1910s

Herta Ware (09 jun 1917 – 15 aug 2005 | Wilmington DE – Topanga CA) actress, memoirist, political activist


1920s


1930s

Mary Alice [Mal] Hebert (28 feb 1935 – Dover DE) socialist politician, retired schoolteacher, Vermont State political activist, frequent Liberty Union candidate

Sara Dylan (25 oct 1939 – Wilmington DE) muse, model, actress, born Shirley Marlin Noznisky, Bob Dylan’s first wife and birth-mother of his four children


1940s

Adrienne Arsht (04 feb 1942 – Wilmington DE) patron of arts, philanthropist

Betty Jean [B.J.] Ward (16 sep 1944 – Wilmington DE) singer, actress, voice actress, licensed aviator, creator / star of one-woman show Stand-Up Opera

Jacqueline Jones (17 jun 1948 – Delaware US) author, professor, biographer, social historian, race / class / feminist economics specialist


1950s

Louise Ann Dolan (05 apr 1950 – Wilmington DE) professor of physics, mathematical physicist

Katherine Ciesinski (13 oct 1950 – Newark DE) mezzo-soprano, stage director, voice professor

Libby Larsen (24 dec 1950 – Wilmington DE) multi-genre / multi-media composer, American Composers Forum founder

Ann Althouse (12 jan 1951 – Wilmington DE) author, blogger, law professor

Susan P. Stroman (17 oct 1954 – Wilmington DE) performer, choreographer, film / theatre director

Ellen Jamison Kullman (22 jan 1956 – Wilmington DE) business executive, form Chair /CEO  of DuPont, former director of General Motors, first woman ever to lead DuPont company, first woman to receive awards for industrial biotechnology

Willetta Greene Johnson (01 mar 1957 – Delaware US) author, musician, physicist, choral director, university lecturer in physics / chemistry

Yvette Freeman (01 oct 1957 – Wilmington DE) singer, actor, director

Nancy Jane Decker Currie (29 dec 1958 – Wilmington DE) pilot, engineer, NASA astronaut, US Army Colonel, Master Army Aviator, Army Aviation School leader

H. Kassia [Kass] Fleisher (21 oct 1959 – Wilmington DE) fiction / creative non-fiction author