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