1750s
Jemima Wilkinson (29 nov 1758 – 01 jul 1819 | Cumberland RI – Jerusalem NY) charismatic Quaker, abstinence / gender equality advocate, religious community leader / founder, aka The Public Universal Friend
1760s
1770s
Frances [Ma-con-a-quah] Slocum (04 mar 1773 – 09 mar 1847 | Warwick RI – Peru IN) Quaker, folk figure, Delaware Indian captive / survivor / adopted member
1780s
Elleanor Eldridge (27 mar 1784 – c.1845 | Warwick RI – unknown) memoirist, landlord, property owner, pioneering African-American entrepreneur
1790s
1800s
Eliza Grew Jones (30 mar 1803 – 28 mar 1838 | Providence RI – Bangkok, Siam) memoirist, Biblical historian, American Baptist missionary to Burma and Siam, created first Siamese-English dictionary, invented Romanized script for writing Siamese language
Prudence Crandall (03 sep 1803 – 28 jan 1890 | Hopkinton RI – Elk Falls KS) teacher, Quaker, girls’ school founder, civil rights activist / educator
Elizabeth Buffum Chace (09 dec 1806 – 12 dec 1889 | Providence RI – Providence RI) Quaker, abolitionist, social reformer, women’s rights activist, president Rhode Island Suffrage, Pembroke College co-founder
1810s
1820s
1830s
Sarah Elizabeth Doyle (23 mar 1830 – 21 dec 1922 | Providence RI – Providence RI) educator, feminist, women’s education activist, co-founded Rhode Island School of Design, funded Brown University’s Pembroke Hall [later Pembroke College]
Susan Hunt Hammond Barney (24 nov 1834 – 29 apr 1922 | Pawtucket RI – Providence RI) author, evangelist, aka The Prisoner’s Friend, founded Prisoners’ Aid Society of Rhode Island, National Superintendent of WCTU Prison, Jail, Police, and Almshouse Visitation
1840s
Alice Hale Hill (19 jan 1840 – 19 jul 1908 | Providence RI – Denver CO) political hostess, Colorado State Senator’s wife, social / charitable worker, president of YWCA, charter member of several civic organizations
Idawalley [Ida] Zorada Lewis-Wilson (25 feb 1842 – 25 oct 1911 | Newport RI – Newport RI) folk figure, lighthouse keeper, heroic lifesaver
1850s
Annie Smith Peck (19 oct 1850 – 18 jul 1935 | Providence RI – New York NY) author, scholar, lecturer, feminist, suffragist, adventurer, mountaineer, travel writer
Helen Magill White (28 nov 1853 – 28 oct 1944 | Providence RI – Kittery Point ME) educator, pacifist, suffragist, school principal, first US female PhD
Caroline Hazard (10 jun 1856 – 19 mar 1945 | Peace Dale RI – Santa Barbara CA) author, educator, museum patron, philanthropist, fifth president of Wellesley College
Louisa Melvin Delos Mars (23 dec 1859 – c. 1926 | Providence RI – Boston MA) singer, composer, librettist, first African-American woman to have her opera composition produced, one of first black graduates of New England Conservatory, one of first black women to achieve recognition as a composer [Note: none of her works survive]
1860s
Ellen Fitz Pendleton (07 aug 1864 – 26 jul 1936 | Westerly RI – Newton MA) mathematics professor, long-term president of Wellesley College, academic freedom advocate, first woman on panel to award American Peace Prize
Florence Newell Barbour (04 aug 1866 – 24 jul 1946 | Providence RI – Providence RI) pianist, lyricist, musician, composer
1870s
Edith Stuyvesant Dresser Gerry (17 jan 1873 – 21 dec 1958 | Newport RI – Providence RI) heiress, socialite, social activist, philanthropist, once the wealthiest woman in Rhode Island
Abigail Greene Aldrich Rockefeller (26 oct 1874 – 05 apr 1948 | Providence RI – New York NY) socialite, philanthropist, art collector, patron of arts, museum founder / funder
Margaret Post Van Alen Bruguiére (15 jul 1876 – 20 jan 1969 | Newport RI – Newport RI) socialite, art collector, philanthropist, aka Dowager Empress of American Society
1880s
1890s
Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (19 mar 1890 – 18 dec 1960 | Warwick RI – Providence RI) artist, sculptor
Grace Thurston Arnold Albee (28 jul 1890 – 26 jul 1985 | North Scituate RI – Barrington RI) printmaker, wood engraver, lino-cut artist
Blanche Oelrichs Thomas Barrymore Tweed (01 oct 1890 – 05 nov 1950 | Newport RI – Boston MA) poet, actor, author, playwright, radio personality, aka Michael Strange
Clara Mabel Thompson (03 oct 1893 – 20 dec 1958 | Providence RI – New York NY) author, psychoanalyst, contributor to field of psychoanalytics, psychiatric institute / foundation co-founder
1900s
1910s
Grace Chin Lee Boggs (27 jun 1915 – 05 oct 2015 | Providence RI – Detroit MI) author, feminist, philosopher, social activist
1920s
Elizabeth Pepper DaCosta (07 nov 1923 – 14 jul 2005 | Providence RI – Newport RI) writer, editor, graphic designed, edited / published The Witches’ Almanac
Joan Walters (04 aug 1925 – 31 jul 2011 | Providence RI – Prescott Valley AZ) pioneer economist, first female full-time professor at Fairfield University
Hannah Finegold Weiner (04 nov 1928 – 11 sep 1997 | Providence RI – New York NY) performance artist, Language Poet, automatic writing diarist
Sesyle Joslin (30 aug 1929 – Providence RI) children’s book author, pen names: Josephine Gibson, G. B. Kirtland
1930s
Lee Bontecou (15 jan 1931 – Providence RI) artist, sculptor, printmaker
Arlene Louise Croce (05 may 1934 – Providence RI) author, essayist, film critic, founded Ballet Review magazine, former dance critic for New Yorker magazine
Edith Pearlman (26 jun 1936 – Providence RI) short fiction writer, non-fiction author
Carol Sloane (05 mar 1937 – Providence RI) jazz singer, former legal secretary, former album reviewer for Down Beat music magazine
Jane Kramer (07 aug 1938 – Providence RI) journalist, European correspondent for The New Yorker magazine, focus on downward mobility in the US
Wendy [born Walter] Carlos (14 nov 1939 – Pawtucket RI) musician, composer
1940s
Mary Pat Clarke (22 jun 1941 – Providence RI) educator, politician, first woman ever elected president of Baltimore City Council
Eileen Slattery Naughton (29 dec 1945 – Providence RI) consultant, Rhode Island state politician, historic Warwick RI Lockwood Brook Farm co-owner
Barbara Trexler Rhodes (15 apr 1948 – Providence RI) aka Soeng Hyang, registered nurse, hospice caregiver, founding member of Providence Zen Center, Zen Master and Guiding Teacher of Kwan Um School of Zen
1950s
Karen J. Mathis (07 nov 1950 – Providence RI) lawyer, former President of ABA (American Bar Association), former CEO / President of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Paula F. Fredriksen (06 jan 1951 – Kingston RI) author, historian, religious studies scholar
Taaffe O’Connell (14 may 1951 – Providence RI) actress, publisher
Susan Powers Bourne (17 sep 1951 – Providence RI) poet, artist, editor, author, herstorian
Anne Bogart (25 sep 1951 – Newport RI) author, blogger, essayist, opera / theatre director, graduate directing professor
Meredith Louise Vieira (30 dec 1953 – Providence RI) tv show host, broadcast journalist
Karen Adams (04 jul 1955 – Narrangansett RI) television reporter, newscaster, charity fundraiser, community activist
Virginia Susan Sosnowski (20 dec 1955 – Warwick RI) farmer, state politician, owner / operator Sosnowski Farms
Maureen Taylor (14 apr 1956 – Rhode Island US) author, blogger, speaker, photo historian, cultural historian, genealogy expert
Brianne Banigan Leary (28 jul 1957 – Providence RI) actress, inventor, television host, co-created Canadian children’s television show, former tv news co-anchor, patented Pet Plunger portable device for cleaning animals’ paws
Jennifer J. Freyd (16 oct 1957 – Providence RI) author, essayist, psychologist, trauma expert, psychology professor, editor Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
Deborah L. Ruggiero (02 apr 1958 – Providence RI) politician, radio personality, one of four openly LGBT members of Rhode Island General Assembly
Kathleen P. King (08 jun 1958 – Providence RI) author, academic, journal editor, adult education researcher