1750s
Elizabeth [Betty] Zane McLaughlin Clark (19 jul 1759 – 23 aug 1823 | Moorefield VA – St Clairsville OH) pioneer, folk figure, Colonial heroine
1760s
Mary Randolph (09 aug 1762 – 23 jan 1828 | Manakin VA – Washington DC) cookbook / housekeeping author, women’s domestic freedom advocate
1770s
1780s
1790s
Eliza Maria Posey Street (26 aug 1792 – 02 feb 1847 | Fredericksburg VA – Agency IA) pioneer, folk / historical figure, settler wife of US Indian Agent, deeded 640 acres of Sac / Fox land
Emily Austin Perry (22 jun 1795 – 15 aug 1851 | Austinville VA – Jones Creek TX) pioneer, heiress, font innovator, religious / educational philanthropist
1800s
1810s
Mary Greenhow Lee (09 sep 1819 – 25 may 1907 | Richmond VA – Baltimore MD) author, Civil War diarist, Confederate activist, known for despising / snubbing Union soldiers and Northerners
1820s
Letitia Tyler Semple (11 may 1821 – 28 dec 1907 | Cedar Grove Plantation VA – Baltimore MD) founder / principal Eclectic Institute for Young Women, White House hostess for father President John Tyler
Cornelia Peake McDonald (14 jun 1822 – 11 jan 1909 | Alexandria VA – Louisville KY) author, Confederate Civil War diarist, aka One of the Devil Diarists of Winchester
Virginia Louisa Minor (27 mar 1824 – 14 aug 1894 | Caroline County VA – St Louis MO) suffragist, social activist, co-founder / first president Woman’s Suffrage Association of Missouri
Jessie Ann Benton Frémont (31 may 1824 – 27 dec 1902 | Rockbridge VA – Los Angeles CA) author, memoirist, abolitionist, political activist, short story writer
Lucy Virginia French (16 mar 1825 – 31 mar 1881 | Accomack County VA – McMinnville TN) poet, author, songwriter, pen name L’Inconnue
Abby Howland Woolsey (16 jul 1828 – 07 apr 1893 | Alexandria VA – New York NY) author, Civil War Union nurse, nursing educator, American relief worker
1830s
Oriana [Orie] Russell Moon Andrews (11 aug 1834 – 26 dec 1883 | Viewmont VA – Scottsville VA) aka Dr. Orie Moon, Civil War Confederate doctor, Bedouin missionary doctor
Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur (30 aug 1837 – 12 jan 1880 | Culpeper VA – New York NY) soprano concert singer, Confederate sympathizer, wife of 21st US President [died before husband took office so posthumous US First Lady]
1840s
Eleanor Agnes Lee (27 feb 1841 – 15 oct 1873 | Arlington VA – Lexington VA) poet, diarist, memoirist, folk figure, Confederate military family daughter
Constance Cary Harrison (25 apr 1843 – 21 nov 1920 | Vaucluse VA – Washington DC) aka Refugitta, fiction / nonfiction author, co-creator / seamstress first American Confederate Battle Flag
LaSalle Corbell Pickett 16 may 1843 – 22 mar 1931 | Nansemond VA – Richmond VA) US author, lecturer, biographer Civil War Confederate memoirist
Mary Virginia Wade (21 may 1843 – 03 jul 1863 | Gettysburg VA – Gettysburg VA) Civil War Union supporter, lone civilian casualty at Battle of Gettysburg
Isabella Maria [Belle] Boyd (09 may 1844 – 11 jun 1900 | Martinsburg VA [now WV] – Kilbourne [now Wisconsin Dells] WI) spy, lecturer, memoirist, aka Cleopatra of the Secession, Siren of the Shenandoah
Sallie Swepson Sims Southall Cotten (13 jun 1846 – 04 may 1929 | Lawrenceville VA – Winchester MA) poet, author, speaker, educator, historian, civic activist, North Carolina Woman’s Club leader
1850s
Celestia Susannah Parrish (12 sep 1853 – 07 sep 1917 | Pittsylvania VA – Clayton GA) author, educator, child psychologist, university professor, aka Georgia’s Greatest Woman
1860s
Anna J. Hardwicke Pennybacker (07 may 1861 – 04 feb 1928 | Petersburg VA – Austin TX) activist, pacifist, Chautauqua speaker, women’s suffrage leader, public school textbook author, president of American General Federation of Women’s Clubs, director of National Women’s Committee of Near East Relief
Ida Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower (01 may 1862 – 11 sep 1946 | Mount Sidney VA – Abilene KS) mother of US President Dwight Eisenhower, active Jehovah’s Witness prosleytizer Amelie Louise Rives Troubetzkoy (23 aug 1863 – 15 jun 1945 | Richmond VA – Cismont VA) poet, novelist, playwright
Varina Anne [Winnie] Davis (27 jun 1864 – 09 sep 1898 | Richmond VA – Narragansett Pier RI) diarist, novelist, daughter of Confederate President
Maggie Lena Walker (15 jul 1864 – 15 dec 1934 | Richmond VA – Richmond VA) African-American teacher, social activist, businesswoman, newspaper founder, first US female bank owner / president
Addie Waites Hunton (11 jun 1866 – 21 jun 1943 | Norfolk VA – Washington DC) author, educator, biographer, suffragist, peace activist, political organizer, race / gender activist
Edna Henry Turpin (26 jul 1867 – 07 jun 1952 | Mecklenburg VA – Richmond VA) author, novelist, poetry / fiction / non-fiction editor
Vivian Louise Aunspaugh (14 aug 1869 – 09 mar 1960 | Bedford VA – Dallas TX) painter, art editor, art teacher, art school founder
1870s
Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (22 apr 1873 – 21 nov 1945 | Richmond VA – Richmond VA) poet, novelist, short story writer, Pulitzer Prize laureate, autobiographical author
Virginia Estelle Randolph (06 aug 1874 – 16 mar 1958 | Richmond VA – Richmond VA) author, schoolteacher, social / legal / educational activist, pioneer community vocational training advocate / innovator
Lady Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor (19 may 1879 – 02 may 1964 | Danville VA – Grimsthorpe UK) American-born British pacifist, society figure, WWI activist, social reformer, Christian Scientist, political pioneer, created hospital for Canadian soldiers on her estate, first woman to sit (unelected) in UK’s House of Commons
1880s
Lucy Randolph Mason (26 jul 1882 – 06 may 1959 | Clarens VA – Atlanta GA) aka Miss Lucy, social reformer, union / consumer / civil right activist
Nannie Helen Burroughs (02 may 1883 – 20 may 1961 | Orange VA – Washington DC) orator, activist, educator, religious leader, African-American, founded National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, DC
Joanna Mary Berry Shields (07 jul 1884 – 02 feb 1965 | Catharpin VA – New York NY) educator, civic activist, co-founded first African-American sorority
Lucy Diggs Slowe (04 jul 1885 – 21 oct 1937 | Berryville VA – Washington DC) educator, college dean, tennis champion, founding member Alpha Kappa Alpha [first sorority for African-American women]
Aline Murray Kilmer (01 aug 1888 – 01 oct 1941 | Norfolk VA – Stillwater Township NJ) poet, children’s author
1890s
Peggy Hopkins Joyce (26 may 1893 – 12 jun 1957 | Berkeley VA – New York NY) dancer, actress, folk figure, artist model, autobiographical author
Amaza Lee Meredith (14 aug 1895 – 01 jan 1984 | Lynchburg VA – Petersburg VA) African-American artist, educator, architect, co-created black leisure community
1900s
Corinne Malvern (17 jul 1901 – 09 nov 1956 | Accomack County VA – Weston CT commercial artist, children’s book illustrator
Louisa Venable Kyle (11 aug 1903 – 24 oct 1999 | Norfolk VA – Virginia Beach VA) author, journalist, historian
Doris Eaton Travis (14 mar 1904 – 11 may 2010 | Norfolk VA – Commerce MI) dancer, rancher, memoirist, stage / film actress, dance instructor, last of the Ziegfeld Girls
Undine Smith Moore (25 aug 1904 – 06 feb 1989 | Jarratt VA – Petersburg VA) pianist, composer, professor, aka Dean of Black Women Composers
Dorothy Louise Burnett Porter Wesley (25 may 1905 – 17 dec 1995 | Warrenton VA – Broward Country FL) curator, scholar, librarian, African-American history bibliographer, built collection at Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University
Sarah Patton Boyle (09 may 1906 – 24 feb 1994 | Charlottesville VA – Arlington VA) civil rights activist, autobiographical author
Ruby Altizer Roberts (22 apr 1907 – 24 may 2004 | Alum Ridge VA – Christiansburg VA) editor, memoirist, publisher, children’s book author, first / only female Poet Laureate of Virginia
Marcella Bannett Rabwin (15 may 1908 – 25 dec 1998 | Richmond VA – New York NY) memoirist, dressmaker, executive assistant
1910s
Dorothy Leigh Maynor (03 sep 1910 – 19 feb 1996 | Norfolk VA – West Chester PA) soprano, concert singer, Harlem School of the Arts founder
Dorothy Irene Height (24 mar 1912 – 20 apr 2010 | Richmond VA – Washington DC) educator, social reformer, women’s and civil rights activist / administrator
Alice Jackson Stuart (02 jun 1913 – 13 jun 2001 | Richmond VA – Richmond VA) teacher, professor, educational avocate, first female African-American to apply [and be denied] for graduate school at University of Virginia, earned Master of Arts at Columbia University
Ruth Stone (08 jun 1915 – 19 nov 2011 | Roanoke VA – Ripton VT) poet, author, teacher
Esther Cooper Jackson (21 aug 1917 – Washington VA) author, social worker, civil rights activist, Freedomways journal editor / co-founder / precursor of Black Arts Movement
Pearl Mae Bailey (29 mar 1918 – 17 aug 1990 | Newport News VA – Philadelphia PA) singer, memoirist, cookbook author, aka America’s Ambassador of Love
Ella Fitzgerald (25 apr 1918 – 15 jun 1996 | Newport News VA – Beverly Hills CA) jazz singer, social / musical icon
1920s
Gemze de Lappe (28 feb 1922 – 11 nov 2017 | Portsmouth VA – Manhattan NY) dancer, teacher, choreographer, dance reconstructionist
Nell Blair Walden Blaine (10 jul 1922 – 14 nov 1996 | Richmond VA – New York NY) artist, watercolorist, landscape painter
Virginia Cleo [V. C.] Andrews (06 jun 1923 – 19 dec 1986 | Portsmouth VA – Virginia Beach VA) Gothic horror and family saga series novelist
Janette Carter (02 jul 1923 – 22 jan 2006 | Maces Spring VA – Kingsport TN) autoharpist, memoirist, singer-songwriter, Appalachian music preservationist
Naomi Cornelia Long Madgett (05 jul 1923 – 05 nov 2020 | Norfolk VA – West Bloomfield MI) African-American poet, poetry editor
Evelyn Thomas Butts (22 may 1924 – 11 mar 1993 | Norfolk VA – Norfolk VA) social reformer, political activist, civil rights leader
Willie Anne Wright (06 jun 1924 – Richmond VA) photographer, born Willie Anna Boschen, known for colorful cibachrome and grayscale pinhole photography
Ruth Jean Baskerville Bowen (13 sep 1924 – 21 apr 2009 | Danville VA – New York NY) president of Queen Booking Company, first black female professional talent agent
Eva Mae Fleming Scott (06 may 1926 – 28 mar 2019 | Amelia County VA – Amelia County VA) pharmacist, politician, businesswoman
Diana Adams (29 mar 1926 – 10 jan 1993 | Staunton VA – San Andreas CA) ballerina, New York City Ballet principal dancer, School of American Ballet teacher / dean
Alice Adams (14 aug 1926 – 27 may 1999 | Fredericksburg VA – San Francisco CA) novelist, short story writer, university professor
Alma Fairfax Murray Carlisle (09 jul 1927 – Alexandria VA) African-American architect, architectural historian
June Carter Cash (23 jun 1929 – 15 may 2003 | Maces Spring VA – Nashville TN) dancer, actress, memoirist, comedian, cookbook author, singer-songwriter, autobiographical author
1930s
Sally Miller Gearhart (15 apr 1931 – Pearisburg VA) political activist, radical feminist, science fiction writer, women and gender study program pioneer
Shirley MacLaine Beaty (24 apr 1934 – Richmond VA) singer, dancer, actress, activist, autobiographical author, known for spiritual beliefs / exploration / reincarnation
Claudia [Sue] Edwards Powers (23 jul 1935 – 17 jun 2004 | Leesburg VA – Las Vegas NV) psychometrist, cold war historian, history museum activist
Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr (14 apr 1936 – Charlottesville VA) clarinetist, music educator
Geraldine Claudette Darden (22 jul 1936 – Nansemond County VA) mathematician
Hazel R. O’Leary (17 may 1937 – Newport News VA) attorney, politician, first / only female African-American appointed US Secretary of Energy
Betty Blayton Taylor (10 jul 1937 – 02 oct 2016 | Newport News VA – Hampton VA) activist, advocate, artist, lecturer, social entrepreneur, arts administrator / educator
Eleanor Camp Criswell Hanna (12 may 1938 – Norfolk VA) author, psychologist, focus on yoga / somatics / biofeedback, founded Equine Hanna Somatics, edited Course of Miracles, co-founded Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training
Mildred Jeter Loving (22 jul 1939 – 02 may 2008 | Central Point VA – Central Point VA) civil rights / inter-racial marriage activist, Supreme Court litigant, social / political figure
1940s
Ruth C. White (15 mar 1942 – 08 jun 2017 | Whitewood VA – Hummelstown PA) teacher, librarian, children’s / young adult novelist
Marguerite Ross Barnett (21 may 1942 – 26 feb 1992 | Charlottesville VA – Wailuku HI) educator, administrator, first black / first female president of University of Houston
Elaine R. Jones (02 mar 1944 – Norfolk VA) civil rights activist / attorney, first female director-counsel / president of NAACP Legal Defense Fund [LDF]
Joellyn Duesberry (30 jun 1944 – 05 aug 2016 | Richmond VA – Greenwood Village CO) artist, author, landscape painter
Sherryl Woods (23 jul 1944 – Arlington VA) serial mystery, romance novelist, pen names: Alexandra Kirk, Suzanne Sherrill
Barbara Joan [Bobbi] Johnson (24 mar 1945 – Alexandria VA) computer programmer, applications engineer, former beauty pageant title holder
Carol Lorraine Sutton (03 sep 1945 – Norfolk VA) painter, multi-disciplinary artist, American living in Toronto, Ontario
Pamela E. Bridgewater (14 apr 1947 – Fredericksburg VA) US diplomat, professor of political science
Millie Criswell (26 mar 1948 – Virginia US) serial romance novelist
Cynthia Clarey (25 apr 1949 – Smithfield VA) music educator, operatic soprano and mezzo-soprano
1950s
Harriett L. Stanley (30 mar 1950 – Arlington VA) professor, politician, investment banker
Kathryn Harrold (02 aug 1950 – Tazewell VA) former actress, psychological counselor
Susan Loy (26 feb 1951 – Moneta VA) artist, author, speaker, historian, geographer, calligrapher, watercolorist, mandala painter, ‘Literary Calligraphy’ innovator and illustrator
Sally Turner Munger Mann (01 may 1951 – Lexington VA) author, photographer
Kate Daniels (02 jul 1952 – Richmond VA) poet, professor, prose author
Caroline Sidney Abady Aaron (07 aug 1952 – Richmond VA) actress, film producer
Carol Miller Swain (07 mar 1954 – Bedford VA) author, media host, former professor, conservative television analyst
Gillian Marucha Bradshaw (14 may 1956 – Falls Church VA) historical / fantasy / science-based novelist for adults and children
Stacy Horn (03 jun 1956 – Norfolk VA) memoirist, journalist, non-fiction author, online bulletin board founder
Megan Carroll Beyer (05 jun 1957 – Alexandria VA) journalist, civil leader, commentator, gender equality advocate, Executive Director of US Committee on Arts and Humanities
Susannah [Susie] Bright (25 mar 1958 – Arlington VA) feminist, author, journalist, critic, editor, publisher, producer, performer, aka Susie Sexpert
Jane Rachel Brucker (14 may 1958 – Falls Church VA) actress, screenwriter
Susan Tatum Woodhouse (07 aug 1958 – Suffolk VA) historical romance novelist, pen name Liz Carlyle
Deborah Baker (28 mar 1959 – Charlottesville VA) essayist, biographer
Linda Maguire (07 may 1959 – Newport News VA) music / sensory therapies researcher, opera / classical singer / recording artist
Leanne Banks (14 may 1959 – Roanoke VA) romance novelist