List of Firsts Among American Women -- What They Accomplished Even By 1960

Georgia Neese Clark, First Woman Treasurer of the U.S.-No subsequent Treasurer has been a man.

Success can be measured in two ways: how far one has come, or how far one has to go. While many articles focus on how much more women need to accomplish, it is equally important to honor those American women who have achieved a historical feat of significant impact. Here are just a few.

17th century

In 1647: Margaret Brent was the first American woman to demand the right to vote.

18th century

In 1756: Lydia Taft was the first woman to legally vote legally in Colonial America.
In 1762: Ann Franklin was the first female American newspaper editor.
In 1776: Margaret Corbin was the first woman to assume the role of soldier in the American Revolution and receive a pension for it.

19th century (notice how the list is growing)

In 1809: Mary Kies was the first woman to receive a U.S. patent.
In 1812: Lucy Brewer was the first American woman to join the United States Marine Corps.
In 1835: Harriot Hunt was the first woman to practice medicine.
In 1848: Astronomer Maria Mitchell was the first woman to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In 1849: Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to earn a medical degree in America.
In 1866: Mary Walker was the first woman in America to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In 1869: Arabella Mansfield was the first female lawyer in America.
In 1872: Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for United States President.
In 1887: Susanna M. Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas becoming the first woman mayor in the country. Phoebe Couzins was the first American woman to serve as a United States Marshal.
In 1891: Marie Owens was hired as America's first female police officer, joining the Chicago Police Department.

20th century

The 20th century brought an extraordinary amount of first for women in America. What was significant about these firsts was that the categories included many areas that were beforehand dominated by men:
Airplane pilots, police officers, Congress, Navy, Attorney General, U.S. Coast Guard, Pulitzer Prize, Senator, Governor, Nobel Prize in Peace, Purple Heart recipient, reporter, U.S. Air Force, Ambassador, Olympic Gold Medal winner, and the U.S. Army’s first black female physician to attain the rank of colonel.

All of this was accomplished by women in America prior to the year 1960. So, to women everywhere, Well Done!

Read more at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_women%27s_firsts