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Henrietta King
wife of the founder of the most famous ranch in the world, the King Ranch in South Texas, Henrietta King frequently was in charge of the ranch and defended it from Indians and bandits while her husband was away. After his death in 1885, she was sole owner of the ranch for 40 years. -
Emily West (Morgan)
a mulatta, later known as the "Yellow Rose of Texas," allegedly helps Sam Houston's army win the Battle of San Jacinto and Texas independence. -
Cynthia Ann Parker
she was one of five people captured in a Comanche raid -
Lizzie Johnson
"Cattle Queen of Texas," was an early and highly successful investor in the Texas cattle business. -
Mollie Bailey
who ran a circus in Texas and the South for almost 50 years, the only woman to do so, was dubbed the "Circus Queen of the Southwest. -
Jane McManus Cazneau
a successful impresario, journalist, and war correspondent during the U.S. -Mexican War. Her columns in the New York Sun may have helped swing U.S. public opinion in favor of Texas annexation. -
Maud A. B. Fuller (
an outstanding example of the black women who made the church a strong source of pride, unity and support within Texas black communities. -
Sarah Cockrell
built the first iron bridge over the Trinity River at Dallas -
Adina De Zavala
was a preservationist whose best known contribution was saving the Alamo as a historic site -
Miriam A. ("Ma") Ferguson
was Texas' first woman governor. She served two terms, 1925 to 1927 and 1933 to 1935. She first ran in 1924 on the platform of vindicating her husband, former Governor Jim Ferguson, who had been impeached -
Leonor Villegas de Magnón
was a Laredo teacher, writer and political theorist who played a key role in the border conflict surrounding the Mexican Revolution -
Mary Ann (Molly) Dyer Goodnight
established the first ranch household in the Texas Panhandle in 1877 -
Mary Elizabeth Branch
As president of Tillotson College (later Huston-Tillotson) in Austin from 1930 to 1944, Virginia-born Mary Elizabeth Branch rescued the school from near ruin and turned it into one earning an "A" rating and accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (SACSS). The daughter of former slaves, Branch attended the normal department of Virginia State College in Petersburg, Virginia, and taught there for 20 years. -
Minnie Fisher Cunningham
was a state and national leader of the campaign to win votes for women. She served as the first executive secretary of the national League of Women Voters. Also was one of the first women in Texas to receive a pharmacy degree from the University of Texas medical school, graduating in 1901. -
Jovita Idar
was an organizer, writer, and advocate of Mexican-American women's rights. In 1911, Idar and her family organized a conference in Laredo in support of unions, criminal justice, women's rights and bilingual education. -
Bessie Coleman
one of the first licensed female pilots and the world's first black female aviator and barnstormer, had a spectacular but brief career in air shows. -
Annie Webb Blanton
first woman in Texas to win a statewide elective office when she became state superintendent of public instruction in 1918. -
Sarah Tilghman Hughes
Texas's first
female federal judge. Woman's
Collection, Texas Woman's University -
Irma Rangel
was the first Mexican American woman elected to the Texas House of Representatives -
Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias
earned more medals and set more records in more sports than any other athlete, male or female, in the twentieth century. -
Ninfa Laurenzo
the founder of the multi-million dollar restaurant chain, Ninfa's, that grew from one small Houston restaurant. In -
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Texas's first woman in the United States Senate graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and earned her law degree there -
Mary Kay Ash
a multi-millionaire businesswoman from Dallas who made her fortune selling cosmetics and contracting with other women and men to sell the line of make-up named after her. -
Sélena Quintanilla Pérez
popularly known as Sélena, was the queen of Tejano music and an international superstar -
Claudia Taylor (Lady Bird) Johnson
On her 70th birthday ,she founded the National Wildflower Research Center, a nonprofit organization located in Austin that is dedicated to preserving and re-establishing native plants in natural and planned landscapes.