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The first women's rights convention in the US took place in Seneca Falls, New York. Organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, the event issued a Declaration of Sentiments modeled on the Declaration of Independence, which demanded a variety of rights for women, including suffrage. -
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the first woman to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, even though she was not eligible to vote. She ran as an Independent in New York State and received 24/12,000 votes. -
Sussana Salter was elected Mayor of Argonia, Kansas, making her the first woman mayor in the country. -
Martha Hughes Cannon was elected to the Utah State Senate, making her the first woman state senator in the country. -
Jeanette Rankin became the first woman ever elected to Congress. She served in the House of Representatives from 1917 to 1919 and from 1941 to 1942. -
After 72 years, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote and marking the beginning of further pushes for women's rights. -
Soledad Chacon was elected to Secretary of State in New Mexico, the first Latina and woman of color to be elected and hold a statewide executive office. -
Cora Belle Reynolds Anderson was elected to the top Michigan State House of Representatives. She became the first Native American in a state legislature. -
Nellie Tayloe Ross became the nation's first woman governor. -
Minnie Buckingham Harper was appointed to the West Virginia State House of Representatives, becoming the first Black woman in the state legislature. -
Frances Perkins was appointed by President Franklin D Roosevelt as Secretary of Labor, becoming the first woman to ever serve in the presidential cabinet. -
Crystal Dreda Bird Fauset was elected to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, becoming the first Black woman elected to a state legislature. -
President Harry Truman appointed Burnita Shelton Matthews to serve on the U.S. court for the District of Columbia, making her the first woman to serve as a federal district court judge. -
Charlotta Spears Bass was the first Black woman nominee for vice president in the United States. She ran on the Progressive Party ticket, which received less than one percent of the popular vote in the 1952 presidential election. -
Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first Asian Pacific Islander woman elected to a state legislature when she won a seat in the Hawaii Senate. In 1965, she became the first woman of color and the first woman of Asian-Pacific descent in the US House of Representatives. -
Justice Lorna Lockwood, the first woman elected to the Arizona Supreme Court, became the first woman in the U.S. to serve as chief justice of a state supreme court. -
Shirley Chisholm, a New York Democrat, became the first Black woman to serve in Congress. In 1972, she also ran for president in the Democratic primaries. -
Elaine Noble became the first openly lesbian or gay candidate elected to a state legislature. She served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for two terms. -
Mary Rose Oakar became the first Arab American woman elected to Congress. -
President Jimmy Carter appointed Patricia Roberts Harris to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and she served as Secretary of Health and Human Services. She was the first Black woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet and the first woman to hold two different Cabinet positions. -
Sandra Day O'Connor, a former State Legislator from Arizona, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as the first woman ever to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. -
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen became the first Hispanic woman and first Cuban American to be elected to Congress. -
Nydia Velázquez became the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress. -
Althea Garrison was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, becoming the first transgender person to serve in a state legislature in the United States. -
Sila Calderon, who was the former mayor of San Juan, became the first woman governor of Puerto Rico. -
Representative Nancy Pelosi became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the U.S. House. -
Sonia Sotomayor was appointed as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama, becoming the first Hispanic and third female member of the Court. -
Maura Healey was elected Massachusetts attorney general, becoming the first openly gay State Attorney General elected in the United States, as well as the first openly gay woman to be elected to any statewide office in the country. -
Kamala Harris, who is both Black and South Asian, became the first South Asian and second Black woman elected to the US Senate. -
Catherine Cortez Masto became the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate. -
Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first woman to be a major party's nominee for president. She formally became the first woman to be a major party's presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention. Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, but lost the Electoral College and conceded the general election in November 2016. -
Kamala Harris was elected Vice President of the United States, becoming the first woman, the first woman of color, the first Black woman, and the first South Asian woman elected to this office. -
Ketanji Brown Jackson was appointed as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President Joseph Biden, becoming the first Black woman and sixth female member of the Court. -
Vice President Kamala Harris became the second woman, first Black woman, and first South Asian person to be a major party's presidential nominee when she earned the requisite votes of the Democratic National Committee.