The Women's L Project Blog

Hattie Kay Williams

Hattie Kay Williams

The children of Hattie Kay Williams (1922-1990) attended Oakenwald Elementary School on Chicago’s South Side during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. There were both black and white students at...

Judy Baar Topinka

Judy Baar Topinka

The daughter of Czech and Slovak immigrants, Judy Baar Topinka (1944-2014) not only worked as a journalist after graduating from Northwestern University but also had a side gig in public...

Maria Tallchief

Maria Tallchief

Maria Tallchief (1925-2013), the first American prima ballerina, was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma on the Osage Nation reservation. When she and her sister showed promise as dance students, the family...

Angela Perez Miller

Angela Perez Miller

Angela Perez Miller (1937-2007) was the daughter of Mexican immigrants who settled in Chicago in the 1920’s. Passionate about the education of Latino children, Miller spent 30 years as a...

Grace Wilbur Trout

Grace Wilbur Trout

Grace Wilbur Trout (1864-1955) was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement, first as President of the Chicago Political Equality League. When she became President of the Illinois Equal Suffrage...

Maria Goeppert Mayer

Maria Goeppert Mayer

Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906-1972) was born in Germany where she earned a Ph.D. in the new field of quantum physics. Her marriage to an American chemist led her to immigrate...

Janet Harmon Bragg

Janet Harmon Bragg

Janet Harmon Bragg (1907-1993) went to school to become a registered nurse but always wanted to be a pilot. While working as a nurse in a Chicago hospital, she enrolled...

Mary Alice McWhinnie

Mary Alice McWhinnie

Mary Alice McWhinnie (1922-1980) had a deep history with DePaul University where she earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree. After receiving her doctorate at Northwestern, she returned to DePaul as...

Ann Harnett

Philip Wrigley, who inherited the Wrigley chewing gum empire and the Chicago Cubs from his father, faced a potential disaster in 1942. As young men were being drafted into the...

Maria Mangual

Maria Mangual (1944 -2007) did not plan on becoming an activist and organizer but her time as a student at the University of Illinois Chicago Circle Campus proved to be...

Frances Willard

Frances Willard

Frances Willard (1839-1898) and her family moved around a lot—New York to Ohio to Wisconsin and finally to Evanston, Illinois where 18 year old Willard enrolled in North Western Female...

Lois Weisberg

The official title held by Lois Weisberg (1925-2016) was Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of Chicago but she was better known as Chicago’s Queen of Culture. A lifelong...

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