Red Line
Click on each woman's name to learn more.
Howard
Potawatomi Women Cared for the land that would become Chicago from 1690-1833; Farmers and culture bearers
Jarvis
Tobey Prinz (1911-1984) Fair housing activist; leader of the “Save the Beaches” campaign
Morse
Helen Doria (1951 – 2012) Chicago Park District program creator; first Executive Director of Millennium Park
Loyola
Sister Jean Schmidt (born 1919) Chaplain of the Loyola University men’s basketball team
Granville
Esther Saperstein (1901-1988) Illinois state legislator; Illinois Status of Women Commission Chair; Chicago Alderman
Thorndale
Peggy Terry (1921-2004) Community organizer; US Vice Presidential candidate
Bryn Mawr
Lori Cannon (born 1951) “The AIDS Angel” & founder of Groceryland food pantry for people living with HIV/AIDS
Berwyn
San Luong O (born 1950) Creator and Executive Director of the South-East Asia Center.
Argyle
Margaret Anderson (1886-1973) Founder of the avante-garde and influential literary magazine The Little Review
Lawrence
Patricia Barber (born 1956 ) Jazz pianist/singer/composer; Guggenheim Foundation fellowship awardee
Wilson
Mary Koga (1920-2001) Social worker; professional photographer; college professor
Sheridan
Ruth Page (1899-1991) Legendary ballerina and choreographer of international renown
Addison
Ann Harnett (1920-1974) First player signed to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Belmont
Angie Navedo Rizzo (1951-2006) Community activist & Young Lords leader
Fullerton
Mary Alice McWhinnie (1922-1980) Antarctic researcher; DePaul University professor
North/Clybourn
Martha Lavey (1957-2017) Steppenwolf Theater actor and artistic director
Clark/Division
Mellody Hobson (born 1969) Ariel Investments President/Co-CEO; Chair of the Board of Starbucks
Chicago
Jane Byrne (1933-2014) First female mayor of Chicago; first woman to be elected mayor of a major US city
Grand
Vivian Maier (1926-2009) Nanny and photographer
Lake
Kate Warne (1833-1868) First female detective in the world
Monroe
Bertha Palmer (1849-1918) Queen of society in Chicago; art collector; real estate developer
Jackson
Florence Price (1887-1953) Composer of symphonies, chamber works and songs
Harrison
Hema Rajagopalan (Born 1950) Classical Indian dance teacher; founder & artistic director of the Natya Dance Theatre
Roosevelt
Koko Taylor (1928-2009) “The Queen of the Blues” and Blues Hall of Fame inductee
Cermak/Chinatown
Margaret Hie Ding Lin (1888–1973) Physician; first woman inducted into the International College of Surgeons
Sox/35th St.
Susan Solomon (born 1956) NOAA atmospheric chemist; discoverer of the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole
47th St.
Cordi-Marian Nuns Providers of social services for Mexican immigrants on the South and Near West Sides
Garfield
Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906-1972) Nuclear physicist; second woman in the world to win the Nobel Prize in Physics
63rd St.
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) Poet; Pulitzer Prize winner; Poet Laureate of Illinois
69th St.
Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) “The Queen of Gospel” and civil rights activist
79th St.
Michelle Robinson Obama (born 1964) Attorney; Author; First Black U.S. First Lady
87th St.
Dinah Washington (1924-1963) Performer of jazz, blues, R&B and pop music; “Queen of the Jukeboxes”
95th St/Dan Ryan
Hazel Johnson (1935-2011) Founder of People for Community Recovery and “Mother of Environmental Justice”