Virginia Women in History is an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia

Library of Virginia

The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, its archival agency, and the reference library at the seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and is located at 800 East Broad Street, 2 blocks from the Virginia State...

 that honors eight Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation. The program began in 2000 under the aegis of the Virginia Foundation for Women and Delta Kappa Gamma Society International but since 2006 has been administered by the Library of Virginia.

2007 Honorees

• Mary Willing Byrd
  Mary Willing Byrd
  thumb|Mary Willing Byrd . Portrait by [[John Wollaston |John Wollaston]]; original in the collection of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond...
  
   (1740–1814)

Charles City County, planter

• Maybelle Addington Carter
  Maybelle Carter
  "Mother" Maybelle Carter was an American country musician. She is best known as a member of the historic Carter Family act in the 1920s and 1930s and also as a member of Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters.-Biography:...
  
   (1909–1978)

Scott County

Scott County, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 23,403 people, 9,795 households, and 7,023 families residing in the county. The population density was 44 people per square mile . There were 11,355 housing units at an average density of 21 per square mile...

, singer

• Laura Lu Scherer Copenhaver (1868–1940)

Smyth County, founder of Rosemont Industries and Lutheran lay leader

• Mary Alice Franklin Hatwood Futrell (1940– )

Lynchburg

Lynchburg, Virginia

Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...

, educator

• Mary Jeffery Galt (1844–1922)

Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, preservationist

• Sheila Crump Johnson
  Sheila Johnson
  Sheila Crump Johnson is the team president, managing partner, and governor of the WNBA's Washington Mystics, a position she gained before the 2005 season. On May 24, 2005, Washington Sports and Entertainment Chairman, Abe Pollin, sold the Mystics to Lincoln Holdings LLC, where Johnson served as...
  
   (1949– )

Loudoun County, founder of Black Entertainment Television and sports franchise owner

• Opossunoquonuske (fl.
  Floruit
  Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
  
   1607–1610)

Chesterfield County

Chesterfield County, Virginia

Chesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2010, its population was estimated to be 316,236. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...

, Appamattuck leader

• Camilla Williams
  Camilla Williams
  Camilla Ella Williams is an American operatic soprano and the first African American to receive a contract with a major American opera company.-Biography:...
  
   (1919– )

Danville

Danville, Virginia

Danville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...

, opera singer

2008 Honorees

• Frances Culpeper Stephens Berkeley (baptized 27 May 1634–ca. 1695)

James City County, leader of the Green Spring faction

• Lucy Goode Brooks (1818–1900)

Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, founder of the Friends' Asylum for Colored Orphans

• Providencia Velazquez Gonzalez (1917– )

Dale City

Dale City, Virginia

Dale City is an unincorporated community in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. Recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census designated place , the community had a total population of 63,616 according to the 2006 American Community Survey....

, community activist

• Elizabeth Bermingham Lacy
  Elizabeth B. Lacy
  Elizabeth Bermingham Lacy is a Virginia jurist and was the first woman named to the Virginia State Corporation Commission and subsequently was the first woman named to be a Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Lacy is a graduate of St. Mary's College at Notre Dame and the University of Texas...
  
   (1945– )

Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, judge of the Supreme Court of Virginia

• Sharyn McCrumb
  Sharyn McCrumb
  Sharyn McCrumb is an American writer whose books celebrate the history and folklore of Appalachia. McCrumb is the winner of numerous literary awards, and the author of the Elizabeth McPherson series, the Ballad series, and the St...
  
   (1948– )

Roanoke County, writer

• Patricia Buckley Moss
  P. Buckley Moss
  P. Buckley Moss was born on May 20, 1933 on Staten Island in New York City. She attended Washington Irving High School for the Fine Arts in Manhattan. In what turned out to be quite ironic in light of her later career, she was voted "Least Likely to Succeed" by the students of her high school. She...
  
   (1933– )

Waynesboro

Waynesboro, Virginia

Waynesboro, deriving its name from General Anthony Wayne, is an independent city surrounded by Augusta County in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 21,006 in 2010.....

, artist and philanthropist

• Isabel Wood Rogers (1824–2007)

Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, moderator, General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

• Edith Turner (Wané Roonseraw) (b. ca. 1754–1838)

Southampton County, chief of the Nottoway (Cheroenhaka)

2009 Honorees

• Pauline Adams (1874–1957)

Norfolk

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, suffragist

• Caroline Bradby Cook (born ca. 1839)

King William County, Pamunkey

Pamunkey

The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...

 leader and Unionist

• Claudia Emerson
  Claudia Emerson
  Claudia Emerson is an American poet who won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection Late Wife.-Background:...
  
   (1957– )

Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg, Virginia

Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...

, poet

• Drew Gilpin Faust
  Drew Gilpin Faust
  Catherine Drew Gilpin Faust is an American historian, college administrator, and the president of Harvard University. Faust is the first woman to serve as Harvard's president and the university's 28th president overall. Faust is the fifth woman to serve as president of an Ivy League university, and...
  
   (1947– )

Clarke County

Clarke County, Virginia

Clarke County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 14,034. Its county seat is Berryville.-History:Clarke County was established in 1836 by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron who built a home, Greenway Court, on part of his 5 million acre property,...

, historian and president of Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

• Joann Hess Grayson (1948– )

Harrisonburg

Harrisonburg, Virginia

Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia in the United States. Its population as of 2010 is 48,914, and at the 2000 census, 40,468. Harrisonburg is the county seat of Rockingham County and the core city of the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical...

, educator and advocate for abused children

• Mary Randolph
  Mary Randolph
  Mary Randolph wrote The Virginia House-Wife , one of the most influential housekeeping and cook books of the nineteenth century...
  
   (1762–1828)

Chesterfield County

Chesterfield County, Virginia

Chesterfield County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. In 2010, its population was estimated to be 316,236. Chesterfield County is now the fourth-largest municipality in Virginia . Its county seat is Chesterfield...

 and Richmond, writer

• Virginia Estelle Randolph
  Virginia Randolph
  Virginia Estelle Randolph was an African American educator in Henrico County, Virginia. She was named the United States' first "Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher" by her Superintendent of Schools, Jackson T. Davis, and she led a program funded by the Jeanes Foundation to upgrade vocational...
  
   (1874–1958)

Henrico County

Henrico County, Virginia

Henrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, educator

• Mary Sue Terry
  Mary Sue Terry
  Mary Sue Terry is a Democratic politician from Virginia, born September 28, 1947, in Martinsville, Virginia.-Early life:Miss Terry was an active and enthusiastic Democrat as a girl.She was graduated from in Critz, Virginia in 1965...
  
   (1947– )

Patrick County

Patrick County, Virginia

Patrick County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 18,490. Its county seat is Stuart. It is located within both the rolling hills and valleys of the Piedmont Region of Virginia and mountainous Southwest Virginia....

, attorney general

2010 Honorees

• Mollie Holmes Adams (1881–1973)

King William County, Upper Mattaponi leader

• Ethel Bailey Furman (1893–1976)

Richmond, architect

• Edythe C. Harrison (1934– )

Norfolk, civic leader

• Janis Martin
  Janis Martin
  Janis Darlene Martin was an American rockabilly and country music singer. She was one of the few women working in the male-dominated rock and roll music field during the 1950s and one of country music's early female innovators...
  
   (1940–2007)

Danville, singer and composer

• Kate Mason Rowland
  Kate Mason Rowland
  Kate Mason Rowland was an American author, historian, genealogist, biographer, editor and historic preservationist. Rowland is best known for authoring the biography of her great-great-granduncle, George Mason, a Founding Father of the United States. It is widely considered the definitive...
  
   (1840–1916)

Richmond, writer

• Jean Miller Skipwith (1748–1826)

Mecklenburg County, book collector

• Queena Stovall
  Queena Stovall
  Queena Stovall was an American folk artist sometimes called "The Grandma Moses of Virginia."Born Emma Serena Dillard in Amherst County, Virginia, she married at age nineteen and began painting at age sixty-two. She completed forty-seven paintings before her death. The Fenimore Art Museum holds her...
  
   (1888–1980)

Lynchburg and Amherst County, artist

• Marian A. Van Landingham (1937– )

Alexandria, civic leader

2011 Honorees

• Lucy Addison (1861–1937)

Roanoke, educator

• Eleanor Bontecou (1891–1976)

Arlington County, attorney

• Emily White Fleming (1855–1941)

Fredericksburg, preservationist

• Pearl Fu (1941– )

Roanoke, civic leader

• Lillian Lincoln Lambert (1940– )

Mechanicsville, businesswoman and author

• Bessie Niemeyer Marshall (1884–1960)

Petersburg, botanical illustrator

• Felicia Warburg Rogan (1927– )

Albemarle County, vintner

• Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell
  Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell
  Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell was born in Hanover County, Virginia in 1749 to John Henry and Sarah Winston. She was a sister of Patrick Henry. In 1776 she married Gen. William Campbell . He was the commander of the American forces that defeated the British at the Battle of King's Mountain in...
  
  (1749–1825)

Saltville, Methodist lay leader

External links

• Virginia Women in History