Browse Items (373 total)

In 1870 Anna Whitehead Bodeker founded the first woman suffrage association in Virginia.

Richmond

Appalled by the violence of slavery and its effect on society, Mary Minor Blackford became a vocal anti-slavery supporter.

Fredericksburg

Katherine Harwood Waller Barrett devoted her life to providing needed medical care, shelter, education, and training to unmarried mothers and their children.

Henrico County

For thirty-four years Mary Julia Baldwin was principal of the seminary that later became Mary Baldwin University.

Staunton

Mary Willing Byrd preserved her children's property during the American Revolution and eloquently defended herself against charges of loyalism.

Charles City County

Clementina Rind was the first female printer in colonial Virginia.

Williamsburg

Martha Washington was her husband's confidant and established the public role of First Lady after his election as president.

Fairfax County

At a time when married women had few rights, Elizabeth Bray Allen Smith Stith used her own funds to establish a free school for poor children.

Isle of Wight County

Jean Miller Skipwith, Lady Skipwith, assembled one of the largest libraries owned by a Virginia woman early in the nineteenth century.

Mecklenburg County

Setting a charitable example, Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell fostered the fledgling Methodist Church in southwestern Virginia as a devoted adherent and through material and compassionate support of the church.

Saltville