The North Carolina Women's Hall of Fame is an initiative that emerged from the Governor's Conference for Women in 2009 to recognize women who have provided leadership in community service, their professions, or advocacy for women’s rights in North Carolina.
The initiative was founded in 2009 during the annual Governor's Conference for Women.[1] The conference, formed in 2006, to provide networking opportunities and discuss women's issues,[2] created the initiative to annually recognize women who were North Carolina leaders as a part of the conference. The criteria for induction requires that the nominees had achieved recognition within North Carolina for community service, within their professions, or for their advocacy on women's rights and issues of concern to women.[1]
Name | Image | Birth–Death | Year | Area of achievement |
---|---|---|---|---|
Marie Watters Colton | (1920-2018) | 2009 | First female Speaker Pro Tempore of the NC House[3] | |
Valeria Lynch Lee | (1942–) | 2009 | African-American businesswoman and community leader[4] | |
Sally Dalton Robinson | (1934–) | 2009 | Philanthropist and community volunteer[5] | |
Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans | (1920–2012) | 2009 | Philanthropist[6] | |
Katie G. Dorsett | (1932–2020) | 2010 | Business leader and first African American woman to hold a NC Cabinet post[7] | |
Helen Copenhaver Hanes | (1917–2013) | 2010 | Founder and supporter of NC arts organizations[8] | |
Sandra P. Levine | (ca. 1940s) | 2010 | Jewish philanthropist[9] | |
Betty Ray McCain | (1931–2022) | 2010 | Public servant and first woman named to the state’s Advisory Budget Committee[10] | |
Patricia Timmons-Goodson | (1954–) | 2010 | First African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of North Carolina[11] | |
Elisabeth G. Hair | (1920-2014) | 2011[12] | First woman to chair the Mecklenburg County, NC Board of County Commissioners and the first woman to chair the Board of Elections[13] | |
Andrea L. Harris | (?-) | 2011[14] | African-American minority business development leader[15] | |
Sarah Parker | (1942-) | 2011[16] | 27th Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court[17] | |
Ruth Dial Woods | (1938-) | 2011[18] | Native American, Civil Rights and Women's right's advocate and educator[19] |