Toypurina was an indigenous woman who helped plan and lead a revolt against Spanish colonial rule in 1785. She was born in the Kumivit tribe, also known as Tongva people, in the present-day San Gabriel area. At the time Spanish missionaries began to settle on land in the area, taking it from numerous tribes, exploiting local indigenous people into forced labor to build missions. After the Spanish forbade natives to practice their traditional customs, Toypurina and others planned a rebellion against the Spanish. On the day of the revolt, Toypurina was arrested and exiled from the mission. Today Toypurina is known as a freedom fighter for her people.
Daughters of Charity consisted of six sisters who traveled from Europe and the East Coast to open the County's first orphanage, school, and infirmary. Their names were Sister Mary Scholastica Logsdon, Sister Ann Gillen, Sister Corsina McKay, Sister Angelita Mombrado, Clara de Cisneros, and Francesca Fernandez. Together they started an orphanage and a school in the County, and served as staff for a hospital funded by the Board of Supervisors. In 1869 the Sisters became the first women in Southern California to form and lead a corporation, the Los Angeles Infirmary. The Daughters of Charity began the initial infrastructure of charitable work needed that would later evolve into structured LA County departments that now provide social services.
Rosa Newmark created in 1870 what is now known as Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles, an organization focused on providing services to Jewish women and children, as well as people from all backgrounds. The agency provides a wide range of services to improve the well-being of community members, particularly those living in poverty or with other disadvantages. Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles provides critical services including counseling for families, food for those in poverty, and housing services to individuals experiencing homelessness.
Biddy Mason contributed to philanthropy by serving the poor community, opening her home and establishments to homeless and orphaned children in Los Angeles. Biddy was born enslaved, and walked thousands of miles across the country behind a caravan led by her slaveowners. After living in California for some time where slavery was illegal, she petitioned and advocated for the freedom of her and her family. Mason used her skills as a midwife to save money and eventually buy property in downtown Los Angeles. Biddy Mason eventually co-found the first African Methodist-Episcopal Church, the first African American church in Los Angeles.
Caroline Symore Severance was an influential leader in the women's suffrage movement who founded a number of organizations in Los Angeles. Caroline founded a number of women's organizations in Los Angeles, including the women's "Friday Morning Club"in 1891. The Friday Morning Club encouraged women to fight for women's suffage and soon it became the largest women's club in California. After California passed the women's suffage law, Caroline became the first women to register to vote in the state. As a result of her large influence, Caroline is often referred to as the spiritual leader of the Southern California Suffrage movement.
Clara Shortridge Foltz a prolific law pioneer, and helped pave the way for the California suffrage movement. In 1878, she authored a bill that would allow anyone to become part of the judiciary and practice law. That same year she passed the California state bar but was denied entry to the Hastings College of the Law, which she later sued, because of her sex. In 1910, Clara made history in Los Angeles by being appointed to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office and becoming the first female deputy DA in the country. She became a public speaker and leader in the suffrage movement, the first woman clerk for the California State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, and eventually ran for Governor of California in 1930.
Mary Foy became the first woman to become a head librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library at the young age of 18 in 1880. Mary believed strongly that library services should be available to everyone. Years later she became a teacher, instructing at the Alameda School in Downey, and at Los Angeles High School, and became a staunch suffrage activist. Throughout her life she campaigned around numerous causes, including Woodrow Wilson's presidency, the California Progressive Movement, and Women's Rights.
Dr. Elizabeth Follansbee was the first woman admitted to the Los Angeles County Medical Association in 1883. She previously co-founded the Women and Children's Hospital of San Francisco, along with Charlotte Blake Brown and a group of other female doctors in 1875. Dr. Follansbee spent her career influencing and mentoring a new generation of female pediatricians graduating from the University of Southern California, where she taught and charied the pediatrics department. Dr. Follansbee gained respect and prestige as one of the most qualified doctors in Southern California, and broke down barriers for other women in the profession.
Helen Hunt Jackson was a popular author who often wrote under the pseudonym "H.H." Jackson. After learning of the adversity Ponca and Omaha tribes faced, she became a social justice advocate for Native American tribes. In 1881, she published A Century of Dishonor, which highlighted the historical mistreatment of tribes by the United States government. The book and her later stories helped put a face to the plight of the Southern California Native Americans, and inspired other reformers to pursue justice. The Los Angeles Public Library contains a branch named in her honor.
Margaret Collier Graham was a teacher, author, and literary advocate who published short stories in national magazines and books. In 1889, Margaret and her husband established the South Pasadena Lyceum, which would later become the South Pasadena Public Library. Margaret was a popular public speaker and supporter of the women's suffrage movement. She is best known for her books Stories of the Foothills and The Wizard's Daughter.
Dr. Rose Bullard was a physician and medical school professor who was elected president of the Los Angeles County Medical Association in 1902. It would be another 90 years before another woman filled that position. Bullar moved to the Los Angeles area in 1886, and began working to treat the smallpox epidemic in the area. Dr. Bullard taught gynecology at USC where she met Dr. Elizabeth Follansbee shortly thereafter the two opened their own practice together. She served as a fellow to the American College of Surgeons and was one of the first physicians to operate with spinal anesthesia in Southern California.
Maria Guadalupe Evangelina de Lopez Lowther became the first woman to make a speech in Spanish on women's suffrage in California at a rally at the Plaza de Los Angeles. Born in San Gabriel, Maria was a teacher at Los Angeles High School and UCLA, where she focused on teaching English as a second language. At 36 years old, she resigned from her position and began to help the WWI war effort. It was in France where she learned how to fly a plane and drive an ambulance. She was honored in France for her war effort.
Alice Stebbin Wells became the nation's first female policewoman in 1910. Alice led the way in encouraging other cities to hire female police officers. She also persuaded UCLA to offer the first course specifically on the work of female police officers in 1918. Alice helped to create the Women's Peace Officers Association of California, and became the organization's first president. Alice was also instrumental in organizing the International Policewomen's Association. Alice was a policewoman for 30 years before she retired.
Frances Nacke Noel was a suffragette and labor activist, who believed the fight for women's right and worker's right should be fought side by side. Frances was a pioneer in combining these two efforts together. She fought for women's right to vote and to establish a minimum wage for women. Frances ultimately organized changes to the California Federations of Labor in 1911 to include protections for women. Later on, Frances advocated for an eight-hour work day and became one of the first working-class women to open a clinic offering birth control in Los Angeles.
Bessie Burke became the first African American teacher in Los Angeles. Seven years later in 1918, Bessie became the first African American principal in the city. Bessie was chosen to be the principal at Nevin Avenue School in 1938, making her the first black principal of a racially integrated school. As a student, she graduated 7th in her class of 800. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles, at the time called Los Angeles State Normal School.
Charlotta A. Spears Bass was the first African American woman in the United States to own and operate a newspaper. Her newspaper California Eagle was published from 1912 to 1951. She also served beginning in 1952 as the National Chairman of the Sojourners for Truth and Justice, an organization of black women against racial violence in the South. The platform called for civil rights, women's rights, an end to the Korean War, and peace with the Soviet Union. She was also the first African-American woman nominated for Vice President for the Progressive Party. Her slogan during the vice presidential campaign was, "Win or lose, we win by raising the issues."
Margaret Q. Adams became the first female deputy sheriff in the United States in 1912. After separating from her husband in 1912, she was determined to find a way to support her two children on her own. According to family lore, she accepted a job in the Civil Division, on the condition that she would eventually be deputized. She served the department for 35 years until her retirement in 1947. During retirement she helped to raise her granddaughter Margaret Irene McDonald, who later became the first woman to work on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange in 1963.
Sadie Chandler Cole was a civil right's activist who in 1913 became the first vice-president of the newly formed Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP. Under her direction, the NAACP fought against segregation and racism practices in Los Angeles. One of her major accomplishments was organizing a “swim-in” at a Manhattan Beach whites-only beach in 1927. After the protest, city officials announced that the beaches would remain open without racial restrictions. Throughout her life, Sadie also supported the NAACP through performing as a singer and entertainer at fundraisers and events.
Julia Morgan was California's first female architect. She was also one of the first women to attend the University of California, Berkeley as a civil engineering student. Through the course of her career, Julia designed over eight hundred buildings in California and Hawaii. Morgan personally supervised every aspect of her work and was known to climb around construction sites – in dresses – to oversee the building of her designs. Her mark on LA County can still be seen today -- she designed the Los Angeles Examiner Building in 1914.
Althea Gilbert was one of the first five women patrolling the streets of Los Angeles as an official city policewoman. Two years after joining the force, Aletha founded the City Mother's Bureau for the LAPD. She became the first "City Mother" for the bureau. The bureau was staffed entirely by women and dealt with female juvenile runaways, drug users, and their mothers. After the success of this program, a number of other cities created City Mother programs modeled after Gilbert's.
Estelle Lawton Lindsey became the first female councilperson in Los Angeles in 1915. This accomplishment came just four years after women had voted in municipal elections for the first time in Los Angeles, and five years prior to the 19th Amendment. As acting council president, one of her duties included filling in as Acting Mayor when the current Mayor and deputy were away on city business. She became the first woman to fill the role of acting Mayor in a large city. Lindsey was also an active participant in the socialist movement and ran for the California Assembly as part of the Socialist Party ticket.
Katherine Edson was a social activist who played a key role in reforming labor conditions across California. In 1916, she became the first woman appointed to a California state post, the California Industrial Welfare Commission. At the commisssion, Katherine drew up a comprehensive law that standardized wages and work hours for female nurses in California. She also served as the secretary of the Friday Morning Club based out of Los Angeles, a women’s club that advocated for public reforms. Katherine played a key role in passing California's women's suffrage bill.
Georgia Bullock attended USC’s Law School, where she founded a women’s professional law fraternity called Phi Delta Delta. After her graduation in 1914, she was appointed as a “referee” for the Women’s Court, a division of the Los Angeles Police Court for women’s cases without pay. Three years later she began serving as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney. Later that year, she became the first woman added to the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Decades later became the first female judge appointed to Los Angeles Superior Court.
Vada Somerville, D.D.S. was a civil rights activist who broke barriers when she became the first African American woman licensed to practice dentistry in California. She was a native of Pomona and graduated from USC's dental school in 1918. While still in school she contributed to civil rights by co-founding the Los Angeles Chapter of the NAACP in 1914. After retiring from dentistry, she dedicated herself fully to promoting social welfare and civic work. Vada's support of black women was crucial to the establishment of black women's service organizations such as the Los Angeles Chapter of the Links, Inc. and the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Council of Negro Women. Today, there is a floor named after her in USC’s residential hall as recognition of her professional accomplishments and contributions to furthering African-American rights on the local and national level.
Harriet Williams Russell Strong was one of the first environmentalists in Los Angeles County. She became one of the first two women to belong to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in 1893. Harriet was an activist, agriculturalist, rancher, inventor, and historical preservationist. Harriet was granted many patents for her innovative ideas for dams, reservoirs, water storage methods and debris impoundment. During the 1900's, she urged and influenced government officials to build dams on the Colorado River to control floods, increase irrigation, and generate electricity.
Anna May Wong was the first Chinese-American Hollywood film actress to achieve international fame, during a time when Asian Americans were faced with racism and discrimination. She often felt constrained in her work by censor laws that forbid her to kiss any person not from her race on screen, and she was often typecast in roles that were “exotic” and fit within a certain type-cast character. Anna was even passed over for a lead role in a film about Chinese American farmers, when the directors chose to cast a white actress instead. She often served the community by donating her salaries to Asian charities. Since her passing, she has developed a strong fan base that continues to celebrate her work.
Georgia Robinson became the first African-American woman to serve as an LAPD officer in 1919. Active in community affairs and the local chapter of the NAACP, Georgia first became a volunteer with the LAPD when men went en masse to join World War I. She was later appointed the position of officer and worked with black women and juveniles. Georgia founded the Sojourner Truth Home in Los Angeles, which provided resources for women in need. Georgia's career came to an end when she went blind after trying to stop a fight between inmates, however she continued to advocate for civil rights in Los Angeles.
Dora Fellows Haynes was a social and political leader for suffrage and women's rights in Los Angeles. In 1919, she hosted a meeting of suffragists and formed the Los Angeles branch of the League of Women Voters. She was elected as President and led the group as an informative policy initiative-based organization with the responsibility of informing voters on critical civic issues. Dora and her husband John Randolph founded The Haynes Foundation. The foundation distributes grants and scholarships to private and public institutions that specialize in studying the underlying causes of social issues in Los Angeles.
Mary Pickford was the co-founder of United Artists a film distribution company in Los Angeles. The company was created as a response to the monopoly film production companies had on the industry at the time. As an actress and businesswoman, she was the first woman in Hollywood to earn over $1 million. Mary also founded her own production company, giving her access to control her hiring team, script, and film promotion. Mary was also one of the original founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Susan Miller Dorsey became the first woman to serve as superintendent of Los Angeles City High Schools in 1920. She held this position as superintendent for nine years, and did so while raising her son alone, after her husband left the family. The Susan Miller Dorsey High School in Jefferson Park is named after her, as well as Dorsey Hall, a dormitory at Scripps College in Claremont, California.
Christine Wetherill Stevenson was an heiress of the Pittsburgh Paint Company who founded the Hollywood Bowl and the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. She dreamt of opening her own open air theatre, and went on to become president of The Theatre Arts Alliance Inc. She also created her own play, the Pilgramage Play, which told the story of Christ and played for four decades.
Aimee Semple McPherson was an evangelist, faith-healer, and radio personality who founded the Foursquare Church in 1923. After moving to Los Angeles from missionary service in China, Aimee launched a women’s religious magazine called Bridal Call. She bought the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles where she broadcast her religious radio program from the roof. Aimee was an influential leader in a profession and area typically dominated by men. Foursquare Church now has over 9 million members and more than 76,000 congregations.
Dr. Henrietta C. Mears was a Christian educator who helped shape the modern evangelical movement in the United States. She felt called to the church at a young age, and taught her first Sunday School class at the age of 12. She later accepted a formal Sunday School teaching position in 1928 at the First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood. Her influence is considered to have revolutionized the modern-day Sunday School movement. In particular, her work is considered influential by many through the appeal her teachings had to a younger generation.
Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes was one of very few female aviators of her time. Her love of flying and daredevil aviation acrobatics drew attention from Hollywood, where she was hired and became one of the best stunt pilots in movies. One of the earliest competitions she entered was the Women’s Transcontinental Air Derby in 1929. She later beat Amelia Earhart’s speed record in 1930 and founded the Women’s Air Reserve. She purchased a ranch near Edward’s Air Force Base and used it for stunt piloting and a place where pilots could enjoy flying, horseback riding, and other amenities. The Air Force also used her ranch for testing new top-secret planes. At the height of the club there were over 9,000 members and top pilots that enjoyed her hospitality. Her actions and legacy were very influential in recruiting and teaching other women to fly.
Christine Sterling known as the “Mother of Olvera Street”, organized a revival of the Los Angeles downtown area known as Olvera Street. She began with the restoration of the Avila Adobe, the home of Los Angeles County’s first explorers and prominent businessmen, and branched out to preserve the area for a Mexican marketplace. In 1930, after fundraisers and requests for labor help, Olvera Street opened to the public of Los Angeles and today is one of the city’s most visited tourist destinations. The area in downtown LA is known as the symbolic center of Mexican culture.
Minerva Hamilton Hoyt was a desert preservationist and founder of the International Desert Conservation League. The League helped to create Joshua Tree National Monument in 1936. After moving from Mississippi to South Pasadena she advocated for various civic causes, including the Los Angeles Symphony. Minerva had a passion for the cacti and Joshua Trees that are indigenous to Southern California, because of this she was a fierce protector of desert plant life and of the ecological terrain of local Southern California deserts. She has a Southern California cactus named after her, as well as a peak within Joshua Tree National Monument: “Mount Minerva Hoyt.”
Katherine Cheung was the first Asian-American female pilot and the first Asian American individual granted an international flying license. Born in China, she came to Los Angeles County to join her father in 1921, and earned her pilot’s license in 1932. In 1932, only 1% of licensed pilots in the United States were women. She became friends with and competed in aviation races with Amelia Earhart. The Bejing Air Force Aviation Museum refers to her as "China's Amelia Earheart."
Helen Lundeberg was a painter who started exhibiting her work in 1933. She started painting in the styles of social realism and Post-Surrealism, and later experimented with abstraction, juxtaposing and layering geometric forms. She and her husband Lorser Feitelson are credited with establishing the Post-Surrealist movement. Many painters and artists consider her work among the trend setters in the later part of the 20th century. Today her work is part of the permanent collect of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Dorothy Ray Healey was a labor organizer from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, who fought for labor, race relations, unions, and organizing the poor against unfair and unsafe working conditions. By 1933, Dorothy had been one of the largest organizers of Southern California’s agricultural labor force. A frequent target of anti-communist politicians, Dorothy disagreed with the Russian Soviets publicly, but still believed that communism was an answer to the unfair labor laws and conditions that businesses in the United States practiced. Her activism and protests on labor in Los Angeles helped lead new generations of activists.
Dorothy Arzner was one of very few female motion picture directors during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and became the first woman to join the Directors Guild of America in 1936. Arzner's work, as both a female and lesbian filmmaker, has been considered an important influence in the film industry, and is often included in the curriculum in film studies courses. From the beginning of her career until her retirement in 1943, she was the only female director working in Hollywood at the time.
Hedda Hopper made a transition from Hollywood actress to insider gossip columnist in 1938. She was one of the biggest sources of anti-communist fervor that consumed much of the political area in the 1950’s. She was eloquent with her writing and was infamous among Hollywood’s biggest stars and studio executives. Her readership was estimated to be about 35 million at the peak of her career.
Fay Allen became the first African-American woman elected to the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1939. Originally a music teacher, she ran twice for her position on the school board, losing the first time before succeeding the second. Her platform included standardization and a modernized school curriculum, as well as advocacy for public education beyond high school.
Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to receive an Academy Award in 1940 for her performance as "Mammy" in the movie Gone with the Wind. However, the hotel where the awards were taking place had a strict segregationist policy, that did not allow her to sit with her fellow cast members. Hattie was seated at a separate table in the back. She was the first African American woman to perform on her own radio show. She was later inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1975. Hattie was honored with a commemorative U.S. postage stamp in 2006.
Susan Ahn Cuddy became the first Asian-American woman to enlist in the US Navy in 1942. Susan was born in Los Angeles to activist Korean parents. Susan joined the Navy at a time when sexism and anti-Asian sentiment were prominent issues. She rose to the rank of lieutenant in the Navy and became the Navy's first woman gunnery officer. During the Cold War, she worked for the NSA where she oversaw over 300 agents in charge of counter-maneuvering Russia’s espionage. Today Susan Ahn Cuddy is remembered as a trailblazer for the Asian-American community.
Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon based on the thousands of women in LA County and across the nation that filled in the roles for men when they went to WWII. Many of the jobs were manufacturing and labor intensive that men had traditionally worked in. Many of the women worked on the war effort manufacturing planes for the war, like at the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach. Rosie the Riveter arguably became the most iconic symbol of working women of the time.
Esther McCoy is considered a pioneer in her interests, writing and architecture, and became one of the most important writers in the architectural field of her time. Esther’s wrote while working for an architechtural firm, drawing national interest in Mexican and Southern Californian architecture. Her first article published in 1945 began a lifelong career of a series of writings for books, magazine and newspaper articles, exhibits, and promoted a serious study into Southern California architecture. She wrote all her life and is considered a pioneer in a field traditionally dominated by men.
A modern dance choreographer and teacher, Bella Lewitzky co-founded the Dance Theatre of Los Angeles in 1946. She choreographed dances in several films and went on to found the Lewitzky Dance Company that has since gained national and international prestige. Bella was also known for her commitment to artistic freedom, in 1990 she mounted a successful legal challenge against the National Endowment for the Arts after the organization required grant recipients to adhere to specific 'antiobscenity' rules. She won many awards with her contributions in dance. Her daughter Nora continues to teach her mother’s dancing technique.
As a principal at Lincoln High School, Ethel Percy Andrus instituted reforms that addressed race relations and violence, leading to a substantial drop in juvenile crime. After retiring in 1944, she understood that retired teachers could not live on a state pension of $60 a month, and founded the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA) in 1947. She fought specifically for a retired person’s right for health insurance when few or no companies would insure the elderly. She later founded and served as president of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Even in retirement, she continued to lobby Congress for better care and resources for the elderly.
Dorothy Chandler, a philanthropist annd cultural leader, was at the forefront of Los Angeles’ arts and humanities events and forums. One of her first missions was to chair a committee that organized fundraising for the re-opening of the Hollywood Bowl in 1950. She recognized the need for a permanent prominent music and performing arts venue that the entire County could enjoy. As part of this goal, she led the effort for the future Music Center in downtown Los Angeles which now holds the Ahmanson Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, and her namesake, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Rosalind Winer Wyman became the youngest person ever elected to L.A. City Council in 1953, at the age of twenty-two. She represented the fifth district, which includes the San Fernando Valley, for 12 years. Her advocacy was influential in bringing the Brooklyn Dodgers from New York to Los Angeles. Without her persistence, Los Angeles would have bypassed an effort to recruit one of the most successful and iconic baseball teams in league history. She was also a strong proponent of multi-faith religious tolerance efforts.
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