Browse Items (169 total)

A former poet laureate of the United States and of Virginia, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Rita Dove cultivates public awareness of American poetry and its increasing diversity.

Charlottesville

Award-winning educator and blues musician Gaye Adegbalola celebrates diversity and strives to empower others through her music.

Fredericksburg

As a mathematician and aerospace engineer at NASA for forty years, Christine Mann Darden was a leader in researching supersonic flight and sonic booms.

Hampton

A prominent Catholic in the Maryland colony, Margaret Brent later settled in Virginia where she and her siblings acquired extensive property and provided a refuge for Catholic colonists.

Stafford County

An acclaimed lyric soprano and the first African American to receive a contract from a major American opera company, Camilla Ella Williams was a pioneer for black artists in classical music.

Danville

John-Geline MacDonald Bowman helped establish business and professional organizations for Virginia women and served as president of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs.

Richmond

An accomplished artist and musician, Christine Herter Kendall cofounded the Garth Newel Music Center in Bath County.

Bath County

As a teenager, Edwilda Allen Isaac helped lead a walkout of students from R. R. Moton High School that contributed to ending school segregation in the United States.

Farmville

Philanthropist Grace Arents supported a variety of educational and public health programs and bequeathed her estate to become a botanic garden.

Richmond

Living in a rural mountain region with few doctors, Orleana Hawks Puckett became a midwife and successfully delivered more than 1,000 babies in her community.

Patrick and Caroll Counties