Barrier Busters

This series of messages sets the stage for others like them to follow in their footsteps.

    • Laura Bassi: The First Woman with a Science Ph.D.

      Laura Bassi was born in 1711 in Bologna, Italy. She came from a prosperous and well-connected family. She was privately educated. Beginning at age 5, she learned Latin and mathematics. Later she would learn science and philosophy. The Archbishop of Bologna was...

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    • Edith Payne

      Edith Payne was born in Chicago in 1911. Both of her parents were descendants of former slaves. She went to an integrated school but had few African-American classmates. She was inspired to pursue a writing career by one of her teachers. She studied journalism at...

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    • The First Female Native American Engineer

      Mary G. Ross was born in a small town in Oklahoma in 1908. She was the great-granddaughter of John Ross, the Chief of the Cherokee Nation, who helped lead the resettlement of Native Americans from Georgia to Oklahoma during the disgraceful Trail of Tears created by...

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    • Unearthing our Prehistoric Past

      Mary Anning was born in England in 1799. Her parents came from a modest income family, and her father collected fossils to sell the tourists to supplement their family income. Mary was one of only two surviving children out of ten children born to her parents. Mary...

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    • Opening the Skies for Women

      Bessie Pittman was born in Florida in 1906. When she was in her early teens (13 or 14) she married Robert Cochran and gave birth to a son. Her son died when he was 5, and her marriage ended. She changed her name to Jacqueline Cochrane. She was embarrassed by her...

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    • One Hundred Years before Rosa Parks

      Elizabeth (Jennings) Graham was born in 1827 as a free person. Her father had invented the dry cleaning process and was the first African American to be awarded a patent. He used the earnings from the patent to buy his family out of slavery. Elizabeth grew up in a...

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    • A Pioneer in Medicine

      James McCune Smith was born a slave in Manhattan in 1813 to a mother who was from South Carolina and a white father who owned his mother. His father was never in his life. He was a very bright student but was denied admission to college. James’ mentor suggested he go...

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    • Gender Transition

      Lynn Conway excelled in math and science courses and was accepted at MIT. She suffered from unease about her biological gender. Due to a failed gender transition surgery while at MIT she dropped out of college. She worked as an electronic technician until she decided...

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    • Breaking Barriers in Construction and Sports

      Linda Alvarado grew up in a family of five boys and one girl. Being the only girl with five brothers turned out to have a major impact on her career. Her parents built their home, but it had no heat or indoor plumbing. Water to wash clothes came from a drainage ditch....

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    • The First Woman Commercial Applications Computer Programmer

      Mary (Blood) Coombs was born in London to a family who believed in women’s educational careers. At the time of her birth (1929), women were not thought to have a career. Mary’s degrees were in French and History. When she graduated, she taught English in Switzerland...

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