ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — The National Women’s Hall of Fame announced its 2026 class of inductees.
The inductees will be honored at a ceremony on September 24 at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester. This year’s women all ‘Broke Barriers and Changed the World’.
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Contemporary Honorees
- Jackie Joyner-Kersee
- A six-time Olympic medalist and heptathlon record holder.
- Janet Yellen
- She has served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers—the only person to have led all three.
- Adele Smith Simmons
- The third president of Hampshire College and a philanthropist, overseeing more than $1 billion in global initiatives.
- S. Mona Sinha
- The CEO of Equality Now who mobilized more than $1 billion to advance legal reforms and opportunities for women worldwide.
- Judith Viorst
- A writer known for the children’s classic, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and the psychology best-seller, Necessary Losses, as well as poetry.
Historical Inductees
- Edith Green
- A ten-term U.S. Representative from Oregon and an architect of federal education policy.
- Virginia Hall Goillot
- A World War II spy who organized resistance across Nazi-occupied France, she was the only civilian woman to receive the Distinguished Service Cross.
- Harriet Jacobs
- An escaped enslaved woman and author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, one of the most important firsthand accounts of American slavery, who later became an abolitionist and humanitarian.
- Dr. Georgeanna Jones
- A reproductive endocrinologist who transformed infertility diagnosis and treatment, she co-founded the first successful in-vitro fertilization program in the U.S.
- Audre Lorde
- A poet, essayist, and activist who confronted racism, sexism, and homophobia while exploring Black female identity through her work.
- Marie Tharp
- A geologist and oceanographic cartographer who created the first scientific maps of the ocean floor, whose work reveals the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
“We are thrilled to welcome an extraordinary class of inductees—women who have transformed science, civil rights, the arts, education, philanthropy, and beyond,” said Dr. Kristen Oehlrich, CEO and Executive Director of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. “Among them are names many people recognize and others whose stories deserve to be widely known. Each represents a legacy that continues to shape the world today. Sharing their stories ensures their impact is seen, valued, and preserved.”
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The National Women’s Hall of Fame, located in Seneca Falls, is called the birthplace of the women’s rights movement…