Today marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment officially being adopted to the U.S. Constitution and women gaining the right to vote in this country. 

In celebration of this anniversary, I want to highlight a few of the many female pioneers, innovators, and world-changers from the 26th District of Texas.

Texas-26 women lead in every field under the sun. Here are 19 women who have made our community, state, and nation a better place with their drive, courage and compassion.

1. Benjy Frances Brooks, M.D., born in Lewisville, TX and educated at North Texas State University was the first woman pediatric surgeon in Texas. She taught and practiced medicine at various hospitals across Texas throughout her career. Also, she was a mentor of mine, who reminded me that when treating children we must not just view them as smaller adults.

2. Lorraine C. Miller, M.B.A., born and raised in Tarrant County, served as the first African American clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives during the 110th and the 111th Congresses. She also led the DC chapter of the NAACP from 2004-2007.

3. Bridget Matamoros-Mota, M.Ed., M.A.S., a statistics teacher at Guyer High School in Denton, is one of this year’s recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

4. Alice Yen-Ping Ting, Ph.D., a graduate of the Texas Academy of Math and Science in Denton, now teaches as a professor of genetics, biology and chemistry at Stanford University. Her research focuses on methods of studying the cell and has received numerous awards.

5. Phyllis George, born and raised in north Texas, was the first female co-anchor of the football pregame show “The NFL Today,” and later was an anchor for CBS Morning News. She also served as First Lady of Kentucky and was Miss America 1971.

6. Caro Crawford Brown studied journalism at Texas Women’s University and was the first woman journalist in Texas to receive the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.

7. Sarah M. Broom, M.J., educated in North Texas, is an award-winning journalist and novelist. Her book, The Yellow House, is a New York Times Bestseller. Her work has appeared in many national publications.

8. Sarah Huffman started her soccer career in Flower Mound, Texas at Marcus High School. She played on the women’s national team at multiple age levels and was on the 2002 FIFA Women’s World Championship winning team.

9. Pauline Beery Mack, Ph.D., former director of Texas Women’s University Research Institute, served as a NASA principal investigator specializing in bone density research. She designed equipment and conducted research to understand the effect that space had on the bodies of astronauts.

10. Louise Ritter competed in the high jump during her time at Texas Woman’s University and went on to win the gold medal in the women’s high jump at the 1988 summer games in Seoul, South Korea with a jump of 6’8”.

11. Grace Woodruff Cartwright, a graduate of the University of North Texas, dedicated her life to ranching, conservation, and beautification projects across Texas. She was the first woman to sit on the Board of Regents at UNT, and she transplanted trees from her ranch to the university campus. She also founded the Garden Study Club of Weatherford and the Brazos Valley Association.

12. May Owen, M.D., who spent a portion of her education and career in Tarrant County is the physician who discovered that the talcum powder used on surgical gloves caused infection and scar tissue to form.

13. Annie Webb Blanton, Ph.D., taught as an English professor at North Texas State Normal College (later UNT) for 17 years and continued to impact education while making history. In 1918 she become the first woman to hold a state office in Texas when she was elected the State Superintendent for Public Instruction.

14. Joan Blondell, educated in North Texas, had a successful career as an actress. Notably, she was cast as “Vi” in the movie Grease, and she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Opening Night (1977).

15. Mary Eleanor Brackenridge, invested in North Texas’s Texas Woman’s University by serving on the 1st Board of Regents. She was extremely dedicated to the suffrage movement and women’s rights, serving as the president of the Texas Woman Suffrage Association. When given the chance, she was one of the first women to register to vote in Texas.

16. Ann Williams, M.A., educated in North Texas, founded the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, a modern dance company. She was the first African American to receive a graduate degree in dance from TWU. In 2002, she was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame and was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2005, as part of a Masters of African–American Choreography series.

17. Millie Hughes-Fulford, Ph.D., who earned her highest degree from TWU, was among the first women civilian scientists in space when she flew aboard the Spacelab Life Science 1, which launched on June 5, 1991. Her research has also been in areas of cholesterol metabolism regulation, T cell activation, and bone and cancer growth regulation.

18. Edna Gardner Whyte quit her job as a nurse to pursue her dream in aviation. With the outbreak of World War II, Whyte helped train pilots out of Fort Worth’s Meacham Field. In 1970, she opened Aero Valley Airport (Now Northwest Regional Airport) in Roanoke, Texas where she continued her flight instruction and I was able to take lessons from her.

19. Betty Bohon Alford, Ph.D., Professor of Food Science at Texas Women’s University, was sponsored by NASA to research the astronaut diet. She also served in the Department of Agriculture during the Bush 41 Administration. She was also a student of Dr. Pauline Beery Mack.

Join me today in saying thank you to these women and the other incredible women who make Texas-26 so great.