When we recently learned about Kate Warne, credited as the first female detective in the U.S., we were fascinated. In 1856, Warne (c. 1833-1868), a 23-year-old widow, took the initiative to respond to a newspaper advertisement for detectives by walking into the Pinkerton Detective Agency in Chicago and declaring her interest in a job.
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Mary Shields (1944-2025) entered the 1974 Iditarod, the 1000-mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. She didn’t plan to win but partway through the race, she learned that the men at the checkpoints were betting that she wouldn’t make it further.
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Nina Kuscsik (1939)-2025) was the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon – that was in 1972 – five years after Kathrine Switzer ran in the same marathon as a “bandit” because women weren’t allowed to compete in marathons – ‘it might make a woman’s uterus fall out!’
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When we were writing Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America we tried our best to include every woman who was the first to do something that made a difference to our country. Two decades later, we keep finding pioneering women!
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In January of 2025, President Biden presented National Medals of Science and National Medals of Technology and Innovation to a group of men and women who have made significant contributions to our well-being and quality of life.
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