FEMALE FIRSTS

Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

 Some Notable Women in Los Angeles History

• Margaret Q. Adams – first woman deputy sheriff in U.S. (1912).
• Ethel Percy Andrus – first woman principal of a California high school (Abraham Lincoln High School, 1916) and founder of National Retired Teachers Association (1947) and AARP (1958).
• Romana Acosta Bañuelos - first Hispanic Treasurer of the United States (1971).
• Cynthia Barbee – first woman to become a firefighter in Los Angeles County (1983).
• Charlotta Spears Bass – African American newspaper publisher (California Eagle, 1912-1951) and civil rights activist.
• Sheila Levrant De Bretteville – graphic artist, designer and educator who founded first women’s design program at California Institute of the Arts (1971) and co-founded the Woman's Building (1973), dedicated to women's education and culture. Co-founded Feminist Studio Workshop (1973) with Judy Chicago and Arlene Raven (listed below).
• Yvonne Brathwaite Burke – first women to represent any portion of Los Angeles County in Congress (1973) and first African American on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors (1979).
• Octavia E. Butler - first successful African American woman science fiction writer (1976-2005). Among awards received by this Pasadena native was the Hugo Award, Locus Awards, Nebula Award and MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award.
• Dr. Rose Bullard - first and only woman physician to be elected as President of the Los Angeles County Medical Association (1903). She was a distinguished nationally-recognized surgeon and was one of the first physicians to employ spinal anesthesia during labor.
• Aurora Castillo – co-founder of Mothers of East Los Angeles (1984).
• Dorothy Chandler – civic leader and philanthropist. Spearheaded fundraising for Music Center (1955-1964).
• Lily Lee Chen – former Mayor of Monterey Park and first Chinese American woman mayor in U.S. (1984).
• Katherine Cheung – first Asian American woman aviator (1931-1942).
• Judy Chu – first Chinese American woman in Congress (2009).
• Paula Crisostomo – at age 17, helped lead student walkouts by Latino students at East Los Angeles area high schools (1968) to protest substandard education and discrimination.
• Amelia Earhart – one of America's great aviation pioneers (1921-1937).
• Katherine Edson – first woman appointed to a major California state post (California Industrial Welfare Commission, 1916).
• Dr. Elizabeth Follansbee – Southern California’s first woman physician (1883).
• Clara Shortridge Foltz – California’s first woman attorney (1878), nation's first woman deputy district attorney (Los Angeles County, 1910), first woman candidate for California governor (1930).
• Helen Liu Fong – architect who was an important contributor to the Googie architecture movement (1951-1979).
• Dora Haynes – led establishment of both the California League of Woman Voters and its Los Angeles Chapter (1919).
• Josephine Heckman – first woman on Pasadena City Council (1975) and first woman mayor of Pasadena (1980).
• Katie Hill – first LGBTQ congresswoman from California (2018).
• Minerva Hamilton Hoyt – desert preservationist and founder of International Desert Conservation League (1930) who helped to create Joshua Tree National Monument (1936).
• Louise Huebner – astrologer, author and only person ever appointed to be an "Official Witch" ("Official Witch of Los Angeles County" by Los Angeles County Supervisor Ernest Debs, 1968).
• Bella Lewitzky – founder of internationally acclaimed Bella Lewitzky Dance Company (1966).
• Estelle Lawton Lindsey – first woman elected to L.A. City Council (1915) and, although only for one day, first woman mayor of L.A. and of any major U.S. city (1915).
• Biddy Mason – former slave who became a pioneer entrepreneur, landowner, philanthropist and co-founder of Los Angeles First African Methodist-Episcopal (AME) Church, first African American church in Los Angeles (1872).
• Hattie McDaniel – actress and entertainer who, for her role in the motion picture Gone With the Wind, became the first African American to receive an Academy Award (1940).
• Aimee Semple McPherson – founder of Angelus Temple and Church of the Four Square Gospel (1923).
• Dr. Henrietta Mears – renowned Sunday School curriculum pioneer (1928-1963) named as one of the outstanind religious leaders of the 20th century by Christianity Today Magazine.
• Gloria Molina – first Latina elected to the California State Legislature (1982) and L.A. City Council (1987) and first woman on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors (1991).
• Beverly O’Neill – first woman mayor of Long Beach (1994).

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking