Five women who have either achieved a first or are pioneers in their fields will be honored with the new First Women awards created by the National First Ladies' Library in Canton, Ohio. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will present the awards at a gala dinner March 16 in Washington, D.C.
The recipients are Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the first female to hold that post; Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor; Gwendolyn Brooks, first female African-American Pulitzer Prize–winner for poetry; Shirley Chisholm, first African-American woman to be elected to the House of Representatives; and Elizabeth P. Campbell, founder of WETA Public Television in Washington, D.C.
Mary Regula, president and founder of the First Ladies' Library, which opened in June 1998, said the creation of the awards bring the library's goal to the national level. "Our mission...is to recognize not only the first ladies and their contributions, but also to recognize the contributions of women to our nation's history," Regula said.
Posted February 1, 1999.