Quick! Who was the first American woman to become a doctor? What about a lawyer? The February 2025 issue of COBBLESTONE Magazine is all about 19th century American women who blazed paths in professions traditionally filled by men! From famous firsts to boundary breakers, these 19th century women helped shape the world as we know it today. You may have heard of some of these women. Others may be completely new to you. Read on to discover a stunning array of inspiring historical figures!
A Literal Trailblazer
Some women blaze figurative trails, becoming the first of their profession or the first to receive a prestigious award. Others help blaze actual trails. Sacagawea was one of them. She was chosen as a guide for the famed Lewis and Clark expedition because of their language skills. Her Hidatsa and Shoshone knowledge would help the party communicate with indigenous people as they moved West.
Sacagawea soon proved her abilities far beyond her language skills. When Lewis and Clark needed to buy horses from a group of Shoshone people, Sacagawea recognized their leader as her own brother and was able to negotiate with him. Her familiarity with the landscape meant she could help navigate the way, share valuable knowledge about foraging for food, and even save the party’s supplies when their boat capsized. Despite her important contributions to the expedition, she never received any payment for her services.
The Pen is Mightier
The written word is one of the most important ways to create change. These extraordinary literary women were living examples of this truth.
Do you know who wrote the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and helped popularize Thanksgiving as we know it? That would be Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the most widely circulated magazine in the USA in the mid-19th century: Godey’s Lady’s Book. In addition to her tremendous influence and readership, she also took efforts to publish work written by women. As magazine people ourselves, we think she’s pretty cool.
Nelly Bly revolutionized the mental health industry through her powerful writing. A journalist, she pretended to be mentally ill in order to observe the conditions at Blackwell Island’s asylum firsthand. The huge response to her articles earned her a job as one of the first woman staff reporters for The World, where she continued to shed light on social issues like police brutality, corrupt politicians, and unsafe factories. She even took a bet to see if she could travel around the world in 80 days. Nellie made it in 72!
Publishing was a family business for the Shadds. Mary Ann Shadd Cary‘s father worked for a prominent abolitionist newspaper called the The Liberator, and Cary herself soon started her own newspaper: The Provincial Freeman. A free Black woman who had moved from the USA to Canada, her newspaper provided support for other newly free people and covered many other relevant social topics. She continued to advocate for abolition and women’s rights for the rest of her life!
Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about Ida B. Wells here. We have an entire blog post dedicated just to her!
Women in STEM
From an early age, Maria Mitchell exhibited a deep passion for astronomy. While she began as a hobbyist stargazer, her life changed when the King of Denmark announced a special contest. He’d award a prize to the first person to discover a comet that could only be seen through a telescope. Mitchell was the winner! From there, her career took off! She was hired by the US Coast Survey, the Nautical Almanac, and even Vassar College– making her the first woman astronomy professor in the entire country! Many of her students went on to become prominent astronomers and academics as well.
Elizabeth Blackwell embarked on a game-changing career in medicine because of a dying friend. The friend had been too embarrassed to see a doctor about her ailment, though she might have if she could find a woman doctor. Young Blackwell applied to over two dozen medical schools but was rejected from every one– except Geneva Medical College. Blackwell became the first American woman to earn a medical degree and went on to found the New York Infirmary for Women and Children– and the London School of Medicine for Women, which trained other woman doctors!
Speaking Out
Sojourner Truth chose her own name. Born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree, she escaped to freedom with her infant daughter and even sued her son’s enslaver for his freedom. Believe it or not, she won! She felt called to be a speaker and a preacher and began to travel around the world to speak about equality between the races and sexes. (Her most famous speech is dubbed “Ain’t I a Woman,” though she likely never actually used that phrase.) She continued to speak out for the rights of newly freed Black citizens after the Civil War and advocated for women’s rights.
Despite growing up in a slaveholding southern family, Sarah and Angelina Grimke knew from childhood that slavery was wrong. As young girls, they taught their family’s own enslaved servant to read– which was illegal at the time–and cared for enslaved workers who had been whipped. When they grew up, the sisters moved to Pennsylvania and joined the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia. After an abolitionist newspaper published a letter from Angelina, the sisters became public advocates for abolition. They traveled the north speaking frankly about the horrors of slavery. Angelina even spoke before the Massachusetts state legislature, making her the first American woman to address an official lawmaking body!
Taking Care of Business
In the 19th century, many women created their own home remedies to treat illnesses and infirmities. Lydia Pinkham turned hers into a lucrative career. In fact, she became the most successful American businesswoman of the 19th century! “Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound,” as she called it, promised relief for “female ailments,” a concept few commercial products would touch. Her marketing skills were more impressive than her medical knowledge– in fact, her remedy consisted of nearly 20% alcohol– but her “Vegetable Compound” drew meaningful attention to the under-discussed issue of women’s healthcare.
While entering the workforce could be empowering for many women, it could also be exploitative and unfair. Leonora M. Barry proved that the labor movement wasn’t just about the rights of working men but working women, too. A former factory worker, Barry joined the Knights of Labor and quickly became a leading voice, organizing a “Department of Women’s Work.” There, she was appointed “lead general investigator.” She documented poor treatment that women received at work, including low pay, gender discrimination, and inhumane working hours. Barry once said, “I believe women should have every opportunity to become proficient in whatever vocation they choose or find themselves fitted for.” She truly was proficient in hers!
First in Their Careers
With many men going off to fight in the Civil War, some spaces opened to women that had previously only permitted men. Arabella Mansfield took advantage of this one silver lining to a dark period in history. She graduated first in her class at Iowa Wesleyan College (her brother, Washington, was second), became one of the first woman professors in the country, and even passed the bar exam! At the time, only white men could become lawyers in Iowa. Arabella’s proficiency changed that. She became the first woman admitted to practice law in the USA, though she never formally practiced. She preferred to continue work as an English professor!
From the age of 11, Louise Blanchard Bethune showed an interest in architecture. With a clear vision of her goals in sight, Bethune went on to become the first professional woman architect in the USA. When the Buffalo architectural firm Richard A. Waite and F.W. Caulkins offered her an apprenticeship, she took it. There, she met her husband, Robert A. Bethune. The two soon opened their own architectural firm and designed hundreds of projects throughout New York State. Her most famous building, Hotel Lafayette in Buffalo, still stands today and has been added to the National Register of Historic Places!
Taking the Lead
Can you guess the name of the largest woman’s organization in the world during the 19th century? It was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. And its leader, Frances Willard, became one of the most influential women in the country. Advocates of temperance like Willard believed that alcohol abuse caused many of the country’s biggest social problems, including domestic violence and child neglect. Still, she also believed alcoholism grew out of other troubling causes. Because of this, she and the WCTU also advocated for clean drinking water, women’s rights, better working conditions, and prison reform. In short, Willard dedicated her life to shaping a safer America.
The “Women’s Club Movement” brought together women who cared about improving the country and making their voices heard. Mary Church Terrell was one of the most prominent organizers in this movement. A trailblazer since early adulthood, Terrell became the first Black woman to graduate from Oberlin College. Because white women’s clubs wouldn’t allow her or other Black women to join, she founded the Colored Women’s League of Washington and was even a founding member and the first president of the National Association of Colored Women. An outspoken advocate for civil rights and Black women’s suffrage, she published her own autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World, and traveled the world speaking.
Which of these trailblazing women inspires you the most?
