By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press
Serena Williams and Ruby Bridges will be inducted into the National Women`s Hall
of Fame next year, the hall announced Thursday, adding the tennis great and
civil rights icon to a previously announced list of women to be honored during
Wome’s History Month in March.
“The 2024 inductee class has broken barriers, challenged the status quo, and
left an impact on history,” the Hall of Fame said in its announcement.
Eight other honorees were announced in the spring. Williams and Bridges became
available after the date and location of the ceremony were changed, a spokesman
said.
Neither Williams nor Bridges could immediately be reached for comment.
Others in the class include Peggy McIntosh, 88, an activist known for her
explorations of privilege; Kimberlé Crenshaw, 63, who helped develop the
academic concept of critical race theory, the idea that racism is systemic in
the nation’s institutions, and Judith Plaskow, 76, regarded as the first
Jewish feminist theologian for calling out an absence of female perspectives in
Jewish history.
Also to be inducted are Loretta Ross, 69, founder of the National Center for
Human Rights Education in Atlanta, and Allucquére Rosanne “Sandy” Stone, a
transgender woman born in 1936 and considered a founder of the academic
discipline of transgender studies.
Three women will be inducted posthumously: Dr. Patricia Bath (1942-2019), an
early pioneer of laser cataract surgery and the first Black woman physician to
receive a medical patent; Dr. Anna Wessels Williams (1863-1954), who isolated a
strain of diphtheria that helped in its treatment; and Elouise Pepion Cobell,
known as “Yellow Bird Woman” (1945-2011), who started the first bank established
by a tribe on a reservation in Browning, Montana.
For the first time, the induction ceremony will be broadcast nationally in prime
time from New York City, according to the Hall of Fame. The previous 30
ceremonies have taken place at venues around Seneca Falls, the upstate New York
site of the first Women`s Rights Convention, where the National Women’s Hall of
Fame is located.
“The 2024 class of inductees are scientists, activists, performers, and athletes
who are the changemakers of today and inspiration for the women of tomorrow,”
Jennifer Gabriel, the Hall of Fame`s chief executive, said in a statement.
“Their dedication, drive, and talent got them here, and we’re thrilled to honor
them on the national stage.”
The public nominates women to be considered for the Hall of Fame. The
nominations are then reviewed by an expert selection committee.
