Women’s history isn’t just about women or for women—it’s an important part of understanding the history of New York State as a whole.

Women have played an important role in New York State history, helping to shape our laws and culture to what it is today. Progress has not come easily—women have had to fight for their rights, including the right to go to school, to own property, to earn and keep their wages, to have a say in forming laws, and to vote in elections, also known as suffrage.

Women make history in New York State. The women’s suffrage movement was born in the heart of New York State, when the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls on July 19 and 20, 1848. Women and men from across the country got together to discuss the best way to secure women the basic rights they deserved as human beings. A second convention was held in Rochester a month later, and a third was held in Syracuse in 1852.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)
This native of Johnstown, N.Y., led the women’s rights movement, which began in Central New York. She was instrumental in organizing the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls and spent much of her time traveling throughout the country and around the world, fighting for women’s rights.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
This lifelong New Yorker and First Lady of the United States from 1933-1945 was a prominent author, speaker, politician, activist and human rights advocate. She tirelessly fought to improve conditions for disadvantaged Americans and drafted the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)
Anthony, who moved to New York from Massachusetts when she was 6 years old, became one of the most noted women’s rights activists in U.S. history. She collaborated with Elizabeth Cady Stanton on the Seneca Falls convention and gave 75 to 100 speeches per year on women’s rights for almost 50 years.

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)
Born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents, Chisholm was a Member of the NYS Assembly and became the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress, serving from 1968 until her retirement in 1982. Throughout her career she worked to improve opportunities for inner-city residents and focused on education and healthcare reforms.

Harriet Tubman (c.1820-1913)
Tubman escaped slavery in Maryland in 1849 and went on to become a vital part of the Underground Railroad. She risked her life countless times, venturing back into slave territory and guiding more than 70 slaves to freedom. In 1859 she purchased land in Auburn, N.Y., where she lived until her death in 1913.

Hillary Rodham Clinton (1947– )
In 2008, Clinton was appointed the 67th U.S. Secretary of State by President Obama. She was the first female U.S. Senator to represent New York (2001–2009) and First Lady of the U.S. from 1992 until 2000. Clinton’s election to Congress marked the first time an American First Lady ran for public office.

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (1832–1919)
Born on a farm in Oswego, N.Y., Walker challenged social norms by receiving her medical degree in 1855 from Syracuse University, and was a surgeon in the Civil War. In 1865, she became the first—and only—woman to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for her services during the Civil War.

Sonia Sotomayor (1954– )
Born and raised in the Bronx, Sotomayor knew from the age of 10 that she wanted to go to law school. She was valedictorian of her high school class and graduated from Princeton University and Yale Law School before working as a lawyer and a judge in New York City. In May 2009, President Obama nominated Sotomayor for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. She is the Court’s 111th justice, as well as its first Hispanic and third female justice.