Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame was established in 1982 by Oklahoma Governor George Nigh "to honor Oklahoma women who are pioneers in their field or in a project that benefits Oklahoma; who have made a significant contribution to the State of Oklahoma; who serve or have served as role models to other Oklahoma women; who may be "unsung heroes," but have made a difference in the lives of Oklahomans or Americans because of their actions; who have championed other women, women's issues, or served as public policy advocates for the issues important to women; and who exemplify the Oklahoma spirit."[1]
The Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame is one of several events sponsored by the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women to support its mission, "To improve the quality of life for women, children and families in Oklahoma."[2] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no inductees in 2020 and 2021.
And shall include:
| Name | Image | Birth–Death | Year | Area of achievement | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (b. 1937) | 2023 | [4] | |||
| 2023 | |||||
| 2023 | |||||
| (b. 1945) | 2023 | ||||
| 2023 | |||||
| (b. 1950) | 2023 | Philanthropist, First Lady of the State of Oklahoma | |||
| (1917–2001) | 2023 | ||||
| (b. 1956) | 2022 | ||||
| (b. 1951) | 2022 | ||||
| 2022 | |||||
| (b. 1937) | 2022 | ||||
| 2022 | |||||
| (b. 1972) | 2022 | ||||
| (1939–2019) | 2022 | ||||
| (b. 1931) | 2022 | [5] | |||
| (1915–1997) | 2019 | Journalist, historian, Women's Army Corps officer | [6] | ||
| (b. 1952) | 2019 | Jurist | |||
| (b. 1941) | 2019 | ||||
| (b. 1937) | 2019 | Philanthropist | |||
| 2018 | OB/GYN founding partner of Lakeside Women's Hospital in Oklahoma City | [7] | |||
| (b. 1946) | 2018 | Broadcaster, author, Miss Oklahoma, Miss America | |||
| (1927–2022) | 2018 | Journalist | |||
| (1939–2022) | 2018 | City and county office holder | |||
| 2018 | Principal Chief of the Sac and Fox Nation | ||||
| (b. 1950) | 2017 | Journalist | [8] | ||
| 2017 | Executive director of the Ronald McDonald House in Tulsa | ||||
| 2017 | First woman to serve as President of the Oklahoma City School Board | ||||
| 2017 | Volunteerism | ||||
| 2017 | First Lady of the State of Oklahoma; Helped create the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women | ||||
| (1916– 2001) | 2017 | Journalist | |||
| (b. 1931) | 2015 | Comanche activist | [9] | ||
| 2015 | Newspaper publisher; The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools | [10] | |||
| 2015 | Oklahoma Community City College | ||||
| (1923–2019) | 2015 | Civil rights | |||
| (1936–2013) | 2015 | Education | |||
| 2015 | Owner Oklahoma City 89ers | ||||
| 2015 | Entrepreneur | ||||
| (1929–2016) | 2013 | Television personality, public relations | [11] | ||
| 2013 | Law enforcement | ||||
| (1937–2024) | 2013 | Businesswoman | |||
| (b. 1954) | 2013 | Investigative journalist | |||
| 2013 | Television producer | ||||
| 2013 | Political activist, businesswoman | ||||
| (b. 1949) | 2011 | Oklahoma state representative; first woman nominee for Governor of Oklahoma | [12] | ||
| (b. 1951) | 2011 | Founded The Chloe House transition home for women | |||
| (b. 1939) | 2011 | Executive Director of all Choctaw Nation Education Service | |||
| 2011 | Founded The Little Light House faith-based mission to assist children with a wide range of developmental disabilities including autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy | ||||
| (1930–2022) | 2011 | Preservationist for the Quapaw language | |||
| (b. 1950) | 2011 | First female president of Cameron University | |||
| (b. 1955) | 2011 | Mayor of Tulsa | |||
| (b. 1931) | 2011 | Co-creator of the Family Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence in Ardmore | |||
| (b. 1947) | 2009 | United States Air National Guard two-star general | [13] | ||
| (b. 1945) | 2009 | Founder of Friends of Eddie Warrior (FEW) Foundation | |||
| (1919–2011) | 2009 | Entrepreneur | [14] | ||
| 2009 | First Lady of the State of Oklahoma | ||||
| (1871–1935) | 2009 | First woman member of the Oklahoma Senate | [15] | ||
| (b. 1952) | 2009 | First woman mayor of Tulsa | |||
| (b. 1941) | 2009 | Filed 1970s sexual discrimination lawsuit Craig v. Boren | |||
| (b. 1965) | 2007 | Head coach of the University of Oklahoma Sooners | |||
| (b. 1946) | 2007 | Community activist | |||
| (b. 1939) | 2007 | First woman president of Southwestern Oklahoma State University | |||
| (1933–2021) | 2007 | One of the first African American women to serve in the Oklahoma State Senate | |||
| 2007 | Second female superintendent to lead an Oklahoma technology center | ||||
| (b. 1947) | 2007 | Entrepreneur, public policy strategist, women's equality advocate | |||
| (1944–2003) | 2007 | Political consultant | |||
| (b. 1957) | 2007 | State representative, associate professor of political science at Rogers State University | |||
| (b. 1946) | 2007 | First and only woman to date to serve as the chairperson and chief executive officer for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe | |||
| (1927–2008) | 2005 | Philanthropist | |||
| (b. 1939) | 2005 | District Court Judge for Oklahoma County | |||
| (b. 1954) | 2005 | Governor of Oklahoma | [16] | ||
| (1875–1972) | 2005 | First woman elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives | [17] | ||
| (b. 1938) | 2005 | Professor Emeritus in the Department of Management at Oklahoma State University | |||
| (b. 1940) | 2005 | First female Chief Judge of the Tenth Circuit | |||
| (b. 1950) | 2003 | State Long-Term Care Ombudsman in the Aging Services Division of the Department of Human Services | |||
| (b. 1953) | 2003 | First woman U.S. Attorney in Oklahoma | [18] | ||
| (b. 1953) | 2003 | Tulsa County District Judge | |||
| (b. 1939) | 2003 | Philanthropist, chair emerita of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies | |||
| (b. 1941) | 2003 | Aerospace engineer, head of the Mars Exploration Program in 1994 | [19] | ||
| (b. 1953) | 2001 | Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma | [20] | ||
| (1927–2000) | 2001 | First Lady of the State of Oklahoma | |||
| (1926–2012) | 2001 | First African-American woman president of the League of Women Voters | |||
| (b. 1943) | 2001 | First woman elected Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction | |||
| (b. 1949) | 2001 | Police woman, developed the first Officers’ Street Survival course in Oklahoma | |||
| (b. 1937) | 2001 | Chief Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court 1997-1998 | [21] | ||
| (1924–2009) | 2001 | Advocate for disabled persons, trustee for the University of Tulsa | |||
| (b. 1961) | 2001 | Native American artist | |||
| (1929–2019) | 1997 | Oklahoma State University Board of Regents | |||
| (1875–1963) | 1997 | First woman to graduate from a university in Oklahoma | [22] | ||
| (b. 1934) | 1997 | Finance and Revenue Commissioner; Board of Regents for Rogers State College | |||
| (b. 1929) | 1997 | Community activist | |||
| (1914–2005) | 1997 | Philanthropist | |||
| (1931–2010) | 1997 | Human rights activist | [23] | ||
| (1921–2014) | 1997 | First African-American and first female to serve on the Ardmore City Council; first African-American female mayor of Ardmore; first chair of the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women | |||
| (1937–2018) | 1997 | State legislator | |||
| (1924–2011) | 1996 | Pioneer woman journalist | |||
| (1924–1995) | 1996 | Civil rights activist | [24] | ||
| (1930–2015) | 1996 | Civil rights activist | [25] | ||
| (b. 1947) | 1996 | Child Advocate of the Decade | |||
| (1909–2006) | 1996 | Community activist | |||
| (b. 1940) | 1996 | Attorney, judge, state legislator | |||
| (1922–2021) | 1996 | Professor Emeritus at Cameron University; first African American to teach at Lawton High School, to teach at Cameron University, and to serve on the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges. | |||
| (1922–2014) | 1995 | Civil rights activist | |||
| (b. 1949) | 1995 | First woman to chair the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce | |||
| (b. 1939) | 1995 | Delaware-Shawnee Native American artist and Director Emeritus and associate professor of art at Bacone College | [26] | ||
| (1938–1999) | 1995 | First woman president of the Oklahoma Bar Association and the first woman elected to the Board of Governors of the Oklahoma Bar Association | |||
| (1927–2003) | 1995 | Tonkawa News publisher | |||
| (1939–2021) | 1995 | First African American woman to be elected as County Commissioner in Payne County, Oklahoma | |||
| (b. 1933) | 1995 | First Lady of the State of Oklahoma | |||
| (1920–2005) | 1993 | Founded the North American Indian Women's Association | |||
| (b. 1956) | 1993 | Attorney and academic | [27] | ||
| (1925–2012) | 1993 | Native American ballerina | [28] | ||
| (b. 1932) | 1993 | Executive Director of Planned Parenthood | |||
| (b. 1943) | 1993 | Biochemist, astronaut | [29] | ||
| (1923–2011) | 1993 | Civic leader, civil rights activist | [30] | ||
| (1912–2000) | 1993 | First African American nurse to earn a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma | |||
| (b. 1941) | 1993 | Executive Director of the Tulsa City-County Library System | |||
| (1920–1986) | 1986 | Activist for the arts in the Jewish community | |||
| (1909–1994) | 1986 | Stage productions promoter | |||
| (1912–2003) | 1986 | First African-American appointed to the State Regents for Higher Education | |||
| (1927–1983) | 1986 | Continuing Education and Public Service at the University of Oklahoma | |||
| (1908–1995) | 1986 | Political activist and first woman to head an electric cooperative in Oklahoma | |||
| (1945–2010) | 1986 | First woman elected chief of the Cherokees | [31] | ||
| (1920–2001) | 1986 | First woman to serve on the Oklahoma State Election Board | |||
| (1910–1992) | 1986 | Author, composer, choral director, producer, and music educator | |||
| (1914–1997) | 1985 | The woman who wrote Heartbreak Hotel; songwriter, promoter, mother of Hoyt Axton | [32] | ||
| (1915–1981) | 1985 | First woman mayor in Oklahoma | |||
| (b. 1949) | 1985 | News journalist, CNN White House correspondent | [33] | ||
| (1931–2023) | 1985 | Visual arts preservationist | |||
| (1898–1991) | 1985 | Basketball coach; She established the first girls' basketball clinic in the Southwest | [34] | ||
| (1890–1988) | 1984 | Historian who focused on Native Americans | [35] | ||
| (1926–2006) | 1984 | Professor, diplomat, political activist | [36] | ||
| (1903–1987) | 1984 | Feminist activist who was instrumental in amending the state constitution to allow women to hold elective office in Oklahoma | |||
| (1909–1986) | 1984 | Head of the Home Economics Department at Langston University | |||
| (1880–1956) | 1983 | Organized the first music department at Oklahoma's Langston University and the school's first orchestra | |||
| (1890–1982) | 1983 | First woman president of the Oklahoma Education Association | |||
| (b. 1949) | 1983 | African-American and Chickasaw operatic soprano | [37] | ||
| (b. 1945) | 1983 | Cardiovascular surgeon and medical researcher | |||
| (1919–1998) | 1983 | First African-American woman elected to any judgeship in the United States and the first to serve on the Supreme Court of any state | |||
| (1917–1999) | 1983 | First woman to serve on the Oklahoma Supreme Court and its first woman as chief justice, | [38] | ||
| (1923–2010) | 1982 | First African-American woman elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives (1968–1980) | [39] | ||
| (1875–1930) | 1982 | First woman elected to statewide office by a male-only electorate | [40] | ||
| (1924–2010) | 1982 | Oil lobbyist | [41] | ||
| (1916–2006) | 1982 | Author, historian | [42] | ||
| (1886–1920) | 1982 | Suffragist | |||
| (1873–1965) | 1982 | Founded the Kiowa Indian School of Art | |||
| (1916–1985) | 1982 | Architect | |||
| (1880–1975) | 1982 | Newspaper columnist and radio disc jockey | |||