Zora Neale Hurston, Janet Reno, Marjory Stoneman Douglas among influential women on Florida list
It isn’t any surprise that Florida has produced some of the most consequential female trailblazers of the past 100 years.
Between the state’s rich and diverse environment, its melting pot of a population that attracts inquiring minds from all over the world, and its propensity for the fantastical and the imaginative, Florida has become the root from which many a vine of inspiring women has grown.
USA TODAY’s picks for Florida’s Women of the Century are a mixed bunch; they are educators, journalists, environmentalists, nurses, authors and activists. Their influence on the world is wide and their talents are varied, but their common traits remain the same: a connection to Florida (of course) and a willingness to push the envelope, advocate for the less fortunate and translate their tenacity into meaningful change.
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As the country commemorates 100 years since the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in the U.S., was ratified, we look at 10 Florida women – living and dead – whose contributions to society over the past century have changed the way Floridians and the rest of the world view women and their accomplishments.
You can thank a Florida woman if you have ever visited a nurse practitioner for health care, if you have ever attended a historically Black college or university, if you have ever seen the glory of the Everglades, or if you or a loved one have ever received breast cancer treatment.
The legacy of Florida womanhood runs deep, thanks to the contributions of the 10 women below. Read on to learn about the vast and impressive accomplishments of some of the Sunshine State’s brightest minds.
Who is your Woman of the Century? Did we miss a woman you think should be on our list? We’d like to hear from you.
Mary McLeod Bethune
Trailblazer for African American education and civil rights
(1875-1955)
A former cotton picker born into a family of South Carolina slaves, Mary McLeod Bethune grew up to begin her own school for Black girls that would pave the way for African American education in the United States. Bethune’s school eventually became Bethune-Cookman College in 1929, according to the National Women’s History Museum.
She faced threats of violence from various white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan throughout her life, but she never wavered from working toward the betterment of Blacks.
Bethune was a champion for education, politics, anti-lynching, women in business and women’s rights.
She was an early suffragist who brought voting for African American women to the fore. Once women got the right to vote, she helped make it a reality by collecting money for poll taxes and teaching reading so voters could pass literacy tests.
She also served President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his unofficial “Black Cabinet” and became the highest-ranking African American woman in government when FDR named her director of the Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Journalist, author, civil rights advocate and conservationist
(1890-1998)
A Massachusetts native, Marjory Stoneman Douglas graduated from Wellesley College in 1912 and moved to Miami in 1915. Throughout her life, she took up many causes, including fighting pollution in the Everglades and the rapid commercialization of Florida and campaigns against slumlords. She also fought for free milk for babies whose parents were in need.
Her 1947 non-fiction "The Everglades: River of Grass" redefined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasured river, and she wrote more than 100 short stories using Florida themes that were published in national magazines.
In her 80s, Douglas headed the University of Miami Press, and in her 90s, she wrote her autobiography and founded Friends of the Everglades. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom 1993. She died in 1998 at age 108.
Zora Neale Hurston
Filmmaker and author
(1891-1960)
Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, filmmaker and author associated with the Harlem Renaissance movement who is widely celebrated for her contributions to literature about the rural American South.
Hurston grew up in the first incorporated Black municipality in Florida, Eatonville, north of Orlando. She had a passion for the arts, including theater and writing, that stemmed from her experiences as a Black woman and from her family’s participation in Black politics. As an artist, she was known for “her wit, irreverence, and folk writing style,” according to archives from the University of Richmond. Her works included the 1937 novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God."
Hurston also contributed to the education of other young Black Americans.
Hurston spent much of her later life traveling and studying Black literature and causes, although was not recognized for her genius during her lifetime and retired in poverty.
She was buried in an unmarked grave until author Alice Walker located and marked the site in 1972, according to the National Women’s History Museum. Hurston's life story is told in her autobiography, “Dust Tracks on the Road,” published in 1942.
Nancy Brinker
Founder of Susan G. Komen
(1946- )
Nancy Brinker, who was born in Illinois but now lives in Palm Beach, is widely credited with bringing a voice to breast cancer survivors by founding the popular Susan G. Komen (formerly known as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation) in 1982.
The foundation, named after her sister, who died of breast cancer at age 36, is now one of the world’s largest cancer charities, having raised more than $1 billion for research and $2.3 billion for patient support. Brinker's advocacy is credited with destigmatizing breast cancer and bringing to light a disease that so many women suffered in silence.
Brinker, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, has served as a U.S. ambassador and has released a best-selling novel about her life.
Loretta Ford
Renowned nursing leader
(1920- )
Loretta Ford is an internationally renowned nursing leader, credited with creating the nurse practitioner role after noting in 1965 a shortage of primary care physicians to care for people in her community.
Today, nurse practitioners are “clinicians who assess, diagnose and treat acute and chronic diseases as well as counsel, coordinate care and educate patients regarding their illnesses,” according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Nurse practitioners take into account a patient’s environmental, socioeconomic and psychological welfare when considering care and diagnoses.
Ford, founding dean of the University of Rochester School of Nursing, also developed the “unification model,” which blends nursing practice, education and research. She was elected to the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2011.
Rosemary Barkett
First woman to serve on the Florida Supreme Court and the state’s first female chief justice
(1939- )
Rosemary Barkett was born in Mexico to Syrian immigrant parents. She lived in a convent for several years and then left to attend law school at the University of Florida, after which she practiced law for many years.
She was appointed to a Florida trial court (1979), appellate court (1984), then the Florida Supreme Court (1985). In 1994, President Bill Clinton named her to the U.S. Court of Appeals, where she stayed for nearly 20 years, before moving to the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, where she continues to serve as a judge today at age 80.
Barkett has been a giant and a pioneer for women in the legal world. Her most lasting legacy will be the great many women for whom she paved the way – and inspired.
Cristina Saralegui
Cuban-American media personality
(1948- )
Cristina Saralegui is a Cuban American media personality, entrepreneur and host and executive producer of "El Show de Cristina," a mega-popular Spanish-language television talk show.
Saralegui and her family emigrated to Key Biscayne, Florida, from Cuba when Saralegui was 12 years old, after Fidel Castro’s revolution. Saralegui worked in several roles in the media, including as executive editor of the Spanish-language version of Cosmopolitan magazine from 1979 to 1989.
She has been an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ community and has discussed many topics on her show that were once considered taboo in the conservative Hispanic community.
Roxcy O’Neal Bolton
American feminist and civil rights activist
(1926-2017)
Roxcy O'Neal Bolton was an American feminist and civil rights activist who is widely referred to as the mother of the modern feminist movement in Florida. Bolton was president of the Dade County chapter of the National Organization for Women and was eventually elected national vice president of NOW.
In 1974, she founded the first rape treatment center in the country, at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. She also founded Women in Distress, the first women’s rescue shelter in Florida, in 1972, according to the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame.
Bolton was also passionate about local government and attended Coral Gables city council meetings until just months before her death.
Janet Reno
First female attorney general of the United States
(1938-2016)
Janet Reno was the first female attorney general of the United States. She was born in Miami and educated in its public schools. Reno attended Cornell University and Harvard Law School before moving back to Miami in 1963, according to the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Reno in 1978 became the first female county prosecutor in Florida. She was widely credited with reforming several of the state’s long-standing legal practices. She did not shy away from child support issues and helped establish the framework for the Miami drug court.
She was appointed U.S. attorney general in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. As attorney general, Reno oversaw several high-profile cases, including the Unabomber arrest, the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing, the controversial Elian Gonzales case, and the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.
Betty Mae Tiger Jumper
First woman to be elected a leader of the Seminole tribe and first female elected tribal chief in North America
(1923-2011)
Betty Mae Tiger Jumper advocated for health, education and modern business practices, along with recovery and preservation of traditional language, stories and cultural ways, which continue to benefit the Seminole tribe today. A nurse for 40 years who worked to improve tribal health care, she founded the United South and Eastern Tribes to run member health and education programs and to lobby state governments and Congress.
More coverage
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Who is your Woman of the Century?: Let us know
Recognizing women past and present: See all of our coverage
Sources used in the Women of the Century list project include newspaper articles, state archives, historical websites, encyclopedias and other resources.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Women of Century Florida list full of trailblazers who changed country
