This year, as we celebrate Maryland women who have made history, we honor Adrienne Jones the first African American and the first woman Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, Susan Lee the first Asian American to serve as Maryland’s Secretary of State, first Asian American elected to the Senate, and first Chinese American elected to the General Assembly, Brooke Lierman Comptroller of the State of Maryland, the first woman to be hold this office and the first woman independently elected to any one of Maryland’s constitutional offices, Aruna Miller the second woman to serve as Lieutenant Governor and the first woman of color and the first immigrant elected to statewide office in Maryland, and Nancy Pelosi a U.S. Congresswoman (1987 – ) and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2007 – 11, 2019 – 2023).

These exceptional women all have a vision of a better world and we pay tribute to them and thank them for their extraordinary service and selfless dedication.

The Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame is a rich source of biographies of women who made significant and lasting contributions to the history and culture of our state and our nation. Established in 1985 as a partnership between the Maryland Commission for Women and the Women Legislators of Maryland, the Hall of Fame honors Maryland women whose lives and work are of historic significance to the economic, political, and cultural life of the state.

Each year the Maryland Commission for Women and the Women Legislators of Maryland call for nominations of women who have made history in fields such as the arts, athletics, business, community advocacy, education, government, the humanities, human rights, law, medicine, the military, philantropy, and science. An independent, all-volunteer committee representing leaders of statewide women’s organizations reviews the nominations and selects those to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Brief biographies are displayed online at the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center (www.mdwomensheritagecenter.org)and full biographies are posted online at the website of the Maryland State Archives at: http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/whflist.html.