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Madam C.J. Walker, the first self-made U.S. woman millionaire of any race by Scurlock Studio –

30 Most Famous Women in American History

Women in this day and age have risen to take their places as history makers and shapers. We have moved away from the era where women took a back seat to where they are on the front line in various industries to make critical executive decisions. From women taking the helm in governance, to their counterparts in the private sector to business moguls to women entertainers in music and arts, women are genuinely stamping their authority and making history in the world. 

In American history, we have numerous women who are famous for their significant contributions to the progression of this superpower nation. From Madam CJ Walker to Hillary Clinton to Oprah Winfrey and Beyonce虂, these women have broken glass ceilings and cemented their place in the history of America and the world at large. In this article, we highlight their stories and that of other famous women in America. 

1. Madam C.J. Walker

Madam C.J. Walker was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women through the business she founded, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. She became known also for her philanthropy and activism. At the time of her death, she was considered the wealthiest African-American businesswoman and the wealthiest self-made black woman in America.

2. Beyonce虂

Beyonc茅 performing during her Formation World Tour in London by Rocbeyonce-

Beyonc茅 is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. Beyonc茅 has been noted for her boundary-pushing artistry and her vocal ability. Her success has made her a cultural icon and earned her the nickname Queen Bey.

Beyonce虂 is one of the world’s best-selling recording artists, having sold over 200 million records worldwide. Beyonc茅 made history at the 2023 GRAMMYs by becoming the artist with the most wins at 32 GRAMMYs. She is the first solo artist to have their first seven studio albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200.

3. Melinda Gates 

Melinda Gates is an American philanthropist and former multimedia product developer and manager at Microsoft. Melinda Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world鈥檚 most powerful women by Forbes.

In 2000, she and her then-husband Bill Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world鈥檚 largest private charitable organization as of 2015. She and her ex-husband have been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honour.

4. Kamala Harris 

Official portrait of Vice President Kamala Harris by Lawrence Jackson –

Kamala Harris is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th and current vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well as the first African American and first Asian American vice president. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the attorney general of California and as a United States senator representing California from 2017 to 2021.

Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination but withdrew from the race prior to the primaries. Joe Biden selected her as his running mate and their ticket went on to defeat the incumbent president, Donald Trump, and vice president, Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Harris became vice president upon being inaugurated on January 20, 2021, alongside President Joe Biden.

5. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011.

Oprah is dubbed the Queen of All Media and was the richest African American of the 20th century. She was once the world鈥檚 only black billionaire. By 2007, she was ranked as the most influential woman in the world. Read more amazing Facts about Oprah Winfrey. 

6. Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon at the premiere of Sing, 2016 Toronto Film Festival by GabboT –

Reese Witherspoon is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.

Witherspoon has consistently ranked among the world鈥檚 highest-paid actresses. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2015, and Forbes listed her among the World鈥檚 100 Most Powerful Women in 2019 and 2021. In 2021, Forbes named her the world鈥檚 richest actress with an estimated net worth of $400 million.

7. Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. 

Maya was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes including racism, identity, family and travel. Read more fascinating facts about Maya Angelou. 

8. Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama in 2014 by Presidency of Kosovo –

Michelle Obama is an American attorney and author who served as First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 as the wife of former President Barack Obama. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position.

Obama campaigned for her husband鈥檚 presidential bid throughout 2007 and 2008, delivering a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She has subsequently delivered acclaimed speeches at 2012, 2016, and 2020 conventions. As first lady, Obama served as a role model for women and worked as an advocate for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, physical activity, and healthy eating. Her influence remained high even after her husband left the office of the president. Read more remarkable facts about Michelle Obama. 

9. Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe is one of the most celebrated people of the 20th century. She was a talented actress and singer. She was born in 1926 and had a difficult childhood. Most of the roles Marilyn played were funny and she captured the hearts of many on and off the screen. Marilyn went on to be one of the most influential women in history.

The span of her career in Hollywood lasted a decade. Her untimely passing at the age of 36 shocked many and was surrounded by mystery. Her success in Hollywood was not earned overnight. In fact, most directors did not find her to be talented. Even with expired film contracts, Monroe believed she would triumph in Hollywood.  

10. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg 2016 portrait by Steve Petteway –

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O鈥機onnor.

Ginsburg spent much of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women鈥檚 rights, winning many arguments before the Supreme Court. She advocated as a volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsels in the 1970s.

11. Viola Davis

Viola Davis is an American actress and producer. The recipient of numerous accolades, Davis is one of few performers to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony; additionally, she is the sole African-American to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting as well as only the third person to achieve both statuses.

Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017, and in 2020, The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century. Read more on the most Popular American Actresses. 

12. Catherine Coleman

Astronaut Catherine G. Coleman, mission specialist by NASA/Johnson Space Center –

Catherine Coleman is an American chemist, an engineer, a former United States Air Force colonel, and a retired NASA astronaut. She is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions, and departed the International Space Station on May 23, 2011, as a crew member of Expedition 27 after logging 159 days in space.

Coleman was selected by NASA in 1992 to join the NASA Astronaut Corps. In 1995, she was a member of the STS-73 crew on the scientific mission USML-2 with experiments including biotechnology, combustion science, and the physics of fluids.

13. Margaret Cho

Margaret Cho is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and sexuality. She rose to prominence after starring in the ABC sitcom All-American Girl and became an established stand-up comic in the subsequent years.

She has also had endeavours in fashion and music and has her own clothing line. Cho has also frequently supported LGBT rights and has won awards for her humanitarian efforts on behalf of women, Asian Americans, and the LGBT community.

14. Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer is an American Charismatic Christian author, speaker, and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Her ministry is headquartered near the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri. In 2005, Time magazine鈥檚 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America ranked Meyer as 17th.

Joyce was an associate pastor at Life Christian Center, Fenton, and later began her own ministry which started as Life in the Word in 1985. She then expanded the airing of her radio program to Chicago and Kansas cities and also began a television ministry on superstation WGN-TV in Chicago and Black Entertainment Television (BET). Her program still runs even today as Enjoying Everyday Life. Read more Incredible Facts about Joyce Meyer. 

15. Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, she has been named Hollywood鈥檚 highest-paid actress multiple times.

As a public figure, Jolie has been cited as one of the most powerful and influential people in the American entertainment industry. Jolie is known for her humanitarian efforts. She promotes various causes, including conservation, education, and women鈥檚 rights, and is most noted for her advocacy on behalf of refugees as a Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a position she held until 2022.

16. Tarana Burke

Tarana Burke by Jon Tadiello –

Tarana Burke is an American activist from The Bronx, New York, who started the MeToo movement. In 2006, Burke began using MeToo to help other women with similar experiences to stand up for themselves. 

Over a decade later, in 2017, #MeToo became a viral hashtag when Alyssa Milano and other women began using it to tweet about the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases. The phrase and hashtag quickly developed into a broad-based, and eventually international movement. Read more on the most famous women right activists in history. 

17. Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her songwriting, often inspired by her personal life has received critical praise and wide media coverage. 

Having sold over 200 million records globally, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians in history. She is the most streamed woman on Spotify, and the only act to have five albums open with over one million copies sold in the US.

18. Betty White

Betty White at the premiere for The Proposal by Angela George –

Betty White was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television with a career spanning almost seven decades, she was noted for her vast body of work in entertainment and for being one of the first women to work both in front of and behind the camera. 

She produced and starred in the sitcom Life with Elizabeth, making her the first woman to produce a sitcom. For her lengthy work in radio, television, and film, White twice earned the Guinness World Record for the longest TV career by a female entertainer in both 2014 and 2018.

19. Kresley Cole

Kresley Cole is an American bestselling author of paranormal romance and young adult novels. She has received three Romance Writers of America (RWA) RITA Awards and was inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame in 2009.

Her books have been translated into 23 languages, garnered 3 RITA awards, a Hall of Fame induction, and consistently appear on the bestseller lists, in the U.S. and abroad. Read more on the 10 Best Mafia Romance Authors. 

20. Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi by US Department of Labor –

Nancy Pelosi is an American politician who served as the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman elected Speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, leading the House Democrats for 20 years, from 2003 to 2023.

Pelosi was first elected to Congress in a 1987 special election and is now in her 19th term; she is the dean of California’s congressional delegation. Pelosi steadily rose through the ranks of the House Democratic Caucus to be elected House minority whip in 2002 and elevated to House minority leader a year later, becoming the first woman to hold each of those positions in either chamber of Congress.

21. Sarah Jakes Roberts

Sarah Jakes Roberts is a New York Times Bestselling author, entrepreneur, speaker, mother, and wife. Sarah has been creating a disruption in the digital and faith-based space. She is on a philanthropic mission to help women evolve into the best version of themselves. 

Sarah Jakes Roberts is redefining what it means to be a modern woman of faith. Her messages spread throughout the world defying cultural, religious, gender, and socio-economic boundaries. Whether through her bestselling books or viral messages, Sarah has a unique way of reaching people who are seeking to make peace with their past, maximize their present, and deepen their relationship with God.

22. Christiane Amanpour

Christiane Amanpour by U.S. Department of State –

Christiane Amanpour is a British-Iranian journalist and television host. Amanpour is the Chief International Anchor for CNN and host of CNN International鈥檚 nightly interview program Amanpour. She is also the host of Amanpour & Company on PBS. 

Amanpour is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Center for Public Integrity, the International Women鈥檚 Media Foundation, and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Since April 2015 she has served as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression and journalist safety. Read more on the most Popular Female Journalists in the World. 

23. Diane Hendricks

Diane Hendricks is an American billionaire businesswoman and film producer from Wisconsin. She is the widow of the late businessman Ken Hendricks. They married and became business partners. In 1982, they used their lines of credit to secure a loan that enabled them to establish ABC Supply, the nation’s largest wholesale distributor.

Hendricks owns the Hendricks Holding Company and is the owner and chairperson of ABC Supply. In March 2012, Forbes estimated her net worth at US$2.8 billion, and $11.1 billion as of August 2021. In 2018, Forbes ranked Hendricks the US’s richest self-made woman. 

24. Madonna

Madonna Rebel Heart Tour 2015 by chrisweger –

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Dubbed the Queen of Pop, Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation. She has pushed the boundaries of artistic expression in mainstream music while continuing to maintain control over every aspect of her career.

Her works, which incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious themes, have generated both controversy and critical acclaim. A prominent cultural figure crossing both the 20th and 21st centuries, Madonna remains one of the most well-documented figures of the modern age, with a broad amount of scholarly reviews and literature works on her, as well as an academic mini subdiscipline devoted to her named Madonna studies.

25. Janice Bryant Howroyd

Janice Bryant Howroyd is an entrepreneur, businesswoman, and author. She is the founder and chief executive officer of The ActOne Group, the largest privately held, minority-woman-owned personnel company founded in the U.S. Howroyd is the first African-American woman to build and own a billion-dollar company.

Howroyd, according to the National Association of Women Business Owners, has had a significant impact on the well-being of her community and has had the foresight and generosity to recognize that her success is best savored when she pays it forward via scholarship funding and personal service, she supports universities, women鈥檚 support organizations, minority-serving organizations, and is a mentor to others through personal work and media engagements. Read more on the most famous American Business Women. 

26. Edith Irby Jones

Edith Irby Jones by NIH –

Jones was an American physician who was the first African American to be accepted as a non-segregated student at the University of Arkansas Medical School and the first black student to attend racially mixed classes in the American South. She was the first African American to graduate from a southern medical school, the first black intern in the state of Arkansas, and later the first black intern at Baylor College of Medicine.

Jones was the first woman president of the National Medical Association and a founding member of the Association of Black Cardiologists. She was honoured by many awards, including induction into both the University of Arkansas College of Medicine Hall of Fame and the inaugural group of women inducted into the Arkansas Women鈥檚 Hall of Fame.

27. Nina Simone

Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. 

Simone recorded more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974, making her debut with Little Girl Blue. She had a hit single in the United States in 1958 with I Love You, Porgy. Her musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.

28. Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks at the 2012 Time 100 gala by David Shankbone –

Tyra Banks is an American television personality, model, producer, writer, and actress.  Banks was the first African-American woman to be featured on the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, on which she appeared three times. She was a Victoria鈥檚 Secret Angel from 1997 to 2005. By the early 2000s, Banks was one of the world鈥檚 top-earning models.

In 2003, Banks created the long-running reality television series America鈥檚 Next Top Model, which she executive produced and presented for the first twenty-two seasons, until the series鈥� cancellation in October 2015. Banks is one of four African Americans and seven women to have repeatedly been ranked among the world鈥檚 most influential people by Time magazine. Read more interesting facts about Tyra Banks. 

29. Cardi B

Cardi B is an American rapper and songwriter. She first gained popularity as an influencer on Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to early 2017, she appeared as a regular cast member on the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York, which depicted the pursuit of her music aspirations, and earned further recognition with the release of her two mixtapes: Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 (2016) and Vol. 2 (2017).

Her accolades include a Grammy Award, eight Billboard Music Awards, six Guinness World Records, six American Music Awards, 14 BET Hip Hop Awards, and two ASCAP Songwriter of the Year awards. In 2018, Time magazine included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2020, Billboard honoured her as Woman of the Year. Outside of music, she became the creative director of the entertainment magazine Playboy in 2022.

30. Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston performing on stage by Mark Kettenhofen –

Whitney Houston was an American singer and actress. Widely referred to as The Voice, she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston influenced many singers in popular music and was known for her powerful, soulful vocals and vocal improvisation skills. She is the only artist to have had seven consecutive number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, from 鈥淪aving All My Love for You鈥� in 1985 to 鈥淲here Do Broken Hearts Go鈥� in 1988. 

Houston enhanced her popularity upon entering the movie industry. Her recordings and films generated both great success and controversy. She received numerous accolades throughout her career and posthumously, including two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, and 28 Guinness World Records, as well as induction into the Grammy, Rhythm and Blues Music, and Rock and Roll halls of fame.

In conclusion, as seen from the highlighted examples, women are the the pinnacle of society and are headlining many if not most industries in the United States.  They also act as great examples to younger women who are striving in their careers to rise or fill the shoes worn by these women. These women serve as an example of the famous quote that what a man can do, a woman can do better. Read more on 110 Most Influential Women of All Time.