2020 Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Inductees Named
(The 2020 Induction was delayed due to Covid-19 in 2020, and will be celebrated on March 30, 2022) See Induction
Gala page for more information
DENVER (Nov. 04, 2019) — A Secretary of the Interior and Colorado State Attorney General, a journalist and publisher, a frontier physician, a suffragist, journalists, educators, head of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, lawyers/civil rights activists, a community builder and restaurant owner comprise the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee Class of 2020.
info@cogreatwomen.org
Contemporary
Katherine Archuleta
Growing up in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, Katherine Archuleta has had an extraordinary and influential career that has changed the landscape for what is possible for women and, specifically, Latina women. Her work has allowed her to guide policy at the state and national level on significant issues that impact all Americans. She is an exceptional role model for what it takes to be successful in the public and private sectors, with an unwavering commitment to justice and equality. Her core values have led her to provide women, especially women of color, with opportunities we might not have imagined for
ourselves.
served as the designated liaison between the Secretary, the White House, and other Federal departments and agencies. When Federico Pena became the Secretary of Energy, Katherine transitioned to his senior policy advisor.
As the organizer of the Kitayama Carnation Strike, Lupe Briseño demonstrated the strength and power of Latina leadership in Colorado’s Labor Movement and set the stage for the Colorado Chicano Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. Her story is an essential chapter in the history of Colorado, the evolution of Latina feminist leadership, and the struggle for Chicano Civil Rights.
Rosalind “Bee” Harris has dedicated her career to elevating communities of color by providing a platform for their voices and their stories with the founding of the Denver Urban Spectrum newspaper in 1987 and the Urban Spectrum Youth Foundation in 2000.
Velveta Howell has made many contributions as a life-long champion for social justice and advocacy. She is known as an exceptional role model for other African American women and girls. She was the eighth African American female graduate of the University of Colorado Law School and the first woman of color appointed as Colorado’s Deputy District Attorney. From her humble beginnings, she has worked tirelessly at the local, state, regional, and federal levels to advance the causes closest to her, succeeding in the fiercely competitive and often brutal world of criminal justice.
succession of women, especially women of color, following her into this still male-dominated arena. Today, many African American prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys in Colorado are inspired and/or personally mentored by her.
Colorado’s earliest physician breastfeeding champion, Marianne Egeland Neifert, MD, MTS, has devoted more than 40 years to improving maternal-child health. She provided education to diverse health professionals, implemented model lactation services, helped re-establish breastfeeding as a community norm, and advanced the nascent discipline of breastfeeding medicine.
bank in North America, serving medically fragile newborns and infants. They have collected more than 5.5 million ounces of milk from more than 12,500 donors and dispensed screened-processed donor human milk to more than 120 hospitals in 35 states.
Gale Norton was the first woman Colorado Attorney General (1991-99) and the first woman to be appointed as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior (2001-06). On behalf of Colorado and 45 other states as Colorado Attorney General, Norton helped negotiate the most extensive legal settlement in history: a $206 billion national tobacco settlement, the benefits of which continue to accrue. Gale is an exceptional role model for all women but in particular those interested in pursuing careers in the law and public policy advocacy.
Mary Lou Anderson
A passionate advocate for cultural arts and arts education, Mary Lou Anderson was an influential leader in Colorado Springs, and across the state and the nation through her work in the development of programs that engage students, educators, and business leaders in the cultural arts. Anderson founded the National Parent Teacher Association Reflections Program and the Arts Business Education Consortium. For the last 50 years, the program has advanced the support and recognition of nearly 15 million students and educators for their artistic talents and achievements. More than 55% of the students recognized were girls. Anderson had a “big idea,” and she strategically created a framework that ensured the extension and legacy of that idea far beyond her initial efforts. Anderson believed that recognition at an early age could help to combat gender discrimination by raising young girls’ awareness of and confidence in their artistic and leadership capabilities. These same experiences benefited all students, including boys and special needs students.
A graduate of the New England Female Medical College of Boston in 1862, Dr. Alida Cornelia Avery was a professor of Human Physiology and Hygiene, as well as a Resident Physician at the newly founded Vassar College from 1866-1874. In 1874 she moved to Denver, Colorado, and is credited with being Colorado’s first woman to practice medicine while also serving as the Superintendent of Hygiene for the State.
Elizabeth Piper Ensley was an African American educator, political activist, and suffragist. Her leadership was instrumental in Colorado’s victorious campaign for full voting rights in 1893. Ensley dedicated her career to organizing for women’s rights, especially for African American women. She led critical local, state, and national women’s organizations where she worked to bridge the racial lines in women’s organizations.
Carolina Acuña Díaz González was a Colorado Renaissance Pioneer, renowned for her welcoming home, her active support for the arts and culture, and her uniquely authentic restaurant, Casa Mayan, a “Mutalista” or refuge for 40 years for immigrants in Colorado. Carolina was an essential element in building and supporting the Denver community and ensuring that everyone felt a part of that community. She opened her doors to people of all nationalities and walks of life.
González provided accommodations and a safe haven during the Depression for countless youths, “riding the rails” to Colorado. In the 1950s, she opened “Carolina’s Casa” to anyone of any race fleeing persecution during the McCarthy era. She never turned anyone away, demonstrating the importance of community for all citizens, and the significant aspects of Mexican hospitality and generosity: “Mi Casa es Su Casa.” Her former residence is now part of the National Register of Historic Places and a Denver landmark.
About the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame
Since 1985 the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame has inducted 162 women of various races, backgrounds,
economic levels, career choices, political philosophies, and religious beliefs united by their outstanding
contributions to society. The lives of these extraordinary women are shining examples of what can be
achieved with passion, commitment, spirit, and the willingness to stand tall in the face of obstacles.
They are trailblazers, visionaries, women of courage, glass-ceiling breakers, and innovators from all
walks of life. Their contributions span Colorado’s colorful and storied history, reach its four corners,
and have spread to touch our nation and our world.
philanthropists, humanitarians, authors, a symphony conductor, a former prime minister, a Nobel
Peace Prize nominee, jurists,a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, a n historic preservationist, a true
Western pioneer, an aviation pioneer, a former Miss America, and a Cheyenne princess, to name a few.
While some are well known throughout Colorado and the nation, others were pioneers in their small
communities. To learn more about inductees, visit:
Stay in touch via Facebook: www.facebook.com/cogreatwomen
The LinkedIn group: Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame
Follow CWHF on Twitter @ColoradoWHF
Colorado Suffragists to be Honored with Google Online Exhibit
DENVER (Jan. 27, 2020) — As the United States celebrates the centennial of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame has set out to tell the stories of some of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Inductees who fought for the largest expansion of the voting rights in U.S. history with an online exhibit on Google Arts and Culture.
The pioneer spirit of Colorado, coupled with the determination of local suffragists such as Ellis Meredith (the Susan B. Anthony of Colorado), Molly Brown, and Sarah Platt-Decker resulted in the 1893 ratification of women’s suffrage into Colorado law. This made Colorado one of the first states to grant female citizens the right to vote –– and the first state in U.S. history to do so by popular vote as opposed to executive order or legislative action. It wasn’t until more than 20 years later that all women in the country were granted that right.
The exhibit explores the contributions of local activists as they earned the right to vote for the women of Colorado, then set their sights on enfranchising women across the nation.
“The ratification of the 19th Amendment was the culmination of decades of dissonance, bold ambition, and unwavering determination,” says Deborah Radman, Chair of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. “The exhibit honors the enduring contributions of Colorado’s suffragists and the profound influence of the right to vote.”
In the decades that followed women’s suffrage in Colorado, women across the nation stood on the shoulders of the bold women before them that fought for and won the right to vote. Members of the public can unfold the narrative of our Colorado’s suffragists from Julia “Anna” Archibald Holmes, the secretary of the National Woman Suffrage Association, to Elizabeth Eyre Pellett, who marched as a suffragist in New York, and Dr. Alida Avery, who was elected as the first president of the Colorado Women Suffrage Association and is being inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame this March.
The exhibit can be accessed here.
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About the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame
Since 1985 the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame has inducted 172 women of various races, backgrounds, economic levels, career choices, political philosophies, and religious beliefs united by their outstanding contributions to society. The lives of these extraordinary women are shining examples of what can be achieved with passion, commitment, spirit, and the willingness to stand tall in the face of obstacles. They are trailblazers, visionaries, women of courage, glass-ceiling breakers, innovators, and rule changers in all walks of life. Their contributions span Colorado’s colorful and storied history, reach across the state to all of its four corners, and have spread to touch our nation and our world.
They are teachers, doctors, scientists, politicians, social activists, bankers, newspaper publishers, philanthropists, humanitarians, authors, a symphony conductor, a former prime minister, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, a jurist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, an historic preservationist, a true Western pioneer, an aviation pioneer, a former Miss America, and a Cheyenne princess, to name a few. While some are well known throughout Colorado and the nation, others were pioneers in their small communities.
To learn more about inductees, visit: https://www.cogreatwomen.org/inductees/women-in-the-hall/
Stay in touch via Facebook: www.facebook.com/cogreatwomen,
The LinkedIn group: Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame
Follow CWHF on Twitter @ColoradoWHF
Follow us on Instagram CWHF on Instagram