TENNESSEE, USA — March is Women's History Month! It's a yearly time to celebrate and honor women's contributions throughout history.
To celebrate, we wanted to recognize 10 East Tennessee women and the roles they have played in shaping the Volunteer State through sports, academia, entertainment, innovation, service and more.
Some will be easily recognizable. Others may be new to you. Either way here's to the ladies!
1. Pat Summitt is the legendary head basketball coach for the Lady Vols from 1974 to 2012. She won eight NCAA championships, left her coaching career with a 1,098-208 record and was the first-ever college basketball coach to reach 1,000 wins.
2. Clarice Phelps is a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the first Black woman to be associated with the discovery of a new periodic table element, tennessine.
3. Hera Jay Brown is a University of Tennessee graduate and the first transgender woman to be named a Rhodes Scholar.
4. Brenda Peel was the first Black student to earn an undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee in 1964.
5. Dr. Isabel Tipton was a physics professor who researched radiation and led the University of Tennessee to academic stardom on national TV on the College Bowl.
6. Brianna Mason was the first Black woman to win the Miss Tennessee crown in 2019.
7. Helen Ashe and Ellen Turner were co-founders of the Love Kitchen, which has served free meals to Knoxvillians in need since 1986.
8. Febb Burn and all the East Tennessee women who fought for the right to vote.
9. The Calutron Girls worked in Oak Ridge during World War II enriching uranium to help create the atomic bomb.
Of course, no list of East Tennessee women would be complete without...
10. Dolly Parton. No further explanation needed.
For more stories about the incredible women making history in East Tennessee, check out our YouTube playlist: