Exhibit Celebrates Women’s History Month

HARTFORD — In celebration of Women’s History Month, an exhibit featuring photographs and biographies of members of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame will be unveiled Monday, March 5, in the office of Lt Governor M. Jodi Rell.

With 70 inductees, the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame showcases the contributions Connecticut women have made to their state, the nation, and the world. Photographs and biographies of the women have been preserved in 16 by 20-inch frames for the exhibit, which is on loan from the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame at the University of Hartford.

“I encourage Connecticut residents to view the portraits of Connecticut women who have played key roles in the fields of literature, medicine, law, and business. This exhibit gives us the opportunity to promote and celebrate the women of our state who have been and continue to be role models for generations,” Lt Governor Rell said.

“We are indeed fortunate to have had so many distinguished and accomplished women from Connecticut. By inducting then into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, we are preserving each woman’s ‘herstory’  for young and old, male and female,” Lt Governor Rell said.

Inductees of the Hall of Fame include Constance Baker Motley (first female African-American federal court judge, successfully argued nine US Supreme Court civil rights cases), Mary Jobe Akeley (geographer, mountaineer, photographer, and writer, one of the world’s leading explorers), and Alice Hamilton (physician, social reformer, professor of industrial medicine, best known for her research on toxic substance in the workplace, first female professor at the Harvard Medical School).

Also featured in the exhibit are more well-known Connecticut women, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of the best-selling Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which is still in print), Katharine Hepburn (Hartford-born actress who won 4 Academy Awards) and Clare Boothe Luce (playwright, novelist, first US Congresswomen from Connecticut and Ambassador to Italy).

The public is invited to view the exhibit while it is on display in the Office of Lt Governor Rell, State Capitol, Room 304, through March 9. Viewing hours are 9 am to 4:30 pm from Monday, March 5, through Thursday, March 8, and 9 to 11 am on Friday, March 9.