ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - There will be an opportunity this week to learn more about six Black women who helped shape the nation as the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls is launches a new virtual induction series this week, honoring women posthumously.
Induction Chair Sujatha Ramanujan said that inductees into the hall have traditionally been chosen by adjudication, and induction ceremonies were conducted before a live audience.
Ramanujan said that there is an entire rich history of women in this nation who have passed on who deserve to be recognized.
"We're going to make a concerted effort to recognize the women of minorities that need to be acknowledged, and we're also going to use this as an opportunity to educate, and request that the public nominate," Ramanujan said.
The first virtual inductees include:
Mary Church Terrell, suffragist, civil rights activist.
Aretha Franklin, singer, activist.
Barbara Hillary, adventurer, nurse, climate change activist.
Barbara Rose Johns, activist, librarian.
Henrietta Lacks, medical research “revolutionizer”
Toni Morrison, author
Future inductees will include prominent Latinx, indigenous, Asian American and LGBTQ women.
The inaugural event will be co-hosted by author, activist and scholar Angela Davis and League of Women Voters President Dr. Deborah Turner who is also a board-certified OB-GYN.
Amanda Mena, a contestant on season 13 of America’s Got Talent, will be the event’s musical guest singing a medley of Aretha Franklin songs.
The first in the series of virtual inductions will be held Dec. 10. Registration for the free event can be done at womenofthehall.org.