The Women Who Shaped Pittsburgh History
This Women’s History Month, we’re taking a closer look at women who resisted the constraints of their time and left lasting legacies right here in Pittsburgh.
Jackie Ormes
Born in Pittsburgh in 1911, Jackie Ormes is widely regarded as America’s first Black woman cartoonist. She became a proofreader for The Pittsburgh Courier in 1930, and eventually published her first comic strip, Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem, in 1937. Her comics confronted serious subjects like racism and pollution, but also provided space for her to express humor and style throughout. Ormes went on to create three more women-led comic strips, and as PublicSource writes, “Her groundbreaking work put Black women in a new light and made them central to her narratives.” Learn more and see samples of her comic strips.
Wendi Miller
Wendi Miller was a beloved trans activist and framer in Pittsburgh, where she owned Miller Framing for 50 years. There, she employed trans women at a time when many businesses refused to. Miller was the president of a support group for local trans people, TransPitt, where she amplified discussions about gender and identity across the Pittsburgh community in the 1990s, and was a co-founder of the Pittsburgh Transsexual Support Group in 1995. She advocated for trans and genderqueer inclusion in nondiscrimination policies on both federal and local levels. “Everyone who’s come up to me [after her death] has basically told me versions of the same thing, which is: 'Wendi saved my life,’” her son reflected. Read more about Ms. Miller and her legacy.
Florence Reed
Florence Reed was born in Homewood in 1944 and spent her early adult years earning a master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh and teaching at Pittsburgh Public Schools. When she was 26, she experienced health issues and began using a wheelchair due to her newly developed disability. Noticing a lack of BIPOC and women representation in the advocacy spaces she was a part of, she co-founded Working Women with Disabilities in 2000–an organization aimed at providing employment and educational support to women with disabilities. Reed continues her intersectional disability justice work into today. Learn about Florence Reed’s story as a community builder and advocate.
Bebe Moore Campbell
Bebe Moore Campbell was a renowned writer and University of Pittsburgh graduate who explored themes of race, family, and mental illness throughout her work. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), “In 2008, inspired by Bebe Moore Campbell’s charge to end stigma and provide mental health support for minoritized communities, July was designated as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month by the U.S. House of Representatives.” Following her passing in 2006, her husband gifted her collection of writings, letters, and notes to the University of Pittsburgh Library System. Read more about Bebe Moore Campbell and her career.
Dr. Dorothy Height
While growing up as a young Black girl from Rankin in the 1920s, Dorothy Height was denied access to a YWCA swimming pool in Pittsburgh. In response, Dr. Height worked to desegregate YWCAs across the country, as well as being a leader of the civil rights movement who helped organize historic events such as the March on Washington. Read more about Dr. Height’s activism.