Notable Women of Portland

Book excerpt: The story of Portland, Oregon, like much of history, has usually been told with a focus on male leaders. This book offers a reframing of Portland's history. Many women made their mark and radically changed the Oregon frontier, including Native Americans Polly Johnson and Josette Nouette; pioneers Minerva Carter and Charlotte Terwilliger; doctors Marie Equi, Mary Priscilla Avery Sawtelle, and Bethina Owens-Adair; artists Eliza Barchus and Lily E. White; suffragists Abigail Scott Duniway, Hattie Redmond, and Eva Emery Dye; lawyer Mary Gysin Leonard; Air Force pilot Hazel Ying Lee; politicians Barbara Roberts and Margaret Carter; and authors Frances Fuller Victor, Beverly Cleary, Beatrice Morrow Cannady, Ursula Le Guin, and Jean Auel. These women, along with groups of women such as "Wendy the Welders," made Portland what it is today.