Women have achieved many astonishing “firsts.” Some firsts are first-ever accomplishments by either a woman or a man; some are firsts by a woman in a male-dominated field. Read on for more!

First African American first lady

Michelle Obama is married to the 44th U.S. president, Barack Obama, and was the first African American first lady from 2009 to 2017.

As first lady, she served as a role model for women, and worked as an advocate for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, physical activity and healthy eating.

She graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985 and earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.

First female to fly solo on a space mission

Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, seen here on April 5, 2008, at the St. Petersburg leg of the Olympic torch relay, became the first and only woman to have been on a solo space mission when she launched on the Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963.

First female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean

On May 20–21, 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first female aviator to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment.

First black female billionaire

American media mogul Oprah Winfrey became one of the richest self-made women in America, the nation’s highest-paid television entertainer and the first black female billionaire in history.

When she retired on May 25, 2011, after 25 seasons on air she was worth an estimated $3 billion. And she’s the first television talk show host to say to everyone in her studio audience, “You get a car!”

First female presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party

Hillary Clinton was the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States in the 2016 election. Clinton is the first woman to receive the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party and the only former first lady of the United States to achieve this accomplishment.

First female U.S. Supreme Court justice

Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, from her 1981 appointment by President Ronald Reagan until her retirement in 2006.

Before joining the court, O’Connor had already made history as the first female majority leader in a state senate (Arizona).

First female Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee

By the end of the 1960s, Aretha Franklin had come to be known as “The Queen of Soul.” In 1987, she became the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. That’s a lot of R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

First female NFL official

Sarah Thomas sports several firsts: The first woman to officiate a major college football game, the first to officiate a bowl game, and the first to officiate in a Big Ten stadium. On April 8, 2015, the National Football League officially announced that Thomas would become the first permanent female official in the NFL.

First female U.S. secretary of state

Madeleine Albright is the first female secretary of state in U.S. history, having served from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. She continues to support women’s rights and has been quoted as saying, “Success without democracy is improbable; democracy without women is impossible.”

First woman to be chosen Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year”

Professional tennis player, Billie Jean King aced several firsts. 1971: First female athlete in any sport to earn more than $100,000 in prize money in a single season ($117,000). 1972: First woman to be chosen Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year.” 1973: Defeated former No.1-ranked Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match.

First black female principal dancer at New York City’s American Ballet Theatre

Misty Copeland, the pioneering prima ballerina, became the first black female principal dancer at New York City’s American Ballet Theatre in 2015. “Dancers come in all shapes and sizes and colors,” she says.

First female NFL coach

Jennifer Welter is an American football player and coach who was a defensive specialist for the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football (AAF).

She became the first female coach in the NFL when she was signed to coach inside linebackers for the National Football League’s Arizona Cardinals.

Another first for the outstanding football player: In 2014, she was signed as the first female running back by the Texas Revolution. She’s seen here on Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, in Allen, Texas.

First female Nobel Prize winner

In 1903, Marie Curie, a physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity, was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize; the first person and only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice; and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields, physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911.

Steeped in STEM before it was popular!

America’s first self-made female millionaire

Sarah Breedlove, born to former slaves in 1867, began advertising a hair-growth tonic she claimed had regrown her own lost locks.

Known as Madam C. J. Walker, she was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and a political and social activist. She was considered the wealthiest African American businesswoman and wealthiest self-made woman in America at the time of her death in 1919.

First woman of African American and Native American descent to earn a pilot’s license

Bessie Coleman was the first nonmilitary African American female in the world to earn a pilot’s license. She toured the country barnstorming, parachute jumping and giving lectures to raise money for a school for aspiring African American pilots. She achieved her international pilot’s license in 1921.