First - Lighting the Way, Historic Women of the SouthCoast

Maria Alves

Feelings of “saudade,” love, loss and longing, were created when Maria Fernandes Alves (1924-2008) sang fado, traditional Portuguese folk music, throughout the South Coast and beyond.

Juan Bennett Drummond

Dr. Juan Bennett Drummond (1864-1926) was the first African American woman licensed in the state of Massachusetts to practice medicine.

Photograph Of Emma Louise Piper - Looking Straight At The Camera, She Has A Black Dress With Her Hair Pulled Back In A Braid

Emma Louise Piper (1845-1915) was the first African American teacher in Cambridge, MD after the Civil War. Emma was one of 41 New Bedford men and women, both Black and White, who participated in the efforts to educate the newly freed people.

Belmira Nunes

In 1917, Belmira Nunes (1899-1994) graduated as valedictorian and only Cape Verdean girl from Wareham High School. She attended Radcliffe College where she became the first Cape Verdean woman graduate. Belmira had a distinguished teaching career in the New York City School system.

Photograph Of Laurina Andrade - An Older Woman With Her Dark Hair Pulled Back. She Is Wearing A White Shirt And A Jacket, And Holding A Pair Of Glasses.

Laurinda C. Andrade

From immigrant textile mill worker to Ivy League student to pioneering New Bedford educator, Laurinda C. Andrade (1899-1980) overcame barriers of tradition, poverty, language, and discrimination to establish the first high school Portuguese language department in the United States at New Bedford High School.

Mary Ann Hathaway Tripp

The first American woman to visit China and one of the first to circumnavigate the globe, Fairhaven’s Mary Ann Hathaway Tripp (1810-1906) sailed with her husband, Captain Lemuel Carver Tripp, on several merchant voyages between 1833 and 1845.

Geraldine Gomes

Geraldine “Gerry” A. Gomes (1938-2011) was the first minority woman to run for political office in New Bedford.

Betsey B. Winslow

A New Bedford teacher for more than 20 years, Betsey Baldwin Winslow (1836-1925) was elected to the New Bedford School Committee, serving in that capacity for nearly 39 years – one of the longest serving members in the history of the School Department.

Helena de Kay Gilder

Although she began her career as a painter, Helena de Kay Gilder (1846-1916) increasingly dedicated her considerable energy and talent to advocating for art, artists, and women, according to her own vision.

Helen Worthing Webster

A pioneering doctor and champion of physical activity for women, New Bedford’s Helen Worthing Webster (1837-1904) graduated from New England Female Medical College in Boston as a Doctor of Medicine.