War is raging against diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Woman” and “women and girls” have been scrubbed from websites from the YWCA to universities. Access to full reproductive health care is banned, workplace harassment flourishes, and deadly violence against the not-to-be-mentioned women and girls is a global pandemic.
It seems a bold and necessary time to celebrate women’s leadership and history. It seems a good time to remember that women will always be part of building our communities, our institutions, our culture, our society. We will honor these women on March 29th at the 40th Women of Achievement (WA) Awards celebration at Playhouse on the Square when six new honorees will boost the WA archive to 298 individual stories and three groups. With a book signing reception for the fourth volume of WA essays ahead of the awards ceremony, the event is the region’s premier Women’s History Month recognition.
Yet some would ask, why have a celebration only about women? Isn’t that discriminatory? Consider that research by the National Women’s History Museum reveals that out of 737 historical figures taught in K-12 curricula, only 178 or 24 percent are women, including several fictional characters such as Rosie the Riveter. Consider that 98 of the women appear in only one state curricula and only 15 are named in more than 10 states, from Sacajawea to Rosa Parks, the most recent figure. Most of the 15 are from protest movements such as women’s suffrage and civil rights. Consider that textbooks concentrate primarily on women’s domestic roles rather than broader political or cultural contexts. The NWHM study showed that despite public interest in girls moving into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, “social studies standards provide few historic examples of women or their achievements in these fields.” Consider how rarely textbook writers and school systems update content which is typically oriented around achievements in war. Where is the discrimination now?
This year’s honorees are women who stand up and speak out — to write the truth, to secure healthcare for marginalized groups, to preserve women’s history, and to promote filmmaking. They exhibit the integrity and tenacity, creativity and passion that make change and make history.
The 2026 Women of Achievement are: (Courage) Wendi Thomas, journalist, founder of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism; (Determination) Dr. Patricia Adams-Graves, sickle cell disease researcher and advocate; (Heritage) Dr. Evelyn Bassi Ogle, EEG pioneer; (Initiative) Dr. Audrey Elion, mental health proponent; (Steadfastness) Linn Sitler, Memphis & Shelby County Film Commissioner; and (Vision) Dr. Gail Murray, professor, historian, author.
I was a young newspaper reporter in 1984, weary of covering “Man of the Year” luncheons and dinners when I connected with expert community organizer Jeanne Dreifus to talk about how to celebrate the leadership and change-making of Memphis and Shelby County women. With a steering committee of 13 more like-minded women diverse in age, religion, and race, we created awards, a selection process, and a coalition of women’s groups to support it — all this two years before Women’s History Month was designated by Congress in 1987. We called the project Women of Achievement. The first event was a dinner at the New Daisy Theater on Beale Street in March 1985 with educator, civil rights activist, and author Miriam DeCosta-Willis as mistress of ceremonies. Tickets were $10, fulfilling the founders’ desire to be affordable to all.
Then and each year since, essays about the honorees’ achievements are read by award presenters — themselves remarkable local leaders. Honorees respond with remarks about their work and their passion, why they do the work they do. Honorees are given a plate crafted for the first 25 years by Memphis potter Mimi Dann and now by her daughter, ceramic artist Katie Dann. In addition to the awards, we publish the stories in books and on the WA website for anyone around the world to read and be inspired by, one of the few ongoing local women’s history programs of its kind in the nation.
In 40 years, Women of Achievement has honored leadership on issues from AIDS to human rights, civil rights, women’s rights, domestic violence and rape, Holocaust remembrance, disabled rights, mental health, reproductive rights, and much more. We have honored actors, artists, attorneys, educators, musicians, social workers, ministers, politicians, writers, scientists, the Shelby County Suffragists, the Yellow Fever Heroines and Martyrs, the women who saved Overton Park, and more.
As a special project for our 35th year and the city’s bicentennial, a WA committee charted the Memphis Women’s Legacy Trail — a biographical guide to places where white women and African-American women, Jewish and Christian, native and immigrant, with money and without, made history or where they are memorialized.
Women of Achievement will continue to celebrate women with awards but also, and most importantly, to preserve and share our history.
Deborah Clubb is a co-founder of Women of Achievement and executive director of the Memphis Area Women’s Council. Awards ceremony admission is $40 or $10 for students K-12 and can be paid in advance at eventbrite.com.