The mural, created by Chicago artist Ellen Lanyon and commissioned by the Workingmen’s Cooperative Bank of Boston in 1980, honors nine trailblazing women who made significant contributions to American and Boston culture. Temporarily on display outside the House Gallery until December 2025, the mural was previously housed at Simmons University, which acquired it in 1985.
The honored women include:
- Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643), a religious leader banished from Boston for her beliefs
- Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), the first African American woman to publish a book of poetry
- Sister Ann Alexis (1797-1886), a Catholic nun who co-founded hospitals and schools
- Lucy Stone (1818-1893), a suffragist and abolitionist and the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree
- Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), the founder of the Christian Science Church
- Ellen Richards (1842-1911), a pioneer in sanitary engineering and home economics
- Mary Morton Kehew (1859-1918), a labor and social reformer
- Anne Sullivan (1866-1936), the teacher and lifelong companion to Helen Keller
- Melnea Cass (1896-1978), a community leader and civil rights activist in Boston.
