'She changed the world:' These 12 North Carolina women who shaped history will inspire you

Despite not being allowed to vote, despite having no property rights, despite being forced to submit to laws they had no voice in – powerful women have been shaking up history for generations.

There was a time when husbands had such immense legal power of their wives that they were allowed to physically assault or even imprison them in mental institutions.

Despite the setbacks, women kept pushing for the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In honor of Women's History Month, let's take a look at just a few of the trailblazers and world-shakers that broke down boundaries across North Carolina.

It was 1898 when Sallie Walker Stockard became the first woman to graduate from UNC. However, according to a historic account on the UNC website, she was excluded from all ceremonies – including class pictures and even the presentation of degrees.

Born into slavery in Raleigh in 1859, Dr. Anna Haywood Cooper went on to become the first Black woman to earn a Masters Degree. She attended Saint Augustine's College for her bachelor degree before moving on to Oberlin College and eventually getting her Ph.D.

Her degree in Mathematics made her a woman in STEM long before the concept of STEM existed.

She advanced the belief that education for Black women was key to uplifting the Black community as a whole. She pushed for civil rights and her 1892 book "A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South" is considered the first African American feminist publication.

She is buried in Raleigh.

Madeline Jane Jones Procter, co-founder of Mother's Day, lived in Raleigh and is buried in Historic Oakwood Cemetery. Her ideals and traditions live on in her family, who have also made a local impact.

Hidden History: Co-founder of Mother's Day was a Raleigh mother

Procter was only a teenager when she met Jarvis in 1909. By that time, Jarvis had already been working on the concept of Mother's Day for about a year--in honor of her own mother, who she had recently lost.

If you were born in Raleigh between the 1940s and 1990s, there's a good chance Dr. Wilkerson is the one who delivered you. She delivered over 8,000 babies -- and some of those babies grew up to become mothers, who had her help deliver the next generation of Raleighites.

During a time when it was virtually impossible for a woman to become a doctor, she began a 55-year journey in medicine that blazed trails for other women – and shaped the future of Raleigh's health care.

Described as "a pioneer who surmounted traditional gender boundaries," her career began in 1940, when she became the first woman to complete an internship and residency at Rex Hospital.

She was Raleigh's first woman to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. She played a major role in the successful establishment of WakeMed.

Dorothy A. Freeman Lewis broke ground as the first African American woman framing foreman at New Jersey Bell, which later became Verizon.

During the era of segregation in Raleigh, Lewis grew up in Method, a nearby freedmen's village built by men and women freed from slavery. She attended the historic Berry O'Kelly School, a Rosenwald School that still stands in Raleigh today.

Photos show her leading a team as a respected expert in a field that was traditionally dominated by men at the time.

In the 1950s and 60s, an era when many women were making their way into the workforce, there was a group of young women watching over North Carolina from high above and protecting rural NC from the threat of wildfires.

Vacant forest fire tower hidden in north Raleigh neighborhood nearly 100 years old

Feisty, smart and capable, Tilley had articles, awards and news coverage written about her work. Today, a memorial to her work stands beneath her watchtower.

After the death of her husband, the newly-widowed Nancy Sauls Alexander stepped into the role of CEO as a leading industrialist of a traditionally male-dominated industry. As owner of Alexander Welding & Manufacturing Company, she raised her four sons as employees and eventually left them as owners of a highly successful business.

One day only: Step inside Raleigh's secret garden, nearly a century old

After her death, she passed the house to her sister Phyllis Bowen Henderson, who, as a single senior citizen, held back a tide of 'urban growth' that threatened to plow through the historically treasured home and gardens. Newspaper articles tell of an elderly woman fighting the development of a five-lane road that would have destroyed the historic landmark -- and possibly most of Historic Oberlin Village.

This iconic duo of centarian sisters were born to a Raleigh family that had already been making history. Their father Bishop Henry Beard Delany laid the cornerstone of St. Agnes Hospital, which still stands today on the grounds of St. Augustine's campus. After being born into slavery, he became the first Black Episcopal bishop in the United States.

All 10 of his children – including sisters Sarah “Sadie” Louise and Annie Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany – received a college education during an era when most people were not enrolled in schools beyond high school, and it was particularly challenging for a Black student to find academic opportunity.

Isabella Cannon was 73 when she made history by becoming the first woman mayor of Raleigh.

The 4-foot-8-inch mayor worked 16 hours a day. Some locals nicknamed her ``Little Old Lady in Tennis Shoes'' for her choice of footwear.

``At that time, that was derogatory,'' Cannon said in a 2000 interview. ``Old ladies in tennis shoes were dowdy, not very smart.''

But she changed that image during her two-year term, leading to the creation of a comprehensive growth plan that still is used to guide development in Raleigh.

While many historians have contributed to the preservation of NC history, Elizabeth Murray Reid's combination of research, published books, volunteer work on historic commissions and donations of historic documents and images has single-handedly documented many of the people and places that created Wake County.

Her major published works, such as WAKE: Capital County of NC volumes 1 and 2, are used today by many historians as the holy grail of research for anything and everything related to Wake County.

She also donated a collection of images and documents to Special Collections of Wake County Public Libraries – with over 612 boxes "arranged alphabetically by topic, and encompasses nearly one hundred Wake County-related subjects spanning over two hundred years."

Emily Brown Blount, a graduate of NC State, was the first woman to receive a B.S. in civil engineering and the first woman to receive a Professional Degree in civil engineering in 1954.

Blount joined the NC DOT in 1960 and became the state's first female licensed professional engineer, breaking down boundaries for women in STEM programs long before STEM existed.

So many women have helped shape history, if we included them all this list would have hundreds of entries. However, we are working to expand this list as Women's History Month goes on. But let us know if there's someone important you think should be included at hleah@wral.com