Year Honored: 2000

Birth: 1921

Biography

Helen R. Thomas was a human rights and women’s rights activist. Some of her accomplishments include helping to shape and influence laws and policies on issues like childcare, credit and banking, women’s health, and domestic violence; ensuring women are included in health studies; training police on how to support victims of rape; opening the first shelter for battered women; and pushing to eliminate gender-segregated wanted advertisements and career testing. She also supported fair housing and was a spokesperson for equality and non-violent revolution. She spearheaded the formation of the first Governor’s Council for women, serving as chairperson, and organized the first chapter in Delaware of the National Organization for Women.

Thomas was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Agenda for Delaware Women and Delaware NOW and the Civil Liberties Award from the Delaware ACLU.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Sources and Additional Readings

Delaware Commission for Women. (2006). Twenty-Fifth Anniversary: Hall of Fame of Delaware Women: The Legacy Endures.