Serena Williams and Ruby Bridges are set to be honored with induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
On Thursday, the hall announced that the athlete and civil rights icon were added to the list of women who will be honored during Women’s History Month in March 2024. Eight additional honorees were revealed during the spring announcement. Williams and Bridges became eligible for induction due to changes in the ceremony’s date and location.
“The 2024 inductee class has broken barriers, challenged the status quo, and left an impact on history,” the Hall of Fame said.
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion and the player with the longest record of being ranked No. 1, retired from tennis last year. She recently made history by becoming the first athlete to receive the Fashion Icon award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America earlier this month.
On the other hand, Bridges was just a 6-year-old first-grader when she became one of the pioneering Black students to attend racially segregated schools in New Orleans back in 1960. This historic moment was immortalized by the renowned painter Norman Rockwell in his iconic painting titled “The Problem We All Live With.” Furthermore, Bridges established the Ruby Bridges Foundation 24 years ago, which has been dedicated to promoting tolerance and driving change through education.
Nevertheless, in a historic move, the National Women’s Hall of Fame has announced that, for the very first time, the induction ceremony will be nationally broadcast in prime time from New York City. Traditionally, the previous 30 ceremonies had been held at various venues around Seneca Falls, the upstate New York location of the first Women’s Rights Convention and the home of the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
