Morgan Schulte's career booking live entertainment for the Town of Normal started at the Hammitt School. She brought musicians into her special education classroom to foster empathy and coping skills.

Deanne Bryant launched a district-wide Unit 5 string program in 1969, ensuring access to instruments often left out of school curriculums. Five decades later, Bloomington-Normal is lauded statewide for its high quality music education.

Caribel Washington made history, and then she made sure history wouldn’t forget. She is one of WGLT's 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal.

Because of Jeanne Morris, Bloomington-Normal is a more welcoming place than it was before she got here.

Sonya Mau knows what happens when a community doesn’t invest in cultivating leaders from within. She's one of WGLT's 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal.

Willie Holton Halbert, a leader with the Bloomington-Normal branch of the NAACP, is one of WGLT's 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal.

Myra Gordon got her start volunteering with Operation Recycle, a local group dedicated to sustainability and broadening access to recycling options. It later became the Ecology Action Center.

The Rev. Brigitte Black is one of WGLT's 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal.

As head of the Normal-based nonprofit Immigration Project, Charlotte Alvarez connects immigrants living in 86 Illinois counties with legal aid and social service organizations as they navigate a convoluted, inefficient system.

Beth Robb became the first woman judge and chief judge in the 11th Judicial Circuit, which includes McLean County. She's one of WGLT's 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal.

Domestic violence, experimental theater, the corrections system, the environment, municipal government — you name it, Carol Reitan made it better. She was also the first female mayor of Normal.

Judy Markowitz was Bloomington's first female mayor and its first Jewish mayor. She is one of WGLT's 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal.

The Bistro owner Jan Lancaster is one of WGLT's 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal.

In the 1980s, when jail was about the only place many suffering mental illness were sent, Judy Buchanan worked with administrators at BroMenn Hospital in Normal to accept and treat those patients.

Judge Carla Barnes-Wheeler, a former public defender in McLean County, is one of WGLT's 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal.

Tina Sipula undeniably touched thousands in Bloomington-Normal who’ve experienced homelessness or food insecurity through her nearly half a century at Clare House, and after it closed in 2015 through Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen.

District 87 school board president Elizabeth Fox Anvick wears many hats: She’s a tech professional, a wife, a mother – and one of Bloomington-Normal’s most visible LGBTQ+ advocates.

Maura Toro-Morn has made herself known in the academic world of Bloomington-Normal, catapulting the Latin American and Latino/a Studies program forward and connecting with students on an personal level.

Tompie Asher’s assignment as The Baby Fold’s superintendent was supposed to be temporary, a stopgap until someone else was found for the job. She ended up leading it for 27 years before finally retiring.

WGLT is marking Women’s History Month with a new series called 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal. One new episode, featuring one woman, will be released every weekday throughout March. Episodes will air throughout each day on 89.1 FM and be published on WGLT.org. You can follow the entire series at WGLT.org/21Women.The 21 women who will be featured were selected by WGLT’s Newsroom, chosen from 130+ nominations submitted by the community. (Thank you to everyone who nominated someone!)

Eva Jones was the first woman and person of color to make the District 87 school board. That was in 1971. Six years later, she became president and three years after that she was on the Bloomington City Council. This story is part of WGLT's 21 Women Who Shaped Bloomington-Normal. See the whole series at WGLT.org/21Women