143 years ago today, Agatha Tiegel Hanson was born and ended up as the top student in her class at National Deaf-Mute College that is now Gallaudet University. She was the first woman to earn a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree. She was selected as a valediction and signed a powerful statement called The Intellect of Woman which I am sure that it had rocked the graduation that day. She passed away in my beloved city, Portland, Oregon.
-JT
...And the Truth Shall Set You Free. 
“Agatha knew she was fortunate to receive an education and she used the knowledge acquired to propel women forward. In 1892 she helped to establish O.W.L.S., a secret women’s society now known as Phi Kappa Zeta Sorority.”
http://www.gallaudet.edu/150/celebrate/visionary-leaders/agatha-tiegel.html
Yup, I am a proud member of PKZ 😉
Yeah, good to know that! I know couple of friends who are in PKZ. I loved Agatha’s writing. A true poet.
I forgot that Agatha taught at the Minnesota School for the Deaf (now Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf), my alma mater, for six years before she married Olof Hanson, a famous deaf architect.
“After graduation, Agatha taught at the Minnesota School for the Deaf in Faribault, Minn., for 6 years until she met her husband, Olof Hanson, a noted deaf architect who graduated from Gallaudet in 1886 and was honored as April’s Visionary Leader. Agatha was a lifelong learner and wrote several well-known poems, “Inner Music” and “Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.” After they were married, Agatha and Olof relocated to Washington State.”
Yeah, I knew about that part, too. Grins! I know that they lived in Great Pacific Northwest–the place I bred and buttered all my life. When I was living in Portland, I tried to look for places where Agatha would hang out, for example, her favorite coffee shop or even a bookstore or something. She was difficult to find. 🙂