Sandra Day O'Connor made history in 1981, when President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court. A lawyer and judge, she was the first woman ever to serve on our country's highest court.
Born in 1930, O'Connor, grew up on an 198,000-acre cattle ranch in Arizona. By the time she was 8, she could mend fences, drive a truck and ride horses with the cowboys on the ranch.
In 1952, she graduated from Stanford Law School in California. But law firms would not hire a woman lawyer, so she turned to public service. "In my lifetime, I have seen attitudes about women change dramatically," she told TFK. "Today, almost all occupations are open to women. They can follow many paths in their journey through life."