2005 — Africa's First Elected Female President

On November 23, 2005, Liberia's National Elections Commission declared Ellen Johnson Sirleaf the winner of the presidential run-off with 59.4 percent of the vote, defeating football star George Weah. The Harvard-educated economist and former finance minister became Africa's first democratically elected female head of state. Liberians knew her as their "Iron Lady," a reputation forged in jail and exile under Samuel Doe, long before any ballot carried her name to victory at last.

Her inauguration in January 2006 drew world leaders to witness that renewal. She went on to share the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize — a Liberian president honored, in the end, before the whole watching world.