Existing comment:
Jeannette Pickering Rankin, 1880-1973
Deeply involved in organizing for suffrage, Jeannette Rankin helped women win the vote in Montana in 1914. Two years later, she became the first woman elected to Congress. When the suffrage amendment was proposed in 1918, she opened the first House Floor debate, asking, "How shall we explain to them the meaning of democracy if the same Congress that voted for war to make the world safe for democracy refuses to give this small measure of democracy to the women of our country?"
L. Chase, c 1917 |