4/2/1917-Jeanette Rankin becomes FIRST WOMEN in Congress

[underpants]

Be sure to check out the foundation in her name that assists low income women get education opportunities below.


http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272956&day=10272967

1917 Jeannette Rankin assumes office
Jeannette Pickering Rankin, the first woman ever elected to Congress, takes her seat in the U.S. Capitol as a representative from Montana.

Born on a ranch near Missoula, Montana Territory, in 1880, Rankin was a social worker in the states of Montana and Washington before joining the women's suffrage movement in 1910. Working with various suffrage groups, she campaigned for the women's vote on a national level and in 1914 was instrumental in the passage of suffrage legislation in Montana. Two years later, she successfully ran for Congress in Montana on a progressive Republican platform calling for total women's suffrage, legislation protecting children, and U.S. neutrality in the European war. Following her election as a representative, Rankin's entrance into Congress was delayed for a month as congressmen discussed whether a woman should be admitted into the House of Representatives.

Finally, on April 2, 1917, she was introduced in Congress as its first female member. The same day, President Woodrow Wilson addressed a joint session of Congress and urged a declaration of war against Germany. On April 4, the Senate voted for war by a wide majority, and on April 6 the vote went to the House. Citing public opinion in Montana and her own pacifist beliefs, Jeannette Rankin was one of only 50 representatives who voted against the American declaration of war. For the remainder of her first term in Congress, she sponsored legislation to aid women and children, and advocated the passage of a federal suffrage amendment.









http://www.rankinfoundation.org/
The Jeannette Rankin Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds for, and awarding grants to, low-income women, age 35 and older. Each award recipient has a vision of how education will benefit herself, her family, and her community. Most recipients are in truly meager financial circumstances and may have other hardships or disabilities. The Jeannette Rankin Foundation is one of the very few organizations in the country whose educational awards target this large segment of the population.

[kainah]

1. kick back to the top!!!!

Hey people!

Jeannette Rankin deserves a lot more respect than this! She is one of my all-time heroes!!!! Thanks for posting this, underpants. I didn't know this was an anniversary for that significant event.

A major curtesy to you, Jeannette!!!!

[havocmom]

2. Montana is not the backward place many think it is

well, not til recent years, but then the whole country sorta took a bad turn there for a bit, didn't it?

[rockymountaindem]

3. She also voted against WWII

I don't know... that kind of irks me.