Trained as a scientist, with a biology degree from the University of Montana, Jeannette Rankin typified the millions of working women who joined the suffrage movement at the turn of the 20th century. In 1916, running as a Republican, she became the first woman elected to Congress, and was soon elevated to Ranking Member on the Committee on Woman Suffrage. A year after this photograph, she comanaged the 1918 floor debate on the Anthony Amendment; for the first time, it passed the House of Representatives.
Source photograph: Matzene, Chicago, photographer; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Date: c. 1917
Trained as a scientist, with a biology degree from the University of Montana, Jeannette Rankin typified the millions of working women who joined the suffrage movement at the turn of the 20th century. In 1916, running as a Republican, she became the first woman elected to Congress, and was soon elevated to Ranking Member on the Committee on Woman Suffrage. A year after this photograph, she comanaged the 1918 floor debate on the Anthony Amendment; for the first time, it passed the House of Representatives.
Source photograph: Matzene, Chicago, photographer; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Date: c. 1917