Women’s History for Kids: Esther Morris and the Right to Vote (and Govern!)
March 11, 2010
by Alison
|Our girls need role models from both the past and the present and all children need to learn about women’s role in history. For these reasons I have become a passionate collector of women’s history picture books and recently I stumbled upon a great one about Esther Morris.
When Esther Morris Headed West: Women, Wyoming and the Right to Vote by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge and illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers is a fascinating read for young and old alike. The beautifully illustrated book chronicles the political activism of Esther Morris, a frontier woman with chutzpah who helped change the course of women’s involvement in politics in the west.
At the age of 55, Esther Morris headed to the Wyoming Territory searching for gold. She was also hoping that Wyoming could offer her more than her former residences of New York and Illinois – she wanted the right to vote. In part due to Esther’s efforts, in 1869 Wyoming became the first place in the world that gave women the right to vote and hold office.
Achieving the right to vote was a great victory, but Morris knew that this was not enough. She wanted to prove that women could hold office as well. So she applied for the position of Justice of the Peace and shocked the Wyoming Territory that a woman could be so bold. Since the only man who challenged her failed to qualify she became a judge and thus the first woman in the United States to hold a public office.
Esther Morris didn’t have any fancy degrees and she (according to an illustration in the book) might have even been known to throw a wink. But she wanted to prove that women could not only vote but could also participate in the political process. She judged with keen common sense and even changed a few minds about a “woman’s place” along the way. Although she only stayed in office for a short while, her statement was clear. Women can and should participate as political leaders.
Now that’s a message that both girls and boys should grow up hearing!
You can read more about Esther Morris here in an article from Annabelle’s series “What Every Woman Should Know”.
Wyoming was first state to give women the right to vote – who knew? And amen to the message -we need women leaders!
have to get this book for my daughter. thanks Alison. i did know that Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote. but forgot Esther Morris name. this time it will stick. most girls are socialized to be modest. you would be supposed to be above requesting name recognition. we have to change this. with forgetting names we forget what women have accomplished. everybody knows Uncle Tom’s cabin, but hardly people recognize the name Harriet Beecher Stowe, who is up to be voted for to get a statue from Ohio in statuary hall. the lack of name recognition is really hurting. And Annie Oakley who everybody has heard about was at numebr 11 and did not make the cut for the reduction to 10 contenders.
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