Author: Jessie Haver Butler

Publisher:

Published: 2020-04-02

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781952508004

From Cowgirl to Congress details the firsthand account of Jessie Haver Butler, a suffragette on the front lines of the women's movement.Jessie escaped a childhood of unthinkable tragedies and dangers on the Colorado prairie to attend Smith College on the East Coast, which propelled her into the fight for the rights of women. Inspired by meeting Susan B. Anthony at age ten, she later worked side by side with Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt, and the other brave women banded together for that important era.When women won the right to vote on August 18, 1920, Jessie became the first official woman lobbyist at the Capitol in Washington, DC. In addition, she helped establish the Pulitzer School of Journalism and set the first minimum wage for women in Boston. She went on to live in London, where she shared the podium with George Bernard Shaw, attended parties with Emily Pankhurst, influenced the queen, and met her lifelong friend Lady Astor.Having used her voice for suffrage and liberation, Jessie later taught women the art of public speaking. She wrote Time to Speak Up (the first public speaking textbook for women) and lectured alongside such notables as Eleanor Roosevelt, Gloria Steinem, and Marlo Thomas. She spoke out for women's rights throughout her life and well into her nineties.This timely memoir takes us back to the suffrage movement and beyond and includes unpublished letters from historical figures, as well as never-before-seen photographs. Jessie Haver Butler was an extraordinary woman, who lived her life with a spirit of adventure and open-mindedness. At the same time, she was a mother, wife, and active community member, and her story weaves these threads together to complete her compelling journey-from cowgirl to Congress.