Susanna Madora Salter, America's First Female Mayor and Elected Official
We often hear about the dismal numbers regarding women in politics. Recently, I came across another sad number in the realm of female politicians. Of the 1,142 mayors of cities with a population of over 30,000 in the United States, only 193 of them are women. The not surprising number got me wondering though about female mayors. I did a quick search to find out a little more about a woman we don’t hear much about, America’s first female mayor.
As it turned out, America’s first female mayor holds another title as well: America’s first female elected to office. Any office. Susanna Madora Salter was elected Mayor of Argonia, Kansas in 1887. That was the same year that the Kansas state legislature gave women in Kansas the right to vote in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class cities. Argonia was 3rd class, so ladies were able to vote in that year’s municipal election.
A Women’s Christian Temperance Union had been established in 1883. In 1887, with Salter acting as president and the right to vote, they created a caucus (the W.C.T.U. caucus). The caucus decided to create a ticket of men that they deemed worthy of the town’s office. Which to the W.C.T.U meant a ticket of men who were willing to enforce prohibition.
Feeling that politics and voting were still a man’s domain and uninterested in electing a group of prohibition enforcers, a group of men in town decided to teach these ladies a lesson. They created a ticket that was an exact replica of the ticket the women had chosen except they replaced the mayor’s name with Salter’s.
They assumed that only the 20 women in the caucus would vote for Salter because no one else in town would vote for a women to be Mayor. Back then, candidates did not have to file until Election Day, so her name was entered - without her knowledge - early in the morning of election day. After early voters discovered Saulter's name on the ballot, delegates were sent to pay her a visit. The prank was explained. Not only did Salter agree to accept the position if she won, but she agreed to teach the pranksters a lesson.
Salter, along with the delegates, spent the day campaigning in town. By the end of that day, she had won the seat with a 2/3 majority. What began as a prank to teach some politically minded ladies a lesson ended with the first female elected to public office in the history of the United States.
Salter only served one term as mayor of Argonia. Though it turned out to be a fairly uneventful term, it began a ripple effect throughout the country. Over the next year, five more towns would not only go on to elect female mayors but city councils entirely made up of women.
Posted by: Nancy @ 03:10PM on July 04 2009
Comment:
This is terrific!!!!!What an amazing story
Posted by: Elaine Charkowski @ 06:54PM on June 30 2009
Comment:
Hi, here are some books about women's Herstory!
The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler
Hidden From History by Sheila Rowbotham
Women Out of History-A Herstory Anthology by Ann Forfreedom
An Economic History of Women in America By Julie A Matthaei
Feminism, the Essential Historical Writings
edited by Miriam Schneir
The Mismeasure of Woman by Carol Tavris
The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner
Going Out of our Minds by Sonia Johnson
The Subordinate Sex-A History of Attitudes Toward Women
by Vern L Bullough
Backlash by Susan Faludi
Woman and Nature by Susan Griffin
A Woman's Book of Choices by Carolyn Downer
Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe by Marija Gimbutas (who rescued tens of thouands of years of womens history and Goddess worship from oblivion!
Some of these may be out of print. Amazon.com is a good place to search or see if your local bookstore can locate them!
Posted by: Karen Giannini @ 12:58PM on June 30 2009
Comment:
Does anyone know of a Women's "Herstory" book I could get my hands on? If not, I recommend this site start collecting these stories and make one! I would love to read such a herstory and pass it along to my daughter AND sons. Please let me know what you all think. Thanks
- a woman who ran against all odds and won a seat in the NM House of Representatives in 2008
Posted by: Elaine Charkowski @ 11:39PM on June 29 2009
Comment:
Women have come "far enough" when they enjoy all the rights of men. This means the right to control their reproduction and full economic rights to earn a living wage. Reproductive rights depend on economic independence. Even if birth control was dispensed on every street corner, a women still must have the economic means to leave an abusive man.
Posted by: Susan Peters @ 06:04PM on June 28 2009
Comment:
Is this information found in our history books that school children read? Probably not!! Are we encouraging our young females to consider/run for public office? We need more women elected to all political offices in this country. What a difference it would make for everyone. I plan to send this article to every woman that I know.
Posted by: Carolyn Hughes @ 03:55PM on June 28 2009
Comment:
... and 112 years later, woman mayors account for approximately only 10% of cities with 30K+ populations. It's as though the door squeaks open for equality and quickly closes when a new quota is achieved. I have never run for public office, nor do I know of other women friends who have or have even considered. However I know men in political office and know men who even consider public office, mostly on the local level. The onus is on all of us, sisters, to be active, maybe consider a run, and work to keep that darn door open, permanently remove barriers. And I'm being self-critical. Next time there is public issue that needs to be addressed, a local issue on which I have an opinion, I'm not going to hold back. As a note -- in my local community there is a woman on the city council (several years ago she was the mayor), women are on commissions and the school board, and there is a women representing the district in congress. However, the political scene is still unequal, dominated by men. Looking forward to more equal representation. Women do bring a different perspective, proven many times. And it's great to feel inclusion, not exclusion. Thanks for your inspiration.
Posted by: Madeline Moch @ 09:36AM on June 27 2009
Comment:
How inspiring. Wouldn't it be great if more woman
were on the Supreme Court and in the Senate and House.
What a difference that would make in all our lives.
Posted by: Carol Ferrell @ 05:36AM on June 27 2009
Comment:
Not so long ago ! Women have come far, however the laws are still made by the men and the old laws need to be changed, one change needs to be addressed NOW. Divorce laws are not fair especially where children are involved. Medical research for a CURE for breast cancer. More women die of heart attacks than men. Research for womens
problems-we have Viagra,prostrate cancer cures,what about womens problems.
Posted by: patricia taroski @ 02:36PM on June 26 2009
Comment:
GREAT!!!!!!
Posted by: Mabel Miller Wade @ 12:05PM on June 26 2009
Comment:
I am 79. One of my most vivid memories of childhood was my mother voting. My father was for it and he would not go to the polling place with my mother because he did not want anyone to think that he would tell her how to vote.
Posted by: roni @ 11:26AM on June 26 2009
Comment:
great bit of history, will send it on to my friends. surprised it never surfaced in my women's studies classes. (I was one of the first graduates as a women's studies major at SUNY Albany in 1985)
Posted by: Dorothy Gallagher @ 09:28PM on June 25 2009
Comment:
I love this story. I am a Wife, Mom & Grandmom and I'm running for our local School Board. We need more women elected to policical office of all kinds.
Posted by: David Myers @ 08:31PM on June 25 2009
Comment:
Thank you for sharing this important piece of history. Its like it has been relegated to 10th place status as history goes (not worth reporting, teaching, or remembering). It reminds me of the marginalization, revisionism and just plain destruction of gay and lesbian history. Look at how the movie "300" turned the famous defenders (who were actually made up of gay male couples who "had each other's backs") into a bunch of heterosexual orgiests (the night before the big battle).
Posted by: Ann Shewcraft @ 07:39PM on June 25 2009
Comment:
Thank you for the interesting story. Small steps do lead to improvement. . . sooner or later. What a shame that the phrase, "You've come a long way baby " refers to cigerette smoking more than it does to other aspects of a woman's life. The way the media treated Senator Clinton's campaign showed us that we have not come far enough!
Posted by: Irma Brooks @ 05:54PM on June 25 2009
Comment:
Thank you!!! Please keep me on your mailing list.
Sincerely,
Irma Brooks
ijsplace@aol.cpm
Posted by: Noel Anthony Haughey @ 05:19PM on June 25 2009
Comment:
A Women's Christian Temperance Union was created in 1883 by visionaries of bright and courageous women uniting to enforce prohibition. But obviously women were politically inclined then and were knowledgable of effective campaigning results and enforcing new policies in a timely fassion. Women have to force balance in this Political field today in America or even out numbering men if necessary to be an effective righteous Governing body for all people.
Posted by: Christine @ 05:03PM on June 25 2009
Comment:
It's amazing how some of these historical events unfolded. It's sad that I was never taught about Salter in school. I'm 29 years old so you'd think this would be included in at least one history book.
