Equality For All

cognitivedissonance:

canisfamiliaris:

Wyoming Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross assumed office on this day in 1925, becoming the first female Governor in the United States. (She is the only woman ever to have served as Governor of Wyoming.)

She later became the first female Director of the United States Mint, a position she held for 20 years.At the 1928 Democratic National Convention, she received 31 nominating votes from 10 states to be Vice President of the U.S. She later served as Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee.

I love that Wyoming is The Equality State and that we had the first female governor. We’ve had quite a few firsts in Wyoming:

First Women to Vote: John A. Campbell, Wyoming’s first Territorial Governor, signed a bill December 10, 1869 making Wyoming the first state to grant women the right to vote.

First Woman Justice of the Peace: Esther Hobart Morris was appointed February 17, 1870 in South Pass City.

First Woman Statewide Elected Official: Estelle Reel Meyer was elected as Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1894.

First All Woman Jury: The first all woman jury was sworn in March 7, 1870 in Laramie.

First Town in America to be Governed Entirely by Women: The city of Jackson, from 1920 to 1921, had a woman mayor, town council and town marshal. One of the councilwomen defeated her husband for her council seat.

First Woman Governor in the U.S.: Nellie Tayloe Ross was elected to complete the term of her husband who died in office. She served from 1925 to 1927. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her the first woman to head the U.S. Mint, a position she held until 1953.

First Woman Bailiff: In 1870, Martha Symons-Boies-Atkinson of Albany County was appointed the first woman bailiff in the world.

First Business West of the Missouri River: In 1834, Fort William was erected at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers by veteran fur traders William Sublette and Robert Campbell. Thus, the first trading post west of the Missouri River was established.

First National Park: In 1872, Congress named Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming as the first national park in the world.

First State to Have a County Public Library System: The Laramie County Public Library System was organized in August of 1886.

First National Forest: By an Act signed by President Benjamin Harrison in 1891, Shoshone National Forest became the first national forest. Wyoming now has 9 national forests.

First Ranger Station: Wapiti Ranger Station was established in the Shoshone National Forest in 1891.

First National Monument: Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming was designated the first national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.

First Artificially Lit Evening Football Game: The first interscholastic football game to be played under artificial light took place in Midwest, Wyoming in 1925.

We still have quite a ways to go when it comes to becoming the Equality State in full though. Every year, we have to beat back bills limiting reproductive rights and attacking the rights of the GLBTQ community. It’s in the spirit of a state that had the first female governor, and that pragmatically granted women the right to vote to gain statehood, that we continue to fight. 

We wanted to pass this along on the 86th anniversary of Nellie Tayloe Ross taking office as Wyoming’s first (and only) female governor since becoming a state in 1890. We agree with Meg, author of Cognitive Dissonance, that we have a ways to go in our fight for equality for all people. This is an interesting list of Wyoming’s firsts and a reminder that Wyoming, the least populous state in the union, can still be a leader.