the first female congresswoman

Who knew that the first female congresswoman was born in Missoula, Montana, where I spent a week this summer? It's true. She was the definition of a hippie, fighting for women's lib, and in the 40s, she was the only Congressperson to vote against war with Japan. (She thought FDR made it all up...)
Anyways, there's this awesome shop in Missoula named after her that sells all sorts of free-trade products from all over the globe, specifically products made by women in struggling countries where they have literally no job opportunities. I could have spent my life savings on things like giant frisbees with peace signs on them, weird posters, and what not...

I found this on a notecard and thought it was a perfect description of the school where I teach...our leaders are fully committed to all of these things, not just TAKS scores, and encourage teachers to be too.

I also really like this poster...who wouldn't?

Here's a brief bio I hacked from a few websites if you'd like to read more...: Jeanette Rankin was born in Missoula on June 11, 1880. After graduating from Montana University in 1902, Rankin worked as a schoolteacher. She became a member of the Republican Party and in 1916 Rankin decided to run for Congress. Rankin, who campaigned for universal suffrage, prohibition, child welfare reform, became the first woman to be elected to the House of Representatives.

One of her first actions was to introduce a bill that would have allowed women citizenship independent of their husbands. A pacifist, Rankin was one of the 49 members of Congress to vote against war with Germany. Rankin's controversial views on the First World War, trade union rights, equal pay and birth-control, lost her the Republican Senate nomination in 1918. She therefore stood as an independent but without the support of a party machine, was easily defeated. She remained active in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the National Council for the Prevention of War.

In 1940 Rankin was elected to the House of Representatives on an anti-war programme. Rankin maintained this position and in December, 1941, was the only member of Congress to vote against the declaration of war on Japan. Rankin was convinced that Franklin D. Roosevelt had deliberately provoked the Japanese attack. Once again her pacifism made her extremely unpopular with the electorate and she decided not to stand for re-election.

In the 1960s Rankin established a self-sufficient women's co-operative in Georgia. Rankin was also active in the campaign against the Vietnam War and on 15th May, 1968, at the age of 87, led a women's demonstration against the war in Washington. Jeannette Rankin died at Carmel, California, on 18th May, 1973.

You can find the notecards and posters here: (though different from the shop in missoula)

http://syracuseculturalworkers.com/