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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Women's History Month - Leaders in Texas Government


It's Women's History Month so I thought I'd talk about several women who've made strides in government to help shape our future in the state of Texas and the world

Sarah Cockrell



 I've spoken before about Sarah Cockrell (1819-1892), a business woman who built the first iron bridge over the Trinity River in Dallas in 1872. She thought big and invested wisely and set up her own corporations. When she died in 1892, her properties were so extensive that her will had to be published in pamphlet form.







Molly Goodnight (1839-1926) established the first ranch household in the Texas Panhandle in 1877. She rescued orphaned buffaloes, had her own cattle brand, the Flying T and helped establish the Goodnight College in 1898.
Mollie Goodnight



Elizabet Ney

Elizabet Ney (1833-1907) was a renowned sculptor from Bavaria. She
moved to Texas with her husband in 1872. She secured a commission to create statues of Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. She became the outspoken advocate of the teaching of fine arts in the state's schools and was instrumental in the founding of the Texas Fine Arts Association.






Minnie Fisher Cunningham
Minnie Fisher Cunningham (1882-1964) was President of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association from 1915 to 1920 and became the first executive secretary of the National League of Women Voters. She was an important leader in the campaign for votes for women on the state and national levels. Graduating in 1901, she was one of the first women in Texas to receive a pharmacy degree from the University of Texas medical school. She ran for but lost races for the U.S. Senate in 1928 and for governor in 1944.







Sarah T. Hughes
Sarah T. Hughes was an attorney, legislator, women's rights activist, United Nations supporter, and Texas' first female state and federal judge. A member of a Dallas law firm from 1923 to 1935. she was elected to her first term in the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat on 1930 and voted "Most Valuable Member" her second term. In 1935, she became Texas' first female district judge and was reelected seven times. She was Dallas County co-chair of the Kennedy-Johnson campaign in 1960, and in the following year, President John F. Kennedy appointed her Texas' first female federal judge. After Kennedy's assassination in 1963, she administered the Presidential oath of office to Lyndon B. Johnson.


These are but a few of the many women who have influenced me and I hope by reading about these women, you'll be inspired to read more about them or look up other influential women in our state of Texas and other states in our great nation.

Thank you for stopping by today. I love seeing y'all here on Smart Girls Read Romance.

Hugs, Carra

  Carra Copelin Website, Carra's Blog , Carra's FB page , Carra's Twitter Page
   
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5 comments:

  1. Sandra NachlingerMarch 18, 2015 at 4:54 PM

    Fascinating! There's a suburb of Dallas named "Cockrell Hill." I'm guessing it was named for Sarah. I'll have to look that up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carra CopelinMarch 19, 2015 at 11:58 AM

      Sandy you're right. I believed named for Sarah and John Cockrell. Before my mom and dad moved to Arlington, we lived in that area.

      Delete
  2. Caroline ClemmonsMarch 19, 2015 at 9:24 AM

    Thanks for the history lesson! It was very interesting! Women in history don't get near the recognition they deserve!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Joan ReevesMarch 25, 2015 at 1:26 PM

    A Texas woman I admired greatly was the late Barbara Jordan. I regret that her life was cut short by illness. I think she could have been the first woman President.

    Ms. Jordan was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, and the first southern black female elected to the United States House of Representatives. She was the first African-American woman to deliver the keynote address at a Democratic National Convention. Her series of "firsts" continued with her death. She was the first African-American woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery.

    ReplyDelete

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