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Martha Hughes Cannon Traveling Exhibit and Toolkits
February 23, 2022 It’s been 125 years since Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon made history as the country’s first female state senator. Utah chose to send a statue of her to represent our state in Washington, D.C., but the pandemic delayed her planned installation in 2020. Her statue should make it to our nation’s capital this […]Read More -
125 Years of Utah Women in Government
November 3, 2021 Today marks the 125th anniversary of Utah women’s first elections to government! Our first election after statehood was the first time Utah women could run for public office, and Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon was the first woman elected to a state senate in the United States! Her statue will soon represent Utah […]Read More -
2020 by the Numbers
December 28, 2020 It’s safe to say 2020 didn’t turn out like we expected. Although countless events and exhibits had to be cancelled or postponed, we’re proud of the creative ways Utahns honored trailblazing women in our history. We hope you’ll follow along as we continue these efforts next year! 2020 by the numbers: 3 […]Read More -
A Path Forward—Utah’s New Women’s History Memorial
We’re thrilled with the new memorial to Utah women’s history! We unveiled this gift from Better Days 2020 to the state of Utah in a special ceremony for the centennial of the 19th Amendment in August 2020. “A Path Forward” was created by artists Kelsey Harrison and Jason Manley to honor Utah women’s contributions to […]Read More -
Utah Suffragists and the National Woman’s Party
by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director September 10, 2020 As we’ve described in past blog posts, Utah suffragists were involved in the national movement for women’s voting rights from the 1870s onward. In the 1910s, Utahns worked with two rival suffrage organizations—the more moderate National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and the more radical […]Read More -
Suffrage Colors Explained
by Katherine Kitterman, BD2020 Historical Director July 10, 2020 You’ve seen the photos of sash-wearing suffragists holding banners outside the White House or marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. But do you know the meaning of the colors they wore? And what about the colors of other important organizations working for women’s rights? The first major campaign […]Read More -
Marching for Suffrage
by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director July 8, 2020 If you’ve been watching the new PBS documentary The Vote, you may have wondered how Utahns fit in with the national suffrage parades and protests of the 1910s. In 1913, Alice Paul organized a grand parade down Washington, D.C.’s Pennsylvania Avenue for the National […]Read More -
Better Days 2020 – Week 10 – The Impact of the Voting Rights Act, in Maps and Charts
June 1, 2020 Welcome back to Reading Club! For our last week, we’re looking at the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), an essential piece of legislation protecting the rights of people of color who often faced significant obstacles when trying to vote. This Vox article by Dara Lind features 19 different charts and maps […]Read More -
Mother-Daughter Duos in Utah’s Suffrage Story, Part 2
By Tiffany Greene, Better Days 2020 Historical Research Consultant May 25, 2020 Dr. Ellen Ferguson and Claire Ferguson: A talented speaker and intelligent thinker, Dr. Ellen Ferguson began practicing medicine in Salt Lake in the 1870’s. One newspaper noted: “In…all that relates to the medical profession, Mrs Dr. Ferguson has no superiors and few equals.” […]Read More -
Better Days 2020 Reading Club – Week 6: How Black Suffragists Fought for the Right to Vote and a Modicum of Respect
April 27, 2020 We’ve read five articles together through the Better Days 2020 Reading Club, and we hope you’ve enjoyed all of them so far! We have some great topics planned for the next few weeks, so make sure to stay tuned to our social media for our weekly posts. When we discussed the division […]Read More -
Suffrage in Utah’s Constitutional Convention
By Katherine Kitterman and Rebekah Clark April 18, 2020 125 years ago, in the spring of 1895, delegates gathered in Salt Lake City to write a state constitution for Utah. Each of the 107 male delegates came to the convention pledged to support women’s equal voting rights. Utah suffragists had spent the past five years […]Read More -
The Transcontinental Railroad and Utah Women’s Suffrage
by Katherine Kitterman, Better Days Historical Director May 8, 2019 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad. Completed with a ceremonial golden spike driven at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869, the railroad brought technological, economic, and cultural changes to Utah Territory. Despite the fact that women do not appear in […]Read More -
Abolition and Women’s Suffrage
By Katherine Kitterman, Better Days 2020 Historical Director February 21, 2019 Women’s suffrage in America grew out of the movement to end slavery. Many of the people who spearheaded the women’s rights movement were abolitionists. Although women in the early United States weren’t allowed to vote, many of them found ways to be involved in […]Read More