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#OnThisDay, Jeannette Pickering Rankin was sworn in as the 1st woman elected to Congress. Rankin was an American politician and women's rights advocate, and the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916, and again in 1940.


A suffragist during the Progressive Era, Rankin organized and lobbied for legislation enfranchising women in several states including Montana, New York, and North Dakota. During her victory speech following her first election to the House of Representatives, she recognized the power she held as the only woman able to vote in Congress saying, "I am deeply conscious of the responsibility resting upon me".[1] While in Congress, she introduced legislation similar to what would eventually became the 19th Constitutional Amendment, granting unrestricted voting rights to women nationwide. She championed the causes of women's rights and civil rights throughout a career that spanned more than six decades.

Learn more:
PBS - @unladylike2020: https://unladylike2020.com/profile/jeannette-rankin/