Political Quotes

“We have a lot of firsts that, again, when we look at Alaska's history and recognize we did not become a State until 1959, it is a very recent history, but yet women's involvement in some very important firsts have gone back so many years prior to statehood it really gets your attention. Historically, Alaskan women were employed in jobs that women in other areas of the country could only dream about. In 1915, Anchorage employed its first female principal in the Anchorage School District, our largest community now, 3 years before World War I and 5 years before women's suffrage was ratified. A year later, 1916, and still 4 years before national women's suffrage passed, Lena Morrow Lewis is believed to be the first woman to campaign for Alaska's territorial seat in the U.S. Congress. She did not win, but she was certainly followed by other pioneering women in the workforce. Marvel Crosson was the first female licensed pilot in Alaska in 1927. Mildred Herman became the first woman admitted to the Alaska Bar Association in 1934. And Barbara Washburn was the first woman to climb Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America. This is all long before Alaska became a State. Other opportunities for women, as we flip through the history books, become very apparent. A woman by the name of Nell Scott became the first woman to serve in the Alaska State legislature in 1937.”