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Timeline of Women's "Firsts"
The Indiana Commission for Women is often asked for information on women's firsts in Indiana. We have compiled this list from a variety of sources. However, we know we have left important people off the list.
Can you think of others? It doesn't have to be in politics...It can be in business, education, nonprofit sector, anything. Just send us a quick email with the name, date and the notable fact to kgarvey@icw.in.gov. All we ask is that you send us a link to a reliable source so that we can verify and cite the fact.
Date |
Event |
1875 |
Elizabeth (Bessie) Jane Eaglesfield becomes the first female lawyer admitted to the Indiana bar under a Vigo Circuit Court order and one of the first fifteen women lawyers in the United States |
1895 |
Helen M. Gougar becomes one of the first women to argue before the Indiana Supreme Court on her own behalf in a case appealing the denial of her right to vote in the 1894 election. The case was filed in the Tippecanoe Superior Court |
1896 |
Miss Mary Harry Peacock becomes the first woman admitted to practice before the Indiana Supreme Court |
1920 |
Indiana Legislature ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote on January 16, 1920 |
1920 |
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified on August 26, 1920 |
1920 |
Julia D. Nelson, of Delaware County, became the first woman to serve in the General Assembly as a member of the House of Representatives |
1920 |
Mrs. Anna D. Monroe is the first woman to vote in Indiana on November 2, 1920, after the passage of the 19th Amendment |
1921 |
Adele Ida Storck becomes the first woman admitted to the Indianapolis Bar Association |
1921 |
Catherine Dinklage is elected to the Fort Wayne City Council, becoming the first woman elected to any office in Indiana |
1922 |
Georgia Blume is elected Allen County recorder |
1923 |
Elizabeth Rainey of Marion County becomes the first woman officially elected to her seat in the Indiana House of Representatives |
1926 |
Grace Urbahns is appointed to State Treasurer following the death of her husband and was reelected in 1928 to become the first woman elected to Indiana State Treasurer |
1927 |
Fern Ale becomes the first woman to serve as secretary of the state senate during the 1927 session of the Indiana General Assembly |
1933 |
Virginia E. Jenckes unseats a 16-year veteran Congressman to become the first Indiana woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives |
1937 |
Virginia Jenckes becomes the first American woman appointed as a delegate to the Interparliamentary Union in Paris |
1939 |
Juliet Peddle, Terre Haute, becomes the first female architect licensed by the state of Indiana |
1942 |
Arcada Stark Balz became the first woman elected to the Indiana Senate and served until 1946 |
1943 |
Marie Goth is the first woman commissioned to do an official portrait of an Indiana Governor, Governor Henry F. Schricker |
1951 |
Cecil Harden became first woman member of a House Committee to make an official trip around the world |
1955 |
Z. Mae Jimison becomes first African-American woman to win an Indianapolis Mayoral Primary |
1957 |
Mary Jancosek Bercik becomes the first woman to serve as mayor of an Indiana city when she is appointed as Mayor of Whiting, Indiana after her husband dies in office |
1959 |
After completing her husband's term, Mary Jancosek Bercik went on to seek and win the mayoral office for the next four years |
1961 |
Dorothy Gardner becomes the first woman to hold the office of Indiana Auditor |
1964 |
V. Sue Shields becomes the first female trial court judge in Indiana when she was elected to the Hamilton County Superior Court |
1967 | Flo Doty, Alberta Edwards, Barbara Hanley, and Liz Coffal Robinson serve on the Indianapolis Police Department's female pistol team, the first in the United States. |
1969 |
Barbara Boyd joins the staff of Channel 6 and becomes the first African-American female reporter |
1972 |
Julia Carson, the first African-American woman to serve in the Indiana General Assembly, was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives |
1973 |
Governor Otis R. Bowen enables the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women which lasted for several years but was disbanded after the Governor requested that the responsibility for funding be changed to the legislature. The legislature did not appropriate funds for the Commission |
1975 |
Betty Barteau becomes the first woman elected to the Marian Superior Court |
1976 |
Linda Chazem becomes the first woman to serve as a county court judge |
1977 |
Virginia Dill McCarty, first woman in the nation appointed to full term as U.S. Attorney (appointed to the Southern District of Indiana) |
1978 |
V. Sue Shields becomes the first female Judge of the Indiana Court of Appeals |
1982 |
Katie Beatrice Hall becomes the first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after being appointed to replace Indiana Democratic Representative Adam Benjamin, Jr., who died suddenly in |
1984 |
Virginia Dill McCarty, first woman to run for Governor of Indiana |
1984 |
Katie Beatrice Hall becomes first African-American woman elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives |
1984 |
Sarah Evans Barker becomes the first female federal judge in Indiana when she was appointed to the United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana |
1988 |
Z. Mae Jimison becomes the first African-American woman judge in Indianapolis |
1992 |
By Executive Order 92-15, the Indiana Commission for Women is established |
1993 |
Pam Carter becomes the first woman elected to Indiana Attorney General |
1994 |
V. Sue Shields is the first woman appointed as a federal magistrate judge in Indiana |
1994 |
Dr. Suellen Reed becomes the first woman to serve as Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction |
1994 |
Sue Ann Gilroy becomes the first woman to serve as Indiana Secretary of State |
1995 |
Myra Selby becomes the first woman and the first African-American to be appointed justice of the Indiana Supreme Court |
1996 |
Effective July 1, 1996, the Indiana Commission for Women received enabling legislation making it a state entity by statute. Sponsored by 16 state senators and 20 representatives, the legislation was co-authored by Senator Becky Skillman and Senator Vi Simpson and co-sponsored in the house by Representatives Susan Crosby and Sue Scholer. |
1998 |
Sen. Vi Simpson becomes first woman to serve as the caucus' representative on the State Budget Committee (1998 to 2007) |
2002 |
Una Mae Reck becomes the first female chancellor at Indiana University South Bend on July 1, 2002 |
2003 |
Kathy Davis becomes first woman to be appointed to Indiana Lt. Governor |
2004 |
Becky Skillman becomes first woman to be elected to Indiana Lt. Governor |
2006 |
Rep. Phyllis Pond becomes the first female lawmaker to sit in the front row of the Indiana House of Representatives |
2006 |
Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon becomes Indiana’s first female Hispanic state legislator |
2008 |
Sen. Vi Simpson becomes the first woman elected as Minority Leader by the Senate Democrat Caucus |
2010 |
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt is the first African-American federal judge in Indiana history when she is appointed to the United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana |
2014 |
Loretta Rush becomes the first female Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court |
Citations
- “A historic look back at the Statehouse”, Indianapolis Star, January 9, 2005
- Cavinder, Fred D. (1985). The Indiana book of records, firsts, and fascinating facts. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press
- Indiana Women’s History Association website, www.iwh.iupui.edu.
- “Lawyers in the Legislature”, http://www.in.gov/judiciary/citc/museum/law-leg/html/index.html
- “Lawmaker is first lady of the front row: State Rep. Phyllis Pond's 27 years include few foes but enough grit to defy her party on occasion.” Schneider, Mary Beth, Indianapolis Star, December 28, 2005
- http://www.indianahistory.org/
- http://womenincongress.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=99#foot11.
- http://womenincongress.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=117
- http://womenincongress.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=96
- http://www.in.gov/judiciary/citc/museum/female-firsts/index.html
- http://www.in.gov/legislative/senate_democrats/homepages/s40/mybiography.htm
- http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/news/features/article_27921ca9-1dd4-55f6-bf97-0c8557bb58aa.html
- http://www.whiting.lib.in.us/Mayors.html