On This Date in Minnesota History: November 8

November 8, 1922 – Minnesota's first four woman legislators were elected on this date, two years after the passage of the 19^th Amendment that gave women the vote:

Mabeth Hurd Paige represented the 30^th District, which covered part of downtown Minneapolis to the North Side up to about Lowry Avenue. She was returned to the House in every election year until she retired in 1945.¹ Paige’s primary concerns were education, the environment, and social welfare.²

Mabeth Hurd Paige¹

A Republican, Sue Metzger Dickey Hough represented the 34th District, Hennepin County from 1923-25. “She lost her reelection attempt, however, and continued to lose races as late as 1934, when Minnesota and the nation voted overwhelmingly Democratic.  She remained active in Republican politics, sold real estate, and later worked for the Minnesota Department of Public Welfare.”²

Sue Metzger Dickey Hough²

Hannah Jensen Kempfer was elected Representative for the 50th Legislative District of the State of Minnesota (Otter Tail County).  She was the first woman to serve as the honorary speaker in the Minnesota House of Representatives after being so appointed on January 28, 1925.³

Hannah Jensen Kempfer³

Representing District 28 in Hennepin County, Myrtle Cain was known as the “flapper legislator” because of her modern attitude and dress.  She was a professional union organizer and led the first strike of the Minnesota Telephone Operators Union in 1918; almost all of the strikers were women. Cain’s most notable legislation aimed to combat the Ku Klux Klan by making it illegal to appear in public with a masked face.  It drew national attention, and fifteen states soon followed with similar anti-terrorism laws.² 

Myrtle Cain²

https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/legislators/Minnesota.html

¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabeth_Hurd_Paige    
²http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/legislators/Minnesota.html  
³http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Kempfer  

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