The Women’s Movement was made at the intersection of class, race, and gender.

(Her)Story: Founders, Leaders, and Visionaries gives a brief look into the history of the women of Southwest Washington.

This virtual companion takes a deeper look at some of the themes and stories touched on in the main exhibit. It is a living exhibit designed to incorporate new information and stories as they are uncovered. We welcome the community to join us in this exploration as participants and contributors.

Since Time Immemorial, Indigenous peoples have lived along the Lower Columbia River in what we now call Clark County. Native women in the region held significant roles and influence in their communities. They tended land, served as leaders in the Plankhouses, skippered canoes and provided spiritual guidance. These women shaped the life, landscape and commerce of the Pacific Northwest.

The sounds of the alive Chinook Wa-Wa today is much to the credit of Catherine George Hawks, a key cultural and linguist informant during a period of ethnographic documentation of the Lower Chinook dialect. A powerful woman, she was the daughter of Willapa Tyee Wa’se’qua. She witnessed her husband, Willapa Tyee Thomas “Hawks” Huckwelt, sign the Tansy Point Treaty in 1851. She continued to advocate for the Chinook and help with peace efforts after his passing.

The Hudson’s Bay Company established Fort Vancouver in 1825. A vibrant trade and  commerce center, the outpost resulted in a number of cultural intersections between women of Native nations and European arrivals.

Born Esther Pariseau in 1823, Mother Joseph learned carpentry and masonry from her father. The sisters built St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Providence Academy. In 46 years in the Pacific Northwest, she built 29 buildings — schools, orphanages, and hospitals.

As the Hudson’s Bay Company withdrew to British Columbia in 1849, the U.S. Army established Vancouver Barracks, setting the stage for a new mingling of military, Americans, and Indigenous people. Country marriages became less common with the arrival of more Euro-American women. Army wives, with their cultural and racial mores, assumed the leadership in local society.

Known as Fannie, Frances Moale Gibbon traveled with her husband, Company Commander General John Gibbons, and family to many outlying posts. Fannie and her two daughters became suffragists, appreciating that women in the Washington Territory could vote. In support, General Gibbons penned an article in Harper’s Weekly titled “In Defense of Women’s Right to Vote.”

Crossing the Plains from 1845 to 1860 to procure “free” land in the Oregon Territory was anything but free. Because of their marital status and society’s attitudes, many women lacked the privileges of mobility, safety, and the ability to decide where and how to live. But others did! Romantic notions, loyalty to one’s husband, the challenges of the frontier, and a sense of adventure underscored the travel of many women to the West.

Mary Jane Bean Hayden crossed the Plains in 1849 at 19 with her husband, delivering twin girls days after arriving. An ardent suffragist and friend of Abigail Scott Duniway, Hayden served as treasurer of the Clark County Equal Rights Association. Her published work Pioneer Days offers a glimpse into her journey across the Plains.

The United States was experiencing an era of astonishing reform as women moved in great numbers into Clark County. A fervent religious evangelism — the Second Great Awakening – played out in revival and camp meetings across the country and set the stage for the birth of two prohibition movements – abolitionism, against slavery, and temperance, against alcohol. Personal responsibility and reform were at the core of these campaigns.

The Vancouver Methodist Episcopal Church was the center of women’s progressive issues in Clark County and the launching point for much of the suffrage work in the county. First preaching sermons at Fort Vancouver in 1834, Jason Lee’s early ministry, with its focus on welcoming people of all backgrounds and equality, helped solidify its position within the community. The church  welcomed Susan B. Anthony as a speaker in 1896.

A “New Woman” emerged as the 20th century dawned. In addition to the charitable efforts, cultural self-improvement, and civic reforms her mother pursued, this woman of the new century was feisty – she rode bicycles with her friends and climbed mountains with the Mazamas. And she challenged conventional gender roles, expressing both her autonomy and individuality. Into the streets for suffrage, she expanded the movement into a direct campaign to gain the vote.

Soroptimist International of Vancouver (SI Vancouver) formed on Dec. 6, 1941. SI Vancouver members accomplished a great deal: created and ran the Grant House Museum from 1952 to 1983; raised funds for women’s scholarships, children’s books for schools, and fire-safety equipment. While SI Vancouver disbanded on May 17, 2011, the Soroptimist International clubs of Southwest Washington and Camas-Washougal continue advocating for social and economic empowerment for women.

After winning and then losing the vote in the state, Washington finally approved suffrage for women on Nov. 8, 1910, returning the right to women in the state. Washington was the first state in the 20th century to do so and eight society women in Vancouver made the news in January 1911 as they registered to vote. Suffrage successes in the West pumped new energy into a lagging national movement, and Oregon followed suit, approving the women’s vote in 1912.

Women in Washington Territory – including Black women – initially won the vote in 1883, a victory that was short lived when the Territorial Supreme Court overturned the law in 1888. In 1910, Washington voted again to extend the vote to women, helping reinvigorate the drive to the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment. Communities of color were active in the suffrage movement but were not guaranteed the right with the 19th Amendment. Black and Indigenous suffragists felt the betrayal as white, mostly middle-class women rejoiced and largely ignored the discrimination at the ballot box.

During the first half of the 20th-century, women continued and increased their efforts to attain leadership roles in political, professional, business, and other arenas.

Eva King Burgett (1890-1979) served as County Clerk and then County Treasurer from 1934-1966. At the time of her retirement, Eva was the longest serving elected official in Clark County, having won eight elections. During her tenure, she was known for her skill at investing and management of county money. She was a member of the Soroptimist club, served as president of the Washington State Elective Officials Association and the Washington State Association of County Treasurers, and was a member of the Daughters of the Pioneers of Washington. She was also instrumental in developing a museum in the Grant House.

Drawn to the high wages promised by the Kaiser Shipyards during WWII, Vancouver’s African American community had swelled to nearly 9,000 residents by 1944. Once here, many African American women found themselves working as welders. These women included Ida Bell Anderson Jones, Theodie Chapman Owens, Pat James Howard, Jewel Linville Overton, and Ollie Mae Stevens.

Bertha Baugh helped charter and was co-president of the NAACP Vancouver Branch #1139. She dedicated her life to teaching and fighting racism. She believed, “The instinctive response must be what’s right, not fear. We’re all human.”

The women of Clark County have long wielded significant economic and political power. From the early Indigenous Chinook and Cowlitz Nations, through the suffrage movement, to today – the work of these women, and the groups they led ushered in a new era of women as powerful political and community leaders.