Olympia Brown (1835-1926) was the first fully ordained and denominationally
recognized female minister. She went on to pastor in churches at Marshfield and
Montpelier, Vermont; Weymouth, Massachusetts; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Racine,
Wisconsin. In the summer of 1867, Brown delivered more than 300 speeches in Kansas
advocating for the passage of an amendment to grant suffrage to women. She dedicated
her life to the movement, and worked with the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Lucy
Stone. Brown formed the New England Women's Suffrage Association. Additionally, she
led the Wisconsin Suffrage Association and went on to become the president of the
Federal Suffrage Association from 1903 to 1920.
Dr. Charlotte Coté, a member of the
Tseshaht First Nation, is an Associate Professor in American Indian Studies at the
University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Coté's areas of academic interest are
Native sovereignty, law, governance, policy, and treaty rights. She has published in
the areas of Native sovereignty in Canada and the United States, traditional Indian
law and justice systems, the Makah and Nuu-Chah-Nulth Whaling Tradition, and the
Northwest Coast Guardian Spirit Complex.
