Ohio women have been breaking boundaries since before they could vote. In politics, the lawyer Florence Allen experienced a number of firsts including being the first woman elected to any federal court of appeals. And there are so many other ways to lead. Suffragist Mary Brown Martin became Cleveland’s first black woman on the board of education and tried to navigate the tricky world of race relations in the city.
Others, such as Jane Edna Hunter, never officially entered politics but asserted their influence for civic good. Hunter’s legacy in social services is still felt today. During times of war, women became leaders abroad and at home: fundraising, nursing, training, and waging what battles they could. Cleveland’s women follow in these footsteps, from our politicians, to our young leaders today.
Learn more about Northeast Ohio's leaders below.
France P. Bolton was the first Ohio woman elected to Congress. Elected in 1940, much of her initial accomplishments dealt with World War II. Bolton wore this trench coat while in Europe, as the first American woman (not in the armed forces) to enter Paris after its liberation. During and after the war, she made possible the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, fought for the desegregation of military nursing units, and argued that the draft should include women too.
Supporters of Mary B. Martin pinned small paper tags like this one on their coats during election season in 1939. Almost a decade earlier, in 1930, she became the first African American woman elected to the Cleveland Board of Education, where she served alongside her mentor, Lucia McBride. Martin forged relationships with powerful white Clevelanders as an attempt to improve race relations in the city, although her tactics and work on the school board were often criticized by black citizens. Despite controversy, today, Mary B. Martin is remembered as a pioneering organizer; in support of organizations like the NAACP and YMCA, and in running her own masterful campaigns.
Cleveland lobbyist Debbie Neale attended Reagan’s 1981 inaugural ball at the height of the struggle to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. The amendment would have secured equal rights for men and women, along with methods for Congress to enforce them. Neale carried this pennant with her to the Swearing-In Ceremony on the West Front of the Capitol, but was required to leave it at the entrance. She made sure to retrieve it when she left Capitol Hill.