65.255.77.24 at 18:51, 4 January 2007

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'''Kate Barnard''' ([[May 23]] [[1875]]–[[February 23]] [[1930]]) was the first woman to be [[elected]] as a [[Oklahoma|State]] official in [[Oklahoma]], and the [[United States]] in [[1907]]. She served as Oklahoma's first [[Commissioner]] of [[Charitable organization|Charities]] and [[Corrections|Correction]] for 2 terms (this position was the only one that the 1907 [[Oklahoma Constitution|Oklahoma State Constitution]] permitted a woman to hold).

==Early work in charity==
Prior to [[Enabling act (United States)|Oklahoma statehood]], Barnard was involved in aid and charity work in [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|Oklahoma City]] and was the head of the [[labor union|union]]-[[label]] organization in Oklahoma. She also participated in the Farm-Labor meetings of [[1906]] in [[Shawnee, Oklahoma|Shawnee]] which drafted the "Shawnee Demands" that later formed the basis of the soon-to-be-drafted Oklahoma state constitution.

==Elected Charities and Corrections Commissioner==
===Compulsory education, child labor, abuse of prisoners===
After her election as the Charities and Corrections Commissioner, she was a key player in the enactment of the [[compulsory education]] [[laws]], state support of poor [[widow]]s dependent on their children's earnings, and statutes implementing the constitutional ban on [[child labor]]. She also was an advocate for working Oklahomans through the work she did in securing [[legislation]] aimed at eradicating [[workplace safety|unsafe working conditions]] and the [[blacklisting|blacklist]] of union members. Some have said that her most important action may have been when we she uncovered the [[abuse|horrid treatment]] of Oklahoma [[prisoners]] who were being held in [[Kansas]] prisons under [[contract]], which included [[forced labor]] in [[coal]] [[coal mine|mines]] and [[torture]]. Her work and the pressure she put on Oklahoma's first [[Governor of Oklahoma|Governor]], [[Charles N. Haskell]], resulted in the return of the prisoners to Oklahoma and the construction of the Oklahoma state penitentiary in [[McAlester, Oklahoma]].

===End of her political career===
Her political career ended during her second term in office, after she began to advocate on behalf of [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] wards who were being cheated out of their land as a result of [[grafting]]. Her work on behalf of Indian children raised the ire of [[William H. Murray]] and other prominent Oklahoma businessmen and officials who convinced the [[Oklahoma Legislature|state legislature]] to defund her office.

==Later life, death, and legacy==
During the rest of her life, Barnard continued to live in Oklahoma (often traveling to [[Colorado]] and other [[U.S. states|states]] during the [[summer]] due to her severe health problems) and she died on [[February 23]], [[1930]] in [[Oklahoma City]] (where she was found dead in a [[hotel]] bathroom). She was buried in Oklahoma City (in a grave that was not marked until the [[1980s]]), but today a bronze statute of her is on display on the first floor of the [[Oklahoma State Capitol]].

==See also==
* [[Jeannette Rankin]] first woman elected to the [[United States Congress]]
* [[Oklahoma Constitution]]

== References ==
* [http://www.sandravanzandt.com/kate_barnard.htm Katie Barnard "Our Good Angel" (information on the statute erected in her honor)]
* One Woman's Political Journey: Kate Barnard and Social Reform 1875-1930 by Lynn Musslewhite and Suzanne Jones Crawford
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9013411 "Barnard, Kate." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 11 Mar. 2006 ]
* [http://redflagpress.nfshost.com/#ourhero Our Heroine, Kate Barnard (Red Flag Press)]

[[Category:1875 births|Barnard, Kate]]
[[Category:1930 deaths|Barnard, Kate]]
[[Category:History of Oklahoma|Barnard, Kate]]
[[Category:Oklahoma politicians|Barnard, Kate]]

Kate Barnard - Revision history

65.255.77.24 at 18:51, 4 January 2007