Who was Susanna Salter? It is not a question that most of the people would be able to answer today, but on her own time, she broke the glass ceiling in a field where women had to yet make their mark – politics. Elections in a democracy are certainly not a matter of joke, but that is how the name of Susanna M Salter ended up in a mayoral election in the first place. Below we take a look at some of the facts about Susanna Madora Salter, which makes her story worth remembering.
Susanna was born as Susanna Madora Kinsey on 2nd March 1860, in Smith Township, Belmont County, Ohio, USA. Her parents, Oliver Kinsey and Terissa Ann White Kinsey, were both descendants of colonists who arrived from England. Susanna’s early life was quite uneventful. She enrolled in Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan, however, she left the same 6 weeks before graduation because of illness.
However, she had met Lewis Allison Salter earlier in Manhattan, who was the son of former Kansas Lieutenant Governor, Melville J Salter. After Salter graduated in 1879, the couple married on 1st September 1880. Two years later the couple moved to the small town of Argonia, in Sumner County, Kansas, where the husband managed a hardware store. However, a year later Susanna Salter’s parents moved to the town, where her daughter stayed and purchased the store.
The town of Argonia was incorporated in 1885 and Susanna Salter’s father – Oliver Kinsey became its first mayor and her husband became the city clerk. A couple of years later the Kansas legislature passed a law giving the women of the state, the power to vote in elections.
In 1883 an organization had been formed in Argonia – the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.). Susanna Salter was affiliated with this organization. Its effective role was very limited as women didn’t have the right to vote previously. However, once the Kansas legislature gave the women the right to vote, this would change very fast in the town with less than 500 people.
The elections for the town scheduled for April 1887, were seen as members of this organization as an opportunity to make a difference. A prominent issue on which the group of women decided to focus on was the prohibition of alcohol in the town. They called a meeting with this goal of formalizing nominees who would support their demands.
At the same time some other group of men, who were known as “wets” and were against prohibition, decided to oppose the plan and actions of members of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Two from these group of anti-prohibitionist men infiltrated the meeting and tried to disrupt the proceedings. But the women were in no mood for compromising on their ideologies and made a list of their candidates for election.
These were initial days of election proceedings and elections were not as organized, as they are now and registration of candidates was also not done before the election day. Taking advantage of these facts, the group of anti-prohibitionist men or the so-called “wets” drew up a list of candidates which was identical to that of W.C.T.U. however, the only catch was that for the office of the mayor – they put the name of Susanna Salter.
Putting the name of Susanna Salter was nothing more than a prank for these men. Their logic was that W.C.T.U. members would vote their own candidate & men of the town would never vote for a woman. The “wets” believed that Susanna Salter, who would hardly get around 20 or so votes from them, would lose the election. The defeat of a woman would humiliate the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) and women in general, and stop them from taking an active interest in politics in the future.
As has been said earlier that in those times, names of the candidates were not mandatory to be made public before the election day. This ensured that the plan hatched by “wets” almost came close to becoming successful. Susanna Salter herself was not notified that she was a mayoral candidate, but ballot papers were printed on her name, without her consent or information. The people of the town were confused on the day of the election when they saw the name of Susanna Salter on the ballot.
To remove the confusion & clear the situation, a delegation visited Susanna Salter on her home, sent by the chairman of the local Republican Party. Susanna Salter being ignorant of the situation that was happening outside was busy washing clothes in her home. The situation was explained to her & she was asked if that she was indeed interested in the election or wanted to withdraw.
Susanna Salter though initially was taken aback by the whole development but soon regained her composure. She told the delegates at her house that she would contest the election. It was an unexpected situation for everyone but W.C.T.U members decided to turn the situation to their advantage. The Republicans, who were also not happy with people trying to turn the elections into a joke, decided to vote for Susanna Salter.
The W.C.T.U. decided to support Susanna Salter forsaking their own candidate. Susanna Salter for her part went to vote at 4 pm along with her parents on the red-letter day of 4th April 1887. Modesty & culture of the time prevented candidates from voting for themselves & Susanna Salter left the ballot for the post of mayor unmarked.
With the votes of W.C.T.U. behind her, Susanna Salter won the election with a big majority. The joke intended for humiliating women instead created the first female mayor of America.
Susanna Salter’s victory was a landmark event in politics of the time & reactions started to come, ranging from her own home to those from outside the country. Susanna Salter’s husband was not too happy when he found his wife had given her willingness (albeit at the last moment) to contest in the elections. Her winning the election was an even bigger surprise. However, he soon became a supportive husband, who even demonstrated pride in being the husband of the mayor.
Messages of congratulations & criticism began to come from multiple different sources, cutting across national boundaries. Many supporters of the women's rights movement praised her for her accomplishments, but many strangers also sent hate massages to her, complaining about how a female had crossed her original boundaries. Being America’s first female mayor was expected to bring its share of unwanted attention & it did.
News reporters also flocked to the small town of Argonia, interested to see things for themselves and judge the response of the people. The actions of America’s first female mayor were scrutinized and the matter debated if the participation of women in politics would improve or harm society.
Many also criticized her without any justified cause for breaking the social norms, which were highlighted as negative press and jokes. Others decided to take a more cautious wait and watch policy. In spite of being under constant supervision, Susanna Salter’s actions were quite mature and balanced, which soon won her appreciation from many.
Besides Susanna Salter, 5 other members of the town council were also selected. Much later it became known that 3 of these had been among the 20 pranksters who had put the name of Susanna Salter on the ballot as a joke. However, Susanna Salter showed a great degree of maturity & allowed the male members total freedom to do their job, although there were very little complicated decisions to take in a small town with a population of even less than 500. So practically the decisions taken by her & the council were of relatively simple nature & on minor issues of the small town.
Susanna Salter served for a year as the mayor of her town & took $1 salary for her services. During this time, she balanced her home and official duties quite well, which could be understood by the fact that she gave birth to a child while holding office. For a 27-year-old, first time mayor, she did her job quite well.
However, the unnecessary attention with accompanying mails from strangers from different quarters had been stressful, to say the least. Giving a reply & taking care of these took a lot of her time and finances (much more than her salary). Her official job responsibilities which although did not involve much crucial or important decision-making procedures still took an important chunk of her time. After 1 year she decided that she did not want to run for re-election and instead chose to devote all her time to her family.
The family continued to live in Argonia, till her husband decided to move the whole family to Oklahoma. Although Susanna Salter left the town where she made history, the achievement made by her stayed forever etched in the nation's conscious and people’s memory. A small symbol of this is a bronze plaque mounted on a stone base, which was unveiled on 10 November 1933 in the public square of Argonia, in presence of Susanna Salter, honoring her.
Susanna Salter left for heavenly abode in 1961 at the age of 101 years but the legacy left by her reverberates to this day. Long after the prankster’s name who put her name for the election has been forgotten, Susanna Salter’s name continues to make people believe in miracles, and inspire them to be the best version of themselves. Even when others decide to make her look like one, she clearly proved that being America’s first female mayor was no joke.