A century of women legislators in Arkansas is topic of couple’s book

Clinton center event lauds 100 years

The Sentinel-Record/Grace Brown. The Arkansas state flag is shown flying
The Sentinel-Record/Grace Brown. The Arkansas state flag is shown flying


LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas women have been able to serve as legislators for over a hundred years, but information about some of the state's female trailblazers had been scarce until a husband and wife decided to delve into historical archives to tell their story.

Over 50 people gathered at the Clinton Presidential Center on a cool Tuesday night to hear a conversation with authors Lindsley Armstrong Smith and her husband, Stephen A. Smith, both former Arkansas legislators, about their book, "Stateswomen," that chronicles the life of women legislators from 1922 to 2022.

The book celebrates the centenary of women legislators' membership in the Arkansas General Assembly. It features biographies of all 146 Arkansas women legislators, describing their political activity and public service in the context of the expansion of the role of women in the public sphere.

"This is an important night, and you are part of this history," Lindsley Smith told the audience. "...One thing that jumps out of this book is the public service of these women legislators. Everyone who has reviewed this says it's something that hits you right in the face. It's a book filled with a lot of gutsy women."

The event coincided with a temporary exhibit at the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, titled "Women's Voices, Women's Votes, Women's Rights," that commemorates the centennial of the 19th Amendment's ratification.

The United States also witnessed last week the election of a record number of female governors, with voters in 12 states electing women to the role, including Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who will take office in Arkansas in January.

House spokeswoman Cecillea Pond-Mayo told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette a record 26 women have been elected to the House for the 94th General Assembly. She said the previous record was 25 in 2019.

At the end of 2020, the House had 29 women serving, three of them elected in special elections, Pond-Mayo said.

Several current and former women legislators were in attendance at the event and received a round of applause from the audience when Lindsley Smith pointed them out.

She called the book an important piece of history that will provide a wealth of information for future research on these women.

"Thanks to grant funding we received, we have created the nation's largest archive on state female legislators," she said.

The Smiths have been working on this project since 2005. One obstacle they faced was a lack of information available on the early women leaders.

Stephen Smith said many archives never collected information on the women legislators, and most newspapers didn't even refer to the women by name.

"It was usually Miss or Mrs. and the husband's name," Stephen Smith said. "This story tells so much because so little has been written about women at all, and least of all women legislators."

Lindsley Smith agreed, mentioning how women were called furniture in old news clippings and how their public service was devalued at the time.

She said that is why it was important to be able to hear and record these stories about the women legislators directly from them or their families.

"We wanted to let them tell their lives in their voices," she said.

Lindsley Smith said the women came from all walks of life and areas of the state, but they all shared a heart for public service.

The event included a video featuring stories being told by some of the former legislators themselves. Some of the stories were about funny incidents that happened to them, while others went deeper into the challenges they faced in a male-dominated field.

"I think I was an oddity when I was elected," former Republican Sen. Ruth Whitaker said in the video. "Politics for centuries had been a male's world."

Judy Petty Wolf, a former Republican state legislator, spoke about her efforts to break into the political field and how at the time her philosophy ran up against the women's movement.

"About that time the women's movement was starting and women used to wear these buttons that said 'I make policy, not coffee,' and I would see that and think that is ridiculous," she said in the video. "I made so much coffee and served so much coffee because I wanted to be in the rooms where decisions were being made. I tried to be like a sponge. So when I saw those buttons I thought, you guys are missing the boat. Then eventually I did make policy."

Lindsley said all the stories of these women touched her heart and are an important piece of history, as 16 of the women legislators she interviewed have since died.

Stephen Smith said while the biographies in the book are amazing, the introduction, where the authors examine the neglected role of women in Arkansas political history and how the fight for full citizenship rights for women played out, is equally important.

"What this book shows is how women were working their way into the halls of power before they could even vote and eventually be elected to the General Assembly," he said. "There were many barriers before them, including geography, legal restrictions and a male-dominated profession. Despite these early Arkansas realities, women persisted and found doors that were not there to go through."

Lindsley said despite differences in age, politics and beliefs, there is a sense of common ground when it comes to women legislators no matter the party.

"All of these women are my friends, and they touched me whether they are alive or not," she said. "They are amazing. Women leaders are leaders of Arkansas. All of them."


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