Flathead Valley Community College will host the Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau program, “Jeannette Rankin: America’s Conscience,” presented by Mary Jane Bradbury on Feb. 9.
Bradbury will share Jeannette Rankin’s journey from grassroots suffragist to being the first female to serve in U.S. government.
Born to privilege in 19th-century Montana, Rankin found her passion working for child-labor and welfare reform. Humanitarian, pacifist and tireless advocate for social reform, Rankin became the first woman elected to U.S. Congress and the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. entry into both world wars. Bradbury will present Rankin’s own words on her views on equality and government reform, which ring true today.
Bradbury is a scholar and actress who brings history to life for audiences of all ages in the Rocky Mountain region. She teaches for the Colorado Humanities and is an historic interpreter for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Free and open to the public, the event will take place at 10 a.m. in the large community room inside the Arts and Technology Building on the college campus. Partial funding for the Speakers Bureau program is provided by a legislative grant from Montana’s Cultural Trust and the National Endowment for the Humanities.