JEANNETTE RANKIN: CHAMPION OF PERSISTENCE

Jeannette Rankin’s name should be one we all know, after all, she was our first elected US Congresswoman! JEANNETTE RANKIN: CHAMPION OF PERSISTENCE offers us a snapshot of her life from her youth to her maturity. The show includes her battle for women's suffrage, her election as the first woman to US Congress, and her painful vote to oppose Woodrow Wilson’s War to keep the world safe for Democracy. 

During her first term Jeannette chose a brave alignment with the copper miners after the 1917 explosion in the Speculator mine near Butte, MT. It may have cost her re-election, since the copper industry owned the media, but justice for the workers mattered to her.

In the back country of Georgia, as a concerned citizen, she continues to fight against the Military Industrial complex. And then re-elected to US Congress from Montana again in 1940 she casts the lone descenting vote to keep the US out of WWII. 

After her world travels, Jeannette’s continued her pacifist efforts to bring the US troops home from Vietnam. In the final chapter of her life, Jeannette's fought for an electoral system that would truly reflect a government of, for, and by the people. 

The story of Jeannette’s long life offers us a unique slice of US History, and is a lesson in how our Democracy does or doesn’t work. You decide.

Rating: G

Runtime: 55 mins

Tags: History, Theatre

Previously performed at Mn Fringe, KC Fringe, Indy Fringe, Elgin Fringe, Tuscan Fringe, Rogue Festival in Fresno, CA