Bio of Carrie Chapman Catt--Intro and Chapter 1

Chapter 3

After graduation, Carrie planned to become a lawyer and started to study law in a lawyer’s office.  Then she was offered a job as a high school teacher in Mason City, Iowa.  She took the job to save money for law school, but she did so well as a teacher that she soon was appointed principal of the high school and superintendent of schools.

            There were some people who though Carrie was not the right person to be school superintendent.  Many children had been skipping classes and causing trouble.  Would a young woman like Carrie be able to handle disciplinary problems?  One of the first things Carrie did as superintendent was to visit every school in town.  She found the worst troublemakers and gave each one a sound thrashing.  Discipline suddenly improved.

            While living in Mason City, Carrie met Leo Chapman, who had moved there to become the owner and editor of one of the two main newspapers in town.  Carrie and Leo were two of the brightest and most capable young people in Mason City.  They were both interested in politics and reform and started working together.  They soon became close friends and were married in February 1885.

            As was expected of women in those days, Carrie resigned from her job as school superintendent after her marriage.  But in a very unusual arrangement, Carrie then became her husband’s partner as editor of the newspaper.

            Carrie frequently wrote articles about women’s rights, including voting rights.  She became active in the Iowa organization that was working for woman suffrage.  She talked with every woman in town about signing a petition asking for the right to vote in city elections.  All but twelve women signed the petition.

            The state organization was so impressed that they invited Carrie to attend their state convention in Cedar Rapids in October 1885.  At the convention, Carrie heard a speech by the famous suffrage leader Lucy Stone.  Later, Carrie met Miss Stone and asked her many questions about the movement for women’s voting rights.