Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s 1st History Writing Contest
Congratulations! The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is thrilled to announce that Lillian Stowell is the elementary school winner of our first annual Youth Writing Contest. Read the essay “A Hero to Washington” below.
A Hero to Washington
By Lillian Stowell
Katherine Smith was a hero to Washington, but no one made a statue or a mural for her, even though she deserved one. She was born on February 9, 1868, in Pennsylvania. Then when she married George A. Smith she moved to Colorado. Colorado was the second state that women could vote in. However, she lost her right to vote when she moved to Alki, Washington in 1904. She started a woman suffrage club that 200 people attended. Women gained the right to vote in Washington in 1910. I chose Katherine because she fought for women suffrage fairly. She did not riot, instead she convinced officials to let woman vote by talking to them. I think woman’s voting is important because women might have different opinions then men. For example, if there was a president that didn’t treat women respectfully then women couldn’t vote for someone else. Without women like Katherine who fought for women suffrage, we might not have Vice President Kamala Harris today.
Special thanks to our partners at Paper Boat Booksellers and the West Seattle Blog for their support of this program:
