Nope, it wasn't Susan B. Anthony, not Elizabeth Cady Stanton, nor Lucy Stone. The year was 1868, and the candidates were Ulysses S. Grant and Horatio Seymour.
The first woman voter was a man. Sort of. Charley Parkhurst.
The Ballad of Charley Parkhurst
(Words and music © 1995 Matthew Werner)
Charley Parkhurst
Drove a California stage coach
In the days when folks dropped everything
To go and work their fortunes in the gold mines
Charley Parkhurst
Sat straight up in the box
With the ribbons between his fingers
Commanding six strong horses to get the wagon there on time
Charley Parkhurst
The best whip in California
And he never lost a passenger
Though once or twice he left a reckless highwayman for dead
Charley Parkhurst
Moved to the coast when he heard about
The intentions of a passenger
Who thought she’d like to intervene in the private life he led
Charley Parkhurst
Died in 1879, when the coroner announced
An unexpected revelation, to the disbelief of everyone
Something no one had suspected, that Charley was a woman, not a man
Charley Parkhurst
Had hidden her true identity
From everyone so successfully
That everybody thought she was a man
And the paper said, “Who shall longer say that a woman
Can not labor and vote like a man?”
Charley, or was it Charlotte, had already answered
The first woman voter in the land
Charley Parkhurst
Grew up as an orphan
And at an early age
Took the cothes of a boy and to the west she ran
Charley Parkhurst
A stable owner took him in
Taught him how to care for horses
Wasn’t fooling when he said I’ll teach you how to be a man
And the paper said, “Who shall longer say that a woman
Can not labor and vote like a man?”
Charley, or was it Charlotte, had already answered
The first woman voter in the land.
No comments:
Post a Comment