OTCHS celebrates 19th Amendment and Women’s Equality Day

FERGUS FALLS — The Otter Tail County Historical Society is continuing their America 250 celebration by recognizing Women’s Equality Day with a special event at the museum.

With the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution ratified by Congress on Aug. 26, 1920, women were allowed to vote. The date was declared Women’s Equality Day.

In 2020, the Historical Society had planned events to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of Women’s Equality Day, but due to COVID-19 shutdowns, the majority of the presentations and events were forced to be canceled.

Missy Hermes, OTCHS Education Coordinator, said that although they weren’t able to celebrate then, one thing that did get accomplished during that time was the creation of a collection of area women’s suffrage information.

“We compiled information about what was happening in Otter Tail County during this time,” Hermes said. “One of the interesting things was these temperance groups that worked for prohibition. They figured that once women had the right to vote, they could pass prohibition.”

For many women who had immigrated from Scandinavian countries, gaining their right to vote was something they pushed hard for because they had given up the right when they came to America. A lot of those women were very active in women’s suffrage.

One of the people most important in Minnesota for giving women the right to vote was a man named Ole Sageng, the senator from Dalton. Known as the Father of Minnesota Woman Suffrage, Sageng began speaking on women’s right to vote when he was a student at Fergus Falls High School.

Karrie Carlson / Fergus Falls Daily Journal

Hermes said, “Sageng explained that much like colonial Americans were unhappy about taxation without representation in Parliament, that is what was happening to women before they could vote, too.”

In a corner of the Otter Tail County Museum, a white porch-front is displayed along with a cardboard cutout of Sageng. The porch is the actual porch from the Sageng family house and was gifted to the museum by the family. Sageng’s argument for women’s voting rights was that just as men can vote and still be husbands/fathers, women can handle both roles as well.

Hannah Kempfer, the Lady from Otter Tail, played a key role in women’s right to vote. Kempfer was a Norwegian immigrant girl from Erhard who became the First Woman Speaker of the House in Minnesota.

Information about other important Otter Tail County residents that aided in the women’s suffrage movement like George Washington Muzzy, Marguerite Patterson, Phoebe Welch and Caroline Kringstat will be available at the museum’s day of recognition.

This important part of history is being added to the Otter Tail County Historical Society’s America 250 celebration, with a special commemoration of Women’s Equality Day on Aug. 26 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Museum visitors can make special Suffragist crafts or take a guided Women’s History tour of the museum with Education Coordinator Missy Hermes. Tours begin at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Karrie Carlson is a reporter for the Fergus Falls Daily Journal and can be reached by calling (218) 739-7030 or emailing karrie.carlson@fergusfallsjournal.com.