Her Hat Was in the Ring: How Women Won the Right to Run for Office in the United States

Reveals the untold story of over 6,000 women who ran for office between 1850-1920, expanding our understanding of women's fight for full political citizenship beyond suffrageHer Hat Was in the Ring details the fascinating story of the thousands of women who ran for elective office in the United States between 1850 and 1920.Contrary to popular belief, women's right to vote and the right to hold elective office weren't always tied to one another.Whether women could become candidates, and for which offices, was determined by each state.For several decades after 1850, women ran for local and some state offices without themselves having the right to vote, motivated by the desire to advance women's rights and serve their communities as well as personal ambition.Drawing on newspapers, state government reports, historical and biographical archives, and other resources, historians Wendy E.Chmielewski and Jill Norgren trace the legal, social, and cultural shifts across the country that made it p