School District 2 passed up an opportunity last year to name a new middle school after Jeannette Rankin, opting instead for Bataan Death March survivor and longtime Billings artist Ben Steele. The vote was understandable, especially since it gave the community a chance to bestow one last honor on Steele, who died in September. But there will be other schools, and other buildings, and one can only hope that Rankin will be remembered the next time a naming opportunity comes up. Rankin, a Missoula native, not only was the first woman elected to Congress, she was the only woman able to cast a vote in Congress for the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote. A new article in the Washington Post reminds us that Rankin sacrificed her political career twice to vote against world wars. Continue Reading →
