Sarah Tarleton Colvin

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Sarah Tarleton Colvin
Sarah Tarleton Colvin.jpg
Born
Sarah Lightfoot Tarleton

(1865-09-12)September 12, 1865
Greene County, Alabama
DiedApril 22, 1949(1949-04-22) (aged 83)
Roseville, Ramsey County, Minnesota
NationalityAmerican
Other namesSarah Lightfoot Colvin, Sarah T. Colvin
OccupationNurse, suffragist
Years active1892–1944

Sarah Tarleton Colvin (September 12, 1865 – April 22, 1949) was an American nurse and women's rights advocate who served as the national president of the National Woman's Party in 1933. Jailed for her activism while picketing the White House in 1918 and 1919, Colvin later wrote her autobiography about the suffrage movement and her nursing career.

Early life[]

Sarah Lightfoot Tarleton was born on September 12, 1865 in Greene County, Alabama, as the oldest child of Sallie Bernard (née Lightfoot) and Robert Tarleton.[1][2][3] Her father was a physician, having graduated from Yale University and served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.[1][2] Her mother was descended of Lieutenant Philip Lightfoot, who served in Harrison's Continental Artillery Regiment of Virginia, during the American Revolution.[4] When the war concluded, the family resided with Tarlton's paternal grandparents in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, where her brother, Robert Jr. was born. The family then moved to Mobile, Alabama, where her father died when Tarlton was three years old, from complications of his war service. Her sister Margaret was born the day after her father's death in 1868.[1]

After their father's death, the family moved often, living in various places in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi before settling in Baltimore, Maryland in 1878. After her debut and a lengthy trip abroad, Tarleton enrolled in nursing school at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing,[2] graduating in 1892, after a two year course.[2][5]

Career[]

After completing her education and over her family's objections, Tarleton accepted the position as head nurse at Johns Hopkins for six months. She then worked briefly as a private duty nurse in New York City, before moving to Montreal, Canada to take a position at the Royal Victoria Hospital as an operating-room nurse. While in Montreal, she met Dr. Alexander R. Colvin, whom she married in Baltimore on June 1, 1897. After their wedding, the couple settled in Saint Paul, Minnesota.[2]

Because continuing to work as a nurse after her marriage was considered improper, Colvin turned her attention to improving the educational standards of women in nursing.[2] She worked on the board of the Deaconess Home from their arrival in 1897[6] and in 1906 was chosen as the founding president of the Minnesota State Graduate Nurses' Association.[7] She also worked for other civic clubs, including serving as a director for the Civic League,[8] as a founding member of the YWCA[9] and as the president of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society.[10] In 1915, she was one of the founders of the National Women's Party, Minnesota branch, and served as its chair through 1920.[11]

Colvin became one of the leading women's rights advocates in Minnesota[12] and worked as a national organizer, traveling to other areas, like Kansas and Washington, D. C. to press for women's suffrage[13][14] and birth control, which at the time was illegal in Minnesota.[12] Simultaneously during World War I, she served as a Red Cross and army nurse. Given the rank of major, she was the Acting Surgical Chief of Nursing at Fort McHenry. As a member of the Silent Sentinels she participated in the White House pickets in 1918 and in January 1919 was arrested twice.[15][16] Colvin described her imprisonment as both fearful and revolting, but after the first term, she participated in a hunger strike, which led to her second sentence.[17]

When the war ended, Colvin joined both the disarmament movement and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), serving on the board of the Minneapolis Branch of the WILPF.[18][19] Once women secured the vote, she joined the Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party, working to educate people on the issues[17] and press for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.[12] In 1933, she was elected as the national president of the National Women's Party and turned her sights toward issues of equal pay.[20][21] She was elected to serve on the state Board of Education in 1935[22] and continued to press for nursing reforms and pay equality for both American and Canadian nurses through the end of the 1930s.[23][24] In 1944, she published her autobiography, A Rebel in Thought, relating her experiences in the suffrage movement.[2]

Death and legacy[]

Colvin died on April 22, 1949 in Ramsey, Minnesota.[25][26] She has been featured as one of the biographies of the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association[27] and is honored on the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Memorial.[28]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Tarleton 1900, pp. 108–109.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Scarborough 1944, p. 50.
  3. ^ The Baltimore Sun 1902, p. 7.
  4. ^ Gadsby 1909, pp. 255–256.
  5. ^ The Johns Hopkins Nurses Alumnae Magazine 1914, p. 166.
  6. ^ The Saint Paul Globe 1897, p. 16.
  7. ^ The Minneapolis Journal 1906, p. 2.
  8. ^ The Saint Paul Globe 1902, p. 6.
  9. ^ Foster 1924, p. 371.
  10. ^ The Star Tribune 1913, p. 9.
  11. ^ Foster 1924, p. 226.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c Gilman 2012, p. 1911.
  13. ^ The Topeka Daily Capital 1916, p. 6.
  14. ^ The Washington Herald 1918, p. 4.
  15. ^ Stevens 1920, p. 357.
  16. ^ The Weekly Times-Record 1918, p. 1.
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b Adams & Keene 2010, p. 175.
  18. ^ The Star Tribune 1921, p. 6.
  19. ^ The Minneapolis Star 1922, p. 8.
  20. ^ The Minneapolis Star 1933, p. 7.
  21. ^ The Star Tribune 1933, p. 26.
  22. ^ The Minneapolis Star 1935, p. 10.
  23. ^ The Minneapolis Star 1937, p. 13.
  24. ^ The Minneapolis Star 1938, p. 17.
  25. ^ Minnesota Death Index 1949.
  26. ^ The Minneapolis Star 1949, p. 25.
  27. ^ The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association 2017.
  28. ^ Bauer 1999, p. ii.

Bibliography[]

  • Adams, Katherine H.; Keene, Michael L. (2010). After the Vote Was Won: The Later Achievements of Fifteen Suffragists. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-5647-5.
  • Bauer, Heidi, ed. (1999). The Privilege for Which We Struggled: Leaders of the Woman Suffrage Movement in Minnesota. St. Paul, Minnesota: Upper Midwest Women's History Center. ISBN 978-0914227106.
  • Foster, Mary Dillon (1924). Who's Who among Minnesota Women; A history of woman's work in Minnesota from pioneer days to date; told in biographies, memorials and records of organizations. St. Paul, Minnesota. OCLC 6165666.
  • Gadsby, Elizabeth (1909). "Mrs. Sarah Lightfoot Colvin #27699". Lineage Book. Washington, D.C.: National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 28 (1899): 255. OCLC 865859287. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  • Gilman, Rhoda R. (2012). Stand Up!: The Story of Minnesota's Protest Tradition. St. Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87351-857-4.
  • Scarborough, Katherine (June 25, 1944). "Former Hopkins Nurse Author When Nearing 80". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. p. 50. Retrieved 2 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • Stevens, Doris (1920). Jailed for Freedom. New York, New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation.
  • Tarleton, Charles William (1900). "Robert Tarleton (104)". The Tarleton Family. Concord, New Hampshire: Ira C. Evans, Printers. pp. 108–109. OCLC 8963742.
  • "1892". The Johns Hopkins Nurses Alumnae Magazine. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins Hospital Alumnae Association. XIII (3): 166. July 1914. OCLC 7718745. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  • "Canada Nurse Import Charge is Scoffed at". The Minneapolis Star. Minneapolis, Minnesota. May 1, 1937. p. 13. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Deaths". The Minneapolis Star. Minneapolis, Minnesota. April 27, 1949. p. 25. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Minnesota Death Index, 1908–2002: Sarah Tareton (sic) Colvin". FamilySearch. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minnesota Department of Health. 22 April 1949. certificate number 025539. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  • "Mrs. A. R. Colvin to Be Honor Guest". The Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minnesota. December 17, 1933. p. 26. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Mrs. A. R. Colvin to Resign". The Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minnesota. April 11, 1913. p. 9. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Nurses Incorporate". The Minneapolis Journal. Minneapolis, Minnesota. November 19, 1906. p. 2. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Orphans Court Passed on Wills of Mrs. Tarleton and Mrs. Collins". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. February 13, 1902. p. 7. Retrieved 2 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "President Chosen". The Saint Paul Globe. Saint Paul, Minnesota. March 8, 1902. p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Roosevelt Teacher will Guard Leisure Courses". The Minneapolis Star. Minneapolis, Minnesota. April 26, 1935. p. 10. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Sarah Tarleton Colvin". Suffragist Memorial. Fairfax Station, Virginia: The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association. 18 September 2017. Archived from the original on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  • "Session Told Training Now Too Mediocre". The Minneapolis Star. Minneapolis, Minnesota. October 19, 1938. p. 17. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "She Takes the Wrong Attitude". Valley City, North Dakota: The Weekly Times-Record. October 10, 1918. p. 1. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "State Women Vote to Join Peace League". The Minneapolis Star. Minneapolis, Minnesota. March 25, 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "St. Paul Woman Elected". The Minneapolis Star. Minneapolis, Minnesota. November 6, 1933. p. 7. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Suffrage Leaders to Come to Washington". The Washington Herald. Washington, D. C. April 30, 1918. p. 4. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "(untitled)". The Saint Paul Globe. Saint Paul, Minnesota. November 7, 1897. p. 16. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Visitor in Kansas". The Topeka Daily Capital. Topeka, Kansas. October 26, 1916. p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  • "Women Want Civilian Representation at Parley on World Disarmament". The Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minnesota. July 13, 1921. p. 6. Retrieved 3 January 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
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