Description

 Deadwood History, Inc. and the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission will host a presentation by Black Hills State University Professor Kelly Kirk.   

From April to August of 1898, Ida Crouch-Hazlett, a professional woman suffrage organizer with the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), toured the mining towns of the Black Hills. She traveled by herself through these communities, attempting to revive local suffrage organizations, develop leadership, and raise funds for the statewide campaign. Throughout her travels, she corresponded regularly with the leadership of the state Equal Suffrage Association, updating them on her successes and perceived failures. These letters not only document the ups and downs of life on the campaign trail, but they also provide a unique insight into the 1898 campaign, the struggles that existed between the state and national suffrage organizations, and the difficulties of campaigning in a rural state.

Kelly Kirk is an instructor of history, the Director of the University Honors Program, and the Director of the Veterans Legacy Program at Black Hills State University. Along with serving as the education co-chair for the Her Voice, Her Vote Suffrage Centennial, she has been researching, writing, and publishing on the woman suffrage movement in South Dakota, with a special focus on the Black Hills. She also serves on the South Dakota Humanities Council and Grace Balloch Memorial Library Board of Trustees. Originally from North Dakota, Kirk graduated with her BA from Black Hills State University before completing her graduate work at Montana State University-Bozeman, where her research focused on women’s political experiences in the American West.