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Colorado Springs suffragettes from 100 years ago (from left): Natalie Gray, Dr. Caroline Spencer and Berthe Arnold.
Courtesy of Old Colorado City Historical Society

Suffragette presentation at Old Colorado City History Center

       A presentation Friday, March 14 at 11 a.m. on the era in which women gained the right to vote will focus on three Colorado Springs activists.
       Chris Nicoll, the local history specialist for the Pikes Peak Library District's Special Collections, will talk about “Jailbirds for Justice: Women Suffragettes of Colorado Springs.”
       The location will be the Old Colorado City History Center, 1 S. 24th St. Admission is free to members of the volunteer Old Colorado City Historical Society (OCCHS), which owns and operates the center. The cost to nonmembers is $5.
       Nicoll is also director for the annual Pikes Peak History Symposium.
       A press release states that between 1917 and 1919, 500 women were arrested and 168 sent to jail out of more than 2,000 who picketed outside the White House in Washington, DC.
       “Three of these courageous women lived in Colorado Springs,” the release continues, identifying Dr. Caroline Spencer, “a retired physician and organizer of the militant suffragist movement,” along with Natalie Gray and Berthe Arnold, “daughters of prominent local families who delayed their education and careers while risking their lives as pickets and prisoners to win the vote for all American women.”

From a press release
(Posted 3/2/14; Community: Old Colorado City History Center )

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