30 - Rhode Island, Isabelle Ahearn O’Neill
Rhode Island, such a small state, but still filled with the history and women we see everywhere in the country. They pushed for equality and brought great voices to the forefront.
Rhode Island was the 24th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment on January 6, 1920.
Ms. O’Neill left her large family of thirteen children to attend Boston College of Drama and Oratory, kick starting her career on stage and film. She founded a school of elocution in 1900. The students frequently performed at the Providence Opera House. Concurrently, she started her own career for two decades in summer stock and vaudeville shows. By 1915, she entered silent films with the Providence-based Eastern Film Corporation.
By 1910, she joined the suffragist movement and campaigned for the Democrats in Rhode Island. Her skills in elocution were essential to beginning a career in politics. In 1922, two years after the right to vote was ratified, she was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives as the first women to hold office in Rhode Island Legislature for eight years. She spoke in French and Italian to reach more electorate. Her popularity took her to the state Senate in 1932 and temporary chair of the Democratic National Convention in 1924.
She left the Senate to serve as President Franklin Roosevelt legislative liaison to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. She concluded her career at home in the Rhode Island Labor Department. Following her death, she was included in the Rhode Island Hall of Fame for her role as a woman leader.
Why this woman?
Women that take their strengths and make them into careers inspire me to look at my heart for what can I do better. Many times starting from a must-do responsibility such as taking care of a family member, nursing someone in time of need, or being the only one that can cook for the people around, women offer their strengths freely to help the people around them.
As their services grow or become more specialized, they take on the roles that their male counterparts hailed to themselves. Women work for years without recognition, saying yes without direct compensation, and seeing disenfranchised all around them. People that just need care or help to be clean, healthy people of the community.
Isabelle took a passion for acting and education to become a speaker to the people. In reality, what politician isn’t really just an actor at heart. But her forward approach of using her strengths to become that voice the people needed, especially bringing women into their new opportunities, showed she is the leader she was born to be.
My passion for architecture has hit at a good place where in my large firm I can leverage design to make healthier, safer spaces for the people. It isn’t always about the drawings and details. Similar to Isabelle, I took the fundamental people skills I developed to be something different. Hopefully, something bigger.
Rhode Island was the 24th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment on January 6, 1920.
Ms. O’Neill left her large family of thirteen children to attend Boston College of Drama and Oratory, kick starting her career on stage and film. She founded a school of elocution in 1900. The students frequently performed at the Providence Opera House. Concurrently, she started her own career for two decades in summer stock and vaudeville shows. By 1915, she entered silent films with the Providence-based Eastern Film Corporation.
By 1910, she joined the suffragist movement and campaigned for the Democrats in Rhode Island. Her skills in elocution were essential to beginning a career in politics. In 1922, two years after the right to vote was ratified, she was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives as the first women to hold office in Rhode Island Legislature for eight years. She spoke in French and Italian to reach more electorate. Her popularity took her to the state Senate in 1932 and temporary chair of the Democratic National Convention in 1924.
She left the Senate to serve as President Franklin Roosevelt legislative liaison to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. She concluded her career at home in the Rhode Island Labor Department. Following her death, she was included in the Rhode Island Hall of Fame for her role as a woman leader.
Why this woman?
Women that take their strengths and make them into careers inspire me to look at my heart for what can I do better. Many times starting from a must-do responsibility such as taking care of a family member, nursing someone in time of need, or being the only one that can cook for the people around, women offer their strengths freely to help the people around them.
As their services grow or become more specialized, they take on the roles that their male counterparts hailed to themselves. Women work for years without recognition, saying yes without direct compensation, and seeing disenfranchised all around them. People that just need care or help to be clean, healthy people of the community.
Isabelle took a passion for acting and education to become a speaker to the people. In reality, what politician isn’t really just an actor at heart. But her forward approach of using her strengths to become that voice the people needed, especially bringing women into their new opportunities, showed she is the leader she was born to be.
My passion for architecture has hit at a good place where in my large firm I can leverage design to make healthier, safer spaces for the people. It isn’t always about the drawings and details. Similar to Isabelle, I took the fundamental people skills I developed to be something different. Hopefully, something bigger.
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