In celebration of 150 years of women's suffrage in Wyoming, the University of Wyoming Department of History presented a limerick contest. Here are the winning entries.
Democracy must include all
lest freedom stumble and fall
Suffrage and then
both women and men
can hasten to liberty's call.
—Tom Spence, Buffalo
In Wyoming the women could vote,
while conservatives surely felt smote.
Though the battle was steep,
our state took the leap,
and the Wyoming Territorial Legislature was wrote!
—Andrea Hastings Arollo, Laramie
(Who is Esther Morris?)
The men in South Pass called her ma'am.
With Bill Bright, they cooked up a plan.
By one vote they won
What can't be undone.
That women can vote like a man.
—Kristine McGuire, Laramie
The wonderful day that Ms. Swain
Was no longer wishing in vain
Her opinion to cast
For it counted at last
The right, now, the women would retain
—Judi Boyce, Pinedale
Frontiersmen in powerful roles
In suffrage had ulterior goals
Men of color can vote?
We'd better take note!
White ladies please come to the polls!
—Louisa Hunkerstorm, Lander
Out on the hardscrabble plains
Women fought for political gains
Past the U.S.A's border
They kept courtroom order
They used both their grit and their brains
—Louisa Hunkerstorm, Lander