Women in Politics

Description

The Governor Wore Pearls  |  by J. J. Jonas

After her husband is impeached, Miriam ‘Ma’ Ferguson runs for office and becomes Texas’s first female governor. J. J. Jonas emphasizes her wit, pardons, opposition to the Ku Klux Klan, rejection of racist textbooks, and refusal to accept that governing belonged only to men. With humor and Texas-sized determination, the poem follows Ferguson as she steps out of her husband’s political shadow, wins the governorship, confronts prejudice, and proves that a woman in a flowered hat could hold the reins of state government just as firmly as any man.

Big Hair, Bigger Backbone  |  by J. J. Jonas

Ann Richards rises from local politics to the Texas Governor’s Mansion with a white suit, towering hair, sharp humor, and a commitment to widening opportunity. J. J. Jonas celebrates a leader who opened government doors for women and people of color and taught girls to enter without apology. A lively, comedic tribute to Texas governor Ann Richards, whose sharp wit, unmistakable voice, and determination made her a political force. From being underestimated as a woman to opening government to people who had rarely been given a seat at the table, the poem celebrates Richards as a trailblazer who didn’t simply walk through political doors, she opened them wider for those coming behind her.