“If you visit Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol,” I observe, in the Author’s Note to When Esther Morris Headed West, (Holiday House, 2001) “you’ll see fifty statues, one from each state, standing in a circle. Forty-nine of them are men. The fiftieth is Esther Morris…”
That changed in 2009: Helen Keller, representing Alabama, joined Esther as the second female resident of Statuary Hall. Esther Morris, who lived in the Wyoming Territory in 1869, when it was the only place in the United States that allowed women to vote, is, I am certain, pleased with the company!
As for how long it took for that company to arrive, well, she’s used to long waits. It took the United States Government 50 years to follow Wyoming’s lead and pass the women’s suffrage bill.