Remarkable Utah Women

Book excerpt: Utah presents a paradox in women’s history as a state founded by deeply religious pioneers who supported polygamy but also a place that offered women early suffrage and encouraged education and leadership. Remarkable Utah Women tells the stories of seventeen strong and determined women who broke through the social, cultural, and political barriers of their times. The women in these pages include Emmeline B. Wells, who served as president of both the Mormon Relief Society and the Woman Suffrage Association of Utah; the Bassett sisters, who ran with Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch; and Reva Beck Bosone, a US congresswoman and the state’s first female judge. The second edition features new biographies of historian Helen Papanikolas, who meticulously researched Utah’s immigrant communities; Mae Timbimboo Parry, who collected and shared the history of her Northwestern Shoshone people and brought to light the horrors of the Bear River Massacre; and Barbara Toomer, an activist who organized daring protests to demand a more accessible world for people with disabilities. Each of these women demonstrated an independence of spirit that still has the power to inspire us today. Read about their extraordinary lives and outsized personalities in this captivating collection that tells the story of Utah through the voices and legacies of indomitable women.