Alice Mary Robertson, Republican Representative from Oklahoma, was the “first” of many; she was America’s first female postmaster of a Class A post office, the first woman elected to Congress from Oklahoma, the first woman to preside over the House of Representatives, and the first female clerk at the Indian Office at the Department of the Interior.

Best remembered for her commitment to Native American rights, Robertson was a prominent educator in the later 19th century. Though hostile to the women’s suffrage movement and its many leaders, Robertson remained committed to bettering the lives of Indians, women, farmers, soldiers, and working people.

Thanks, okhistory.org!