Kansas Snapshots by Gloria Freeland - February 28, 2025

"Rebel Women"

January 29 was a busy day at the Kansas capitol. Hundreds were there to celebrate the 164th birthday of our state with a dedication of Manhattan, Kansas artist Phyllis Garibay-Coon's suffragist mural.

Husband Art, sister Gaila, and I arrived early and were rewarded with chairs on the rotunda floor near the podium where Governor Laura Kelly would speak. Many women were wearing white suits, while others donned dresses and hats popular in the late 19th and early 20th century.

I began snapping photos, while Gaila saved our seats. Art engaged the two women next to him in conversation. Martie, 78, and Lucinda, in her 60s, were wearing sashes of purple, gold and white. An article in "The Suffragist" of 1913 described purple as the color of loyalty, white as the symbol of purity, and gold as the "color of light and life."

While the painting's official name is the "Kansas Suffragist Memorial Mural," Phyllis said, "I named it 'Rebel Women' from the very beginning." A quote by prominent 19th-century suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage had inspired her:

A rebel! How glorious the name sounds when applied to a woman. Oh, rebellious woman, to you the world looks in hope. Upon you has fallen the glorious task of bringing liberty to the earth and all the inhabitants thereof.

The mural was originally commissioned to commemorate the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote in 1920. But the 2020 pandemic sidelined that celebration. This one was hosted by the Kansas Historical Society and the Kansas Suffragist Memorial Committee. The latter was formed by the League of Women Voters of Kansas and the American Association of University Women.

The two organizations pitched the idea of commissioning a mural to the Capitol Preservation Committee, and legislators approved it in 2022. Twenty-seven artists submitted ideas and Phyllis' was selected in April 2024, leaving her just 9 months to complete the 8-foot by 19-foot painting.

Her work included studying the history of 13 Kansas suffragists spanning the years 1859 to 1919 and adding personal details from that research to the painting to make it come alive. The women depicted include:

*Anna O. Anthony - Susan B. Anthony's sister-in-law
*Lutie A. Lytle - first Black person to be admitted to the Kansas Bar Association
*Anna C. Wait - teacher and newspaper editor
*Lilla D. Monroe - first woman to practice before the Kansas Supreme Court and publisher of the Kansas Woman's Journal
*Annie L. Diggs - journalist, public speaker and state librarian
*Laura M. Johns - journalist and activist in the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association
*Clarina I.H. Nichols - journalist, lecturer, and Underground Railroad conductor
*Lizzie S. Sheldon - author of the resolution for full woman suffrage
*Carrie (Langston) Hughes - civil rights advocate and mother of poet/novelist Langston Hughes
*Mary J. Dillard - educator who promoted civil rights in education
*Jane L. Brooks - founder of the first state chapter of the national League of Women Voters
*Lucy B. Johnston - lawyer who expanded the Kansas Traveling Library collection
*Minnie L. Grinstead - first woman elected to the Kansas House of Representatives

A banner at the mural's top contains the resolution to ratify the 19th Amendment written by Grinstead: "The rights of the citizens of the state of Kansas to vote and hold offices shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex."

The mural also includes Helen Garibay, the painter's mother, whom Phyllis described, along with her father William E. "Bill" Coon, as “the rebels who raised me."

Her mother was born in Mexico. Her father's side of the family moved from Illinois to Kansas in 1886. Phyllis was raised on a farm in Kingman County, along with her nine siblings. She described her parents as humble and kind. "My mom instilled in me the notion to shoot for the stars," she said, "and she always told me, 'You have to vote!'"

Sadly, Phyllis' father died the day before the unveiling at the age of 100, so the occasion was bittersweet for her and her family.

She also referenced the state motto - "Ad astra per aspera" - "To the stars through difficulties" - and emphasized how resourceful and resilient Kansas women are.

Governor Kelly echoed these statements, saying it was "a great day to celebrate bold, visionary, bad-ass women." She spoke about the role of Kansas suffragists in getting women the right to vote. Women were able to vote in local elections in 1887; in April of that year, Argonia, Kansas elected Susanna Salter the first woman mayor in the U.S. Kansas was also one of the 36 original states to ratify the 19th Amendment.

Kelly described Phyllis as "the best of the best," congratulating her for her work honoring women of courage.

The formal portion of the program ended with the crowd singing "Home on the Range" - the state song of Kansas - and the "Suffrage Song," the latter to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

We're here to swell the anthem that is heard across the sea,
That equal rights in law and love is meant for you and me,
Where ev'ry law was founded on the plane of liberty,
While Truth came marching on. ...

Then, standing on the scaffold by the mural, Phyllis released the purple, white and gold covering.

Kansas Suffragist Memorial Mural

She was soon surrounded by family and friends who showered her with congratulations, compliments and questions.

Dillon's food store had donated several cakes. One large one went to a rescue mission. But there were plenty of other chocolate and white pieces to go around.

After, with fond memories and tummies full of cake, we took a "scenic route" home along rough back roads - the kind Kansans know well. It had been a good day - a day that made me proud to be a citizen of the Sunflower State and to have helped celebrate the rebellious women who paved the way for me to vote.