Winnie Estelle Branstetter (March 19, 1879November 15, 1960) was an American

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

, writer, and

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

politician. Branstetter organized for the

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, serving as the first Secretary of the Socialist Party of New Mexico. In 1910, she was the Socialist Party's nominee for

Oklahoma Commissioner of Charities and Corrections The Oklahoma Commissioner of Charities and Corrections is a now defunct elective executive (government), executive officer of the state of Oklahoma. The office was established by the Oklahoma Constitution in 1907. The office was disestablished by ...

. She was active in the Oklahoma Woman's Suffrage Association, serving as vice-president for three years, and the

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

Women's National Committee, serving as an officer in 1913. She wrote for ''

The Socialist Woman ''The Socialist Woman'' (1907–1914) was a monthly magazine edited by Josephine Conger-Kaneko. Its aim was to educate women about socialism by discussing women's issues from a socialist standpoint. It was renamed ''The Progressive Woman'' in 1909 ...

'' magazine.

Early life, marriage, and family

Winnie Estelle Shirley was born in Hick City,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

on March 19, 1879, to Ambrose and Gertrude Prather Shirley. Winnie had homestead with her father in

Cleveland County Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

in the

Land Rush of 1889 The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land run into the Unassigned Lands of former Indian Territory, which had earlier been assigned to the Creek and Seminole peoples. The area that was opened to settlement included all or part of Canadi ...

, before moving to Kansas City in 1890. She went to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

schools and worked as a department store clerk until she met and married

Otto Branstetter Otto Franklin Branstetter (1877–1924) was an American socialist official. Branstetter served as executive secretary of National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America from 1919 until shortly before his death in 1924. Branstetter wa ...

in 1899. In 1900, the newlyweds relocated to her family's homestead in Cleveland County. The couple moved to

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...

(then Norman,

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as th ...

) in 1904. They had two children: Gertrude and Theresa.

Career

In 1908, Branstetter was elected secretary of the

Socialist Party of Oklahoma The Socialist Party of Oklahoma was a semi-autonomous affiliate of the Socialist Party of America located in the Southwestern state of Oklahoma. One of the last states admitted to the Union, the area later incorporated into Oklahoma had been pre ...

and served as a delegate to the national

convention. She was one of 19 women elected as delegates to the 1908 convention. She was one of the founding members of the Women's National Committee within the party and served as their national secretary.

New Mexico

After the 1908 convention, Branstetter moved with her two daughters to

Roswell, New Mexico Roswell () is a city in, and the County seat, seat of, Chaves County, New Mexico, Chaves County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Chaves County forms the entirety of the List of micropolitan areas in New Mexico, Roswell micropolitan area. As of ...

to homestead, found the Socialist Party of New Mexico, and serve as the first secretary of the new party. She served in this position between February 1908 and August 1909. She was her party's nominee for Superintendent of Schools in

Estancia, New Mexico Estancia is a town in Torrance County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 1,242. It is the county seat of Torrance County. Estancia is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Estancia ...

in 1908. After her homestead claim was approved in September 1909, she sold her New Mexico farm and returned to Oklahoma.

Return to Oklahoma

In 1910, she was an Oklahoma delegate to the Socialist Party of America Convention. The same year, she worked as an associate

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

for ''The Oklahoma Pioneer'' and was the Socialist nominee for

. She placed 3rd, behind the Democratic and

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Parties' nominees. In 1911, she was elected to the state executive committee and the Women's National Committee for the party. In 1912, she was an Oklahoma delegate to the National Suffrage Convention in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She was a

and served as the vice-president of the Oklahoma Woman's Suffrage Association for three years.

Chicago and later years

She and

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

moved to Chicago in 1913 where she continued to serve as an officer for the Women's National Committee. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Branstetter was the liaison for the national office to imprisoned

anti-war An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pa ...

socialists imprisoned at

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,351. It is located on the west bank of t ...

. In 1921, she served as a delegate for

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

to the Amnesty International Conference in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

Advocacy

Branstetter advocated working with existing suffragette organizations to help recruit for the

while organizing for the right to vote. She considered woman's suffrage vital to allowing women to fight

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

that subjected women to low-paying jobs, farm labor, and dependency on

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

. Suffrage would allow women to vote for political and economic equality. She was a frequent contributor to ''The Socialist Woman'', writing articles for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

and against

child labor Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

aimed towards the wives of

tenant farmers A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

in Oklahoma. In her 1910 essay "To The Socialist Women of Oklahoma," Branstetter argues

is the primary cause of

, the

gender pay gap The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are working. Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct numbers regarding the pay gap: non-adjusted ...

, and

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

and calls on socialist women to actively organize. In "The Same Story" from the same year, she recounted a meeting with a

destitute Extreme poverty, deep poverty, abject poverty, absolute poverty, destitution, or penury, is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, includi ...

man who had left his wife and daughter to travel and find work. In the essay, she buys him lunch, tells him about her own experiences with poverty, and listens to his story. She concludes by reflecting on the economic hardship his wife and daughter will face without him. Branstetter also published

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

short stories, such as her 1911 short story ''Meta''.

Death

Branstetter died died on November 15, 1960, in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

and was buried at Swan Point Cemetery.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branstetter, Winnie 1879 births 1960 deaths 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American women writers American suffragists Socialist Party of America politicians from Illinois Socialist Party of America politicians from New Mexico Socialist Party of America politicians from Oklahoma Women in New Mexico politics Women in Oklahoma politics Burials at Swan Point Cemetery