Belle Case La Follette
We continue our celebration of Women's History Month by remembering one of Wisconsin's great trailblazers, Belle Case La Follette.
Born in Summit in 1859, Belle Case was a graduate of UW-Madison and later become the first woman to graduate from UW's Law School in 1885. She would meet her future husband, Robert La Follette Sr., as a student at UW and married him in 1881. A gifted lecturer, she spoke out on many significant issues of the day including child labor, segregation, and women's suffrage, an issue of high priority to her. She founded the Women's Peace Part in 1915 and would later be a leader in world disarmament, founding the National Council for the Prevention of War in 1921. She died in Washington, DC in 1931.
MPL has several great books on Belle Case La Follette. Over 80 years after her death, she is still a visionary and example for those fighting for the betterment of our state and society as a whole.