Patrice Douglas Receives 2011 Kate Barnard Award

EDMOND — Edmond Mayor Patrice Douglas will receive the 2011 Kate Barnard Award at a ceremony and luncheon Thursday at the state Capitol.

The Oklahoma Commission of the Status of Women will present the honorary award, given in memory and recognition of Oklahoman Kate Barnard, who in 1907 became the first woman to win a statewide elected office in the United States. She held the office of commissioner of charities and corrections for two terms.

She was a key figure in the enactment of a compulsory education law providing for state payments to widows dependent on their children’s earnings, of legislation implementing the constitutional ban on child labor, and the laws aimed at unsafe working conditions.

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