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Gary L Roper
OVER THE PURPLE HILLS, WESTERN ADVENTURES OF A FEMINIST
OVER THE PURPLE HILLS, WESTERN ADVENTURES OF A FEMINIST
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Caroline M. Nichols Churchill of Chicago, made a tour of California in 1870 when she was 37 years old. "Over the Purple Hills" was published first in 1881, which carries on accounts of her travels from Little Sheaves (1874). She begins with an 1874 rail trip from San Francisco to Bartlett's Springs, Stockton, Napa, and Lake Tahoe. She also features visits to Yosemite Valley and Salt Lake City as well as a journey by train from Visalia to Monterey, Vallejo, and Placerville. All the way through her chronicle she demonstrates an awareness for things that would be of particular interest to women.
Dynamic and full of life, Churchill was an editor, publisher, author, and foremost activist for women’s rights in the American West. She was married for a short time, but her husband met with an untimely death in 1862. Diagnosed shortly thereafter with tuberculosis, Churchill was advised to move to a healthier climate. She chose California and traveled on her own there in 1869. Her health and spirits repaired, Caroline Churchill delved into state politics. Infuriated by a proposed bill in California that would punish and regulate “immoral women,” Churchill sprang into action. Outraged that women would be held responsible for certain “immoral activity,” while men would not be considered responsible for identical behavior, she campaigned relentlessly to overcome that bill, and was successful.
The experience made Caroline Churchill more sentient of the inequities encountered by women in the west. In 1879, now relocated to Denver, Colorado, Churchill began publishing a newspaper called the Colorado Antelope. The publication supported women’s suffrage and other feminist causes. The newspaper also carried local history and travel articles. At first, Churchill was a “lonely voice in the wilderness.” In only three years, however, the Colorado Antelope had grown in prosperity and status to the point that she changed its name to The Queen Bee. Churchill supported prohibition, equal education for women, financial support for women with dependent children, and voting rights. In 1893, largely because of her tireless work, women earned the right to vote in Colorado.
Caroline Churchill continued to champion women’s rights until her death in 1926.
Dynamic and full of life, Churchill was an editor, publisher, author, and foremost activist for women’s rights in the American West. She was married for a short time, but her husband met with an untimely death in 1862. Diagnosed shortly thereafter with tuberculosis, Churchill was advised to move to a healthier climate. She chose California and traveled on her own there in 1869. Her health and spirits repaired, Caroline Churchill delved into state politics. Infuriated by a proposed bill in California that would punish and regulate “immoral women,” Churchill sprang into action. Outraged that women would be held responsible for certain “immoral activity,” while men would not be considered responsible for identical behavior, she campaigned relentlessly to overcome that bill, and was successful.
The experience made Caroline Churchill more sentient of the inequities encountered by women in the west. In 1879, now relocated to Denver, Colorado, Churchill began publishing a newspaper called the Colorado Antelope. The publication supported women’s suffrage and other feminist causes. The newspaper also carried local history and travel articles. At first, Churchill was a “lonely voice in the wilderness.” In only three years, however, the Colorado Antelope had grown in prosperity and status to the point that she changed its name to The Queen Bee. Churchill supported prohibition, equal education for women, financial support for women with dependent children, and voting rights. In 1893, largely because of her tireless work, women earned the right to vote in Colorado.
Caroline Churchill continued to champion women’s rights until her death in 1926.
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