“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” — Audre Lorde
In the United States, since 1987, March has been Women’s History Month—the annual celebration of the contributions and accomplishments of women everywhere. The first International Women’s Day was held in 1911, and is now widely recognized on March 8. Not only are women the mothers of the human race, but we have been fierce fighters and successful minority advocates for over a century.
While you are reading this, women are in the middle of fighting for equity for women, people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, people who are disabled, and the list goes on. Read on to discover the stories of local women who paved the way.
BERTE OLSON
Berte Olson was the first woman to skipper a ferry boat and to own a ferry boat company in the Puget Sound. In 1919, Olson and her husband, Agaton “Augie” Olaf Olson, were given a contract as the “first regularly scheduled ferry service” between Whidbey and Fidalgo Island. They started with a scow, but as time passed, Olson and her husband decided to build their own ferry boats, dubbed the Deception Pass and the Acorn. Later, the wife-and-husband duo fought against the construction of the Deception Pass bridge, but, as we know, they failed. Deception Pass Bridge was opened in 1935, putting the little ferry company out of business. Olson went on to create her own ferry business called the Olympic Navigation Company. She provided passage along the Hood Canal for many people, and her entrepreneurial and ship-savvy spirit is still renowned today.
Photograph courtesy of Whatcom Museum Photo Archives
ELAINE HORN
Last September, the Whatcom Museum introduced a new exhibit from its Photo Archive titled “Elaine Horn: Broadcasting from Bellingham.” Horn was a trailblazing broadcaster based in Bellingham. Her career began on the radio in the 1940s, and she transitioned to television in the early 1960s. The exhibit comprises more than 400 original negatives, showcasing Horn and her guests between 1962 and 1966.
“Beyond her role as a dynamic TV personality, Horn was a career woman at a time when that was not a common feat, and she shared the spotlight by centering women in her work,” says Whatcom Museum Acting Executive Director Maria Coltharp in a Whatcom Museum press release about the exhibit.
Horn was the host of TV show “Woman’s World,” whose target audience was “mid-century homemakers,” making it one of the earliest daytime TV shows specifically geared toward women. It became one of the most popular shows in the region, and topics such as fashion, cooking, community events, childcare, cosmetics, and decorating were thoroughly discussed.
IMOGENE BOWEN
Imogene Bowen was an Indigenous woman, born to a prominent family of the Upper Skagit Tribe in the 1930s. Starting at age 10, Bowen attended the Chemawa Indian Boarding School in Oregon. One of her children, Kay Knott, later described the experience as acculturation, something which Bowen felt attempted to separate her from her heritage. This was a futile attempt—after graduating from Chemawa as valedictorian, she went on to become a mother, return to school in her 40s, earn paralegal and political science degrees, and become a celebrated political activist and elder of the Upper Skagit Tribe.
From the 1970s on, her community-focused work included being a prosecutor for Skagit Systems Cooperative, a founding board member of an intertribal housing authority, a delegate for the Democratic National Convention, Chair of the Skagit Valley Democratic Party, and president of the Washington State Rainbow Coalition. In addition, she advocated for racial justice and harmony, worker’s rights, and environmental protections.
Photograph by Lara Dunning
SUSAN SCHUH
Susan Schuh was known as the “Idea Fairy.” Schuh grew up amidst the outdoors in Mount Vernon. A couple of decades later, Schuh founded Schuh Farms with her husband, which produced green peas for commercial harvest. By the time the 1970s rolled around, Schuh Farms was selling its seed crop to Christianson’s Nursery. About a decade later, commercial processors began taking their business away from local farms to other states, where the cost of labor was cheaper. Schuch was having none of it and came up with the idea to plant a “three-acre strawberry field at the corner of Bradshaw Road and Memorial Highway.” This was the solution that Schuh Farms needed and was the reason why the farm blossomed from a commercial farm to a retail farm that sold directly to the public. Schuh Farms is still booming today. The family farm sells fresh produce, baked goods, plant starts, flowering baskets, and more. If you’re driving through Mount Vernon, it’s a must to check them out.
