MaryJo Birt

MaryJo Birt lives in Wheatland, Wyo., where she teaches middle school history and geography and has been coaching students for National History Day for more than 20 years. A family friend, Paula Qualls, "introduced" Birt to Theresa Jenkins (Qualls’s great-grandmother) and the research took over.

To ‘Hold a More Brilliant Torch:’ Suffragist and Orator Theresa Jenkins

Suffragist and temperance orator Theresa Jenkins delivered a key address at Wyoming’s statehood celebration on July 23, 1890. Later, she spoke widely in Colorado and other states, promoting Wyoming’s example in women’s rights, and spoke at the 1920 W.C.T.U. World's Convention in London.