Junior Detective Series - 2c

Clarina Nichols listened and knitted while those around her wrote the constitution of Kansas. She was the only woman assigned a seat in the convention hall, but she was not allowed to vote on the constitution. The fight against slavery drew Nichols to Kansas.

She crusaded for women's rights and statehood without slavery through her newspaper editorials. Although she could not vote at the constitutional convention, she tried to convince the men who could vote. That document, known as the Wyandotte Constitution, reflects her efforts. It gave women the right to vote in school elections and to enroll in a state university. This made the University of Kansas the first state-run university to allow women students. This document became the Kansas constitution.