Robinson, Helen Ring

Helen Ring Robinson, journalist and lecturer, ran in Colorado's 1912 Democratic primary for the office of state senate. She won the primary with 4,665 votes, and then the general election, becoming the first or second woman in the United States to hold this state office. The term of office was four years (1913-1917). Her policy interests were many. She was appointed chair of the Senate's Education committee.  While in the state senate she worked to limit prostitution by sponsoring a bill to provide a minimum wage for women.  In a November 23, 1913 interview printed in the New York Times, Robinson said that it was "the womanly woman who was needed in politics, not a creature recreated in the image of man." While state senator, in 1913 Robinson traveled to the mining camps affected by the Ludlow strike. In testimony before the Commission on Industrial Relations she told of her visit to the tent colony, "where she found a friendliness among women of all nationalities -a true melting pot at Ludlow. In this regard, the strikers not only pioneered unionism, they challenged the rampant public racism of the day."
Robinson was born in Maine in 1878. She attended Wellesley College and then, in 1895, moved to Denver. She worked as a journalist for two local newspapers. In 1915 she traveled as a member of the Henry Ford Peace Ship. Earlier in her writing career, Robinson adapted the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin for young readers.