May 20, 2019

Ford’s article about suffrage movement appears in historical review

Dr. Elyssa Ford

An article authored by Dr. Elyssa Ford, an associate professor of history at Northwest Missouri State University, was recently published by the State Historical Society of Missouri.

Ford’s article, “We Sure Led the Parade: Alma Nash, the Missouri Ladies Military Band, and the Push for Women’s Suffrage from Rural Missouri to the Nation’s Capital,” appeared in the Missouri Historical Review last month.

“This is an important and timely topic because this month 100 years ago the Missouri legislature finally passed a law allowing women to vote in presidential elections and just a few short months later on July 3, 1919, Missouri became the 11th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, which in 1920 had received enough state ratifications to grant women across the country the right to vote,” Ford said.

Ford, who joined the Northwest faculty in 2011, teaches courses in U.S. history and women’s history, while her research focuses on women’s history, specifically looking at gender, race, sexuality, identity and memory. Previously, she taught at Paradise Valley Community College in Arizona and held fellowships at Rowan University in New Jersey and Babes-Bolyai University in Romania. She also has professional experience working at multiple museums, including the National Cowgirl Museum and the Arizona Jewish Historical Society.

She has a bachelor's degree from Colby College in Maine and earned her master’s, doctorate and graduate certificate in museum studies from Arizona State University.