Hattie Wyatt Caraway 1878-1950

Hattie W. Caraway was born February 1, 1878, one-half mile south of here. In 1902, she married Thaddeus H. Caraway and moved to Jonesboro, Arkansas. Following the death of her husband, a United States Senator, in 1931 she entered the Senate from Arkansas by gubernatorial appointment. A year later, Caraway became the first woman elected to the upper chamber of the U.S. Congress. During her 13-year tenure, she became the first woman to preside over the Senate and to chair a Senate committee. A Democrat, she was a champion of Roosevelt's "New Deal” programs. Senator Caraway's term of office in the U.S. Senate ended in 1944. Hattie W. Caraway died in December 1950.