"South Bend Bossed by a Woman?": Alice Mannering, Socialist Feminism, and the Common Good

ABSTRACT:In July 1917, Alice Mannering became the Socialist Party nominee for mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and the first woman candidate for the office of mayor in the state of Indiana. Suffragists across Indiana were anticipating being able to vote in the November 1917 elections, after the passage of a partial suffrage bill by the state General Assembly. Mannering's ambitions, and the hopes of suffragists, were dashed when the state Supreme Court ruled the legislation unconstitutional. Jamie Wagman examines the life of Alice Mannering—suffragist, socialist, and political activist—and considers how she challenged gender roles and inspired generations of her descendants to social activism.