Elizabeth Hawley Gasque

(1886-1989)

A native of Blythewood, SC, Mrs. Gasque became the first woman in the US Congress from South Carolina after her husband’s death in 1939. She graduated from Greenville Female College in 1907. After her husband’s death she was elected to fill the position in Congress as a Democrat. She was not reelected but became an author and lecturer.

Photo courtesy of the Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives.