On December 5th, 1928, Colombian laborers and their families gathered at Ciénaga’s train station to negotiate the terms of their strike against the United Fruit Company with the Governor of Magdelena. Just before midnight, the Colombian military opened fire on the crowd as the government declared a state of siege in the banana zone.​ This atrocity, ending the morning of December 6th, is known as the Banana Massacre.¹ 

The Popularity of Bananas

The 1920s was an era known for excessive consumer culture fueled by increased advertising and affordable goods. The banana offers a case in point – it grew in popularity in the 1920s due to the United Fruit Company’s vigorous advertising campaign.  The company began advertising bananas in 1917 when they already had established plantations in Central and South American countries. They used the “logic” form of advertising to sell the exotic fruit, having scientists promote the nutritional value of bananas, and saw banana sales increase. Advertising in America would change forever when Edward Bernays began targeting people’s emotions instead of logic. With this new mode of advertising proving to be highly successful, the U.F.C. launched the “Great White Fleet” cruiser that brought Americans to tour United Fruit’s plantations in Latin America while also transporting bananas. This endeavor would prove to be very successful in increasing the banana market.² 

Visitors saw a theatrically created plantation that appeared to be a humane and peaceful place. In reality, U.F.C. plantations were corrupt, and the laborers were subjected to terrible work conditions.³ The United Fruit Company did not value their workers; laborers were only regarded as replaceable cogs in their machines. For this reason, there are few photos of the actual workers who labored at the UFC’s plantations. Indeed, most photos from the UFC during this era are of cars, the bananas themselves, and infrastructure.⁴ This makes the photo of the strike organizers particularly rare. The image was not meant to be available to the general public, as its primary purpose was to inform the operations of the management and security forces. ⁵

The Strike

Colombia was home to several United Fruit plantations, where banana workers were subjected to long hours and low pay. Raul Eduardo Mahecha, a Partido Socialista Revolucionário (PSR) representative, led the strike that preceded the massacre.⁶ With the support of fellow PSR members Ignacio Torres Giraldo and Maria Cano, Mahecha led a lecture tour of the Banana Zone discussing labor rights. This inspired significant support for reform, with the plantation workers’ concerns regarding the contract system, their work hours, and the abuses they and their families were subjected to by their supervisors. For example, a worker named Aristides Lopez Rokano stated: “We worked from six in the morning until eleven and then from one in the afternoon until six…The contractor paid the salary and reserved up to thirty percent for himself.” At the same time, the wives and daughters of the workers suffered sexual violence at the hands of the UFC employees. Inspired by the words of Mahecha, workers gathered on October 6, 1928, to discuss these frustrations, and unionist Erasmo Coronel proposed the idea of a strike. The workers created nine demands for better working conditions, citing parts of the Colombian Constitution to support these demands.⁷ In this way, these efforts were less an act of communism and more an attempt to modernize labor relations in Colombia. Their demands included receiving real money payments and transitioning to a six-day work week. ⁸

The Massacre

American corporate interference in international relations would not have been possible before World War I when there was more suspicion of corporate power. However, by the 1920s, the American public idealized corporations and businessmen, as Americans largely viewed them as instrumental parts of the war effort.⁹ The American government in the 1920s supported corporations like the United Fruit Company to expand their markets and acquire raw materials by applying economic, diplomatic, and military pressure. This was particularly common in Latin America. The pressure could be subtle or indirect. However, in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Santo Domingo, the U.S. government took bold action to protect corporations’ interests by sending troops.¹⁰

The United Fruit Company thus leveraged its power in the United States government to ensure that the strike in Colombia was brought to what would be a bloody end. Considering that the strikers’ demands would have resulted in higher operation costs for the company, the U.F.C. utilized its ties with the United States government to have the Marine Corps threaten to invade Colombia if the Colombian government did not protect the company’s interests and end the strike.¹¹ In this way, the Banana Massacre was the direct result of American military threats and pressure against the Colombian government. 

The strike gained national attention in the United States, although it conveniently ignored the terrible conditions that led to the strike. Prominent newspapers like the New York Times focused on how the strike threatened Americans in Colombia, as opposed to what this strike and the actions of the U.F.C. had meant for Colombians. For example, the Times published a map entitled “Region Affected by Colombia Strike” on December 6, 1928, after the massacre had been committed. Instead of using this visualization of the Banana Zone as an opportunity to highlight the crimes committed by the Colombian military on the strikers, the map’s caption highlights how the strike was endangering the “lives and property of Americans.”¹² This demonstrates how the strike was viewed as a harmful hindrance to the small number of Americans located in and exploiting the Banana Zone. This is a testament to the successful efforts to cover up the massacre in American media. 

The strike lasted two months, and on December 5th, the Governor of Magdalena summoned the strikers to Ciénaga to settle the strike. Strikers gathered in the thousands, and at the same time, the government issued Decree Number 1 that ordered the military, led by Carlos Cortes Vargas, to open fire on the unarmed strikers and their families.¹³ It is estimated that anywhere from 50 to 2,000 people were killed in Ciénaga’s train station that night.¹⁴ Despite this, by daybreak, only nine bodies were left behind. Some strikers theorized that the nine bodies were symbolic of the nine demands of the strikers. The Colombian military did not end there, with officers killing over 1,000 strikers. Laborers responded by destroying several of United Fruit’s buildings.¹⁵

Liberal politician Jorge Eliecer Gaitan brought significant attention to the disastrous conduct of the military during the massacre in Colombia. Union leader Ignacio Tores Giraldo quipped that Gaitan “concluded the investigation” on the massacre less than a day after it had been committed. One primary issue Gaitan raised regarding the massacre was that it was pre-planned, indicating that there would be little chance for the strikers to protect themselves. Furthermore, those who were only injured after the military opened fire were killed by officers with bayonets, and the dead bodies were thrown into the sea so they could not be found and identified afterward. While committing this atrocity, the drunken military officers, including Cortes Vargas, sexually violated the women in Cienaga. The overarching qualm Gaitan held was that the army acted not in the interest of Colombia but of the United States. The press widely spread Gaitan’s allegations and only increased the disapproval of this massacre.¹⁷ 

The Legacy of the Banana Massacre

In January 1929, 600 strikers were detained and charged with criminal offenses in military courts. Of these 600, 31 were sentenced to prison, ranging from 2-25 years. All of the sentenced were freed in 9 months, after the advocacy of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan during a parliamentary debate. The former strikers only continued their activism, with one of the freed individuals, Alberto Castrillon, announcing his run for the presidency as the PSR party candidate on the symbolic date of December 6, 1929. At the same time, Cortes Vargas and the Minister of War Ignacio Rengifo were demoted from their positions, indicating the decline of the Conservative elite in Colombian politics.¹⁸ Therefore, although the massage successfully crushed the strike, it had the reverse effect in the long term. It offered Colombian workers and unionists a story and martyrs to further their movement and contributed to the end of the conservative hegemony. However, the polarization between Liberals and Conservatives that resulted from this massacre is considered to be the cause of La Violencia, a bloody civil war in Colombia that lasted from 1948-1958.¹⁹

The Banana Massacre was further ingrained into Colombian culture as it was featured in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 1967 Nobel Prize-winning novel 100 Years of Solitude. In this pillar of magical realism, Marquez describes the presence of an American banana company in the fictional Colombian town of Macondo, which exploited and destroyed the town’s resources and people. The people responded with a general strike, culminating in the military executing an apocalyptic massacre against the strikers who had gathered in a train station. Garcia Marquez has explained that this scene was directly inspired by the Banana Massacre, which was prominent in his memory of Colombian history.²⁰

This atrocity continues to be a point of contention in Colombia, as, in 2017, right-wing Representative Maria Fernanda Cabal claimed that the massacre was a communist myth that was blown out of proportion in order to support communist operations.²¹ In this way, the rhetoric of a communist threat persists in modern-day discussions of the Banana Massacre.

Significance to the 1920s

Justifying such violence and anti-union activity required fear-mongering, with the most effective tool being the apparent threat of the spread of communism. The strike in Colombia did occur in alliance with the Colombian Communist Party, which helped mobilize the poor and small business owners to support the strikers and their demands.²² Prior to the massacre, from 1919 to 1920, the United States was the site of a Red Scare, the successful result of the Bolshevik Revolution in what became the Soviet Union. During the Red Scare, the American public feared that communism would create a revolution in the United States. Due to this, significant hysteria spread throughout the United States, with people like organized laborers under intense scrutiny.²³ For this reason, corporations that suppressed strikes were viewed as safeguards against communism.²⁴ This was not coincidental, as corporations, with the help of the press, made it seem as though all strikes were part of a larger communist plot.²⁵ Furthermore, companies like the United Fruit Company hired public relations firms to ensure that bloody stories like the Banana Massacre did not reach the American public.²⁶

The language of a communist threat also pervaded government correspondence regarding the massacre. According to a telegram sent from the American Vice Consul in Santa Marta Lawrence Cotie to the Secretary of State at the time, Frank Billings Kellogg, on December 9, 1928, the Colombian military was “actively engaged in clearing the district of the Communists.”²⁸ What is meant by “clearing” is not precisely clear, but one could conjecture that it is about detaining or even killing those suspected to be communist. In this way, it is clear that the apparent threat of communism was key to military operations in the Banana Zone.

The role of the Red Scare and censorship looked rather different on the Colombian side of this atrocity. The Colombian government also feared a communist revolution, resulting in the passage of Decree 707, which gave the police significant powers to repress those suspected to be communist in 1927. Similarly, in 1928, the government introduced and passed projects aimed at attacking suspected communists. However, this did very little to prevent the growth of the opposition to the conservative government. Thus the campaign against the “Red Menace” was largely unsuccessful and criticized by many domestically and internationally.²⁹ 

Despite the predominantly conservative regime that seemed to dominate Colombia’s politics in the 1920s, propaganda against them proliferated before and during the strike. For example, the Diario de Córdoba was best known for ridiculing army officers. Mahecha utilized his printing machine to have La Nacion and La Prensa publish pieces supporting the strike. This rhetoric spread to the opposition press in Bogota. The propaganda leaflets were read aloud to the largely illiterate crowds. The government was slightly more successful in censoring the press in the Banana Zone from the date of the massacre until the end of the state of siege on March 14, 1929. Outside of the Banana Zone, however, newspapers continued to criticize the actions of the government.³⁰

Citations 

Footnotes

1. “Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See,” Visualizing the Americas, accessed March 31, 2025, https://visualizingtheamericas.utm.utoronto.ca/1928-massacre-1. ︎
2. Lindsey Morey, “Blood For Bananas: United Fruit’s Central American Empire,” Roots of Contemporary Issues, 2014, https://history.wsu.edu/rci/sample-research-project/. ︎
3. Morey, “Blood For Bananas.” ︎
4. Kevin Coleman, “The Photos That We Don’t Get to See: Sovereignties, Archives, and the 1928 Massacre of Banana Workers in Colombia,” essay, in Making the Empire Work: Labor and United States Imperialism (New York, NY: New York University Press, 2015), 104–34, https://kevincoleman.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Coleman_The-Photos-We-Dont-Get-to-See_Sovereignties-Archives-and-the-1928-Massacre-of-Banana-Workers-in-Colombia.pdf, 106. ︎
5. Coleman, “The Photos That We Don’t Get to See,” 108. ︎
6. “Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See.” ︎
7.  Coleman, “The Photos That We Don’t Get to See,” 110-111. ︎
8. Mariana Ramirez Cabal, “The Dark Side of Bananas: Imperialism, Non-State Actors, and Power,” Harvard International Review, June 9, 2023, https://hir.harvard.edu/the-dark-side-of-bananas-imperialism-non-state-actors-and-power/. ︎
9.  Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 31-32. ︎
10.  Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 36. ︎
11. Ramirez Cabal, “The Dark Side of Bananas: Imperialism, Non-State Actors, and Power.” ︎
12.  Coleman, “The Photos That We Don’t Get to See,” 109. ︎
13.  “Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See.” ︎
14. Aviva Chomsky, “Globalization, Labor, and Violence in Colombia’s Banana Zone,” International Labor and Working-Class History, no. 72 (2007): 901–115, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27673094, 95. ︎
15.  “Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See.” ︎
16.  After the Military Opened Fire on the Striking Workers in Ciénaga, the Workers Destroyed Several of the UFC’s Buildings, Including the Engineers’ Quarters in Sevilla., Kevin Coleman (The United Fruit Company Photograph Collection, Harvard University, 1928), https://kevincoleman.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Coleman_The-Photos-We-Dont-Get-to-See_Sovereignties-Archives-and-the-1928-Massacre-of-Banana-Workers-in-Colombia.pdf. ︎
17. Eduardo Posada-Carbó, “Fiction as History: The Bananeras and Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude,” Journal of Latin American Studies 30, no. 2 (May 1998): 395–414, https://www.jstor.org/stable/158531, 404-405. ︎
18. Posada-Carbó, “Fiction as History,” 403 ︎
19. Adriaan Alsema, “One of Colombia’s Worst Massacres in History a Communist Myth: Opposition Senator,” Colombia News, November 30, 2017, https://colombiareports.com/amp/one-colombias-worst-massacres-history-communist-myth-opposition-senator/. ︎
20. Posada-Carbó, “Fiction as History,” 395-396. ︎
21. Alsema, “One of Colombia’s Worst Massacres in History a Communist Myth.” ︎
22.  Chomsky, “Globalization, Labor, and Violence in Colombia’s Banana Zone,” 95. ︎
23. Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 218. ︎
24. Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 32. ︎
25. Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 220. ︎
26. Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 31. ︎
27. Coleman, “The Photos We Don’t Get to See.” ︎
28.  Kevin Coleman, “The Photos We Don’t Get to See,” Kevin Coleman, June 23, 2021, https://kevincoleman.org/the-1928-massacre-of-banana-workers/. ︎
29. Posada-Carbó, “Fiction as History,” 403-404. ︎
30. Posada-Carbó, “Fiction as History,” 402-403. ︎

Bibliography

1916 Advertisement for the United Fruit Company Steamship Line, Wikimedia Commons (Scribner’s Magazine, February 1, 1916), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_Fruit_Ad_1916.jpg.

After the military opened fire on the striking workers in Ciénaga, the workers destroyed several of the UFC’s buildings, including the engineers’ quarters in Sevilla. Kevin Coleman. The United Fruit Company Photograph Collection, Harvard University, 1928. https://kevincoleman.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Coleman_The-Photos-We-Dont-Get-to-See_Sovereignties-Archives-and-the-1928-Massacre-of-Banana-Workers-in-Colombia.pdf. 

Alsema, Adriaan. “One of Colombia’s Worst Massacres in History a Communist Myth: Opposition Senator.” Colombia News, November 30, 2017. https://colombiareports.com/amp/one-colombias-worst-massacres-history-communist-myth-opposition-senator/. 

Chomsky, Aviva. “Globalization, Labor, and Violence in Colombia’s Banana Zone.” International Labor and Working-Class History, no. 72 (2007): 901–115. https://doi.org/www.jstor.org/stable/27673094. 

Coleman, Kevin. “The Photos That We Don’t Get to See: Sovereignties, Archives, and the 1928 Massacre of Banana Workers in Colombia.” Essay. In Making the Empire Work: Labor and United States Imperialism, 104–34. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2015. https://kevincoleman.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Coleman_The-Photos-We-Dont-Get-to-See_Sovereignties-Archives-and-the-1928-Massacre-of-Banana-Workers-in-Colombia.pdf. 

Coleman, Kevin. “The Photos We Don’t Get to See.” Kevin Coleman, June 23, 2021. https://kevincoleman.org/the-1928-massacre-of-banana-workers/. 

“Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See.” Visualizing the Americas. Accessed March 31, 2025. https://visualizingtheamericas.utm.utoronto.ca/1928-massacre-1. 

Comisaría de la United Fruit Company en Ciénaga, 1928. 1928. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comisariato_cienaga.jpg. 

Handling bananas, backing the bunch, Colombia, 1924. ReVista. Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School, 1924. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/making-a-difference-repatriating-photographs-revista/. 

Morey, Lindsey. “Blood For Bananas: United Fruit’s Central American Empire.” Roots of Contemporary Issues, 2014. https://history.wsu.edu/rci/sample-research-project/. 

Posada-Carbó, Eduardo. “Fiction as History: The Bananeras and Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude.” Journal of Latin American Studies 30, no. 2 (May 1998): 395–414. https://www.jstor.org/stable/158531. 

Ramirez Cabal, Mariana. “The Dark Side of Bananas: Imperialism, Non-State Actors, and Power.” Harvard International Review, June 9, 2023. https://hir.harvard.edu/the-dark-side-of-bananas-imperialism-non-state-actors-and-power/. 

Unknown. Banana Massacre Photo. 1928. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banana_massacre_photo.png.

stefanieviera

Stefanie Viera is a 3rd year History and Humanities & Global Studies double major who is taking the Discovering Digital History course in the spring of 2025. She currently work at the Jane Addams Papers Project as an Editorial Assistant.

The 1920s was an era known for its trends of excessive consumer culture. Although this is often exaggerated, there is still some truth to this assessment, as material goods gained increasing popularity during the decade. Such atypical purchases were also more affordable to the general public, and many were eager to purchase them.³ One such item that gained popularity amongst the 1920s consumer culture crowd was the banana, which was not part of the typical American diet until after the United Fruit Company (U.F.C.) vigorously advertised it. The company began advertising bananas in 1917, at which time they already had established plantations in Central and South American countries, and they used the typical “logic” form of advertising to sell the exotic fruit. For this reason, they had scientists promote the nutritional value of bananas, and banana sales began to increase. However, it would only truly reach its peak in the 1920s, when Edward Bernays changed American advertising forever as he targeted people’s emotions as opposed to using logic. One of the largest projects the U.F.C undertook with Bernays as advertising director was the launch of the “Great White Fleet” cruiser that brought Americans to tour United Fruit’s plantations in Latin America. This endeavor would prove to be very successful in increasing the banana market. However, the visitors only saw a theatrically created plantation that aimed to portray it as a humane and peaceful place. In reality, U.F.C. plantations were corrupt and the laborers were subjected to terrible work conditions.⁴

Colombia was home to a number of United Fruit plantations, where the banana workers were subjected to long hours and low pay. Laborers from the U.F.C.’s Magdalena plantation organized a strike on October 6, 1928, in which they issued nine demands to the company.⁵ Their demands included receiving real money payments and transitioning to a six-day work week.⁶ The strike lasted two months, and on December 5th, the Governor of Magdalena summoned the strikers to Ciénaga in order to settle the strike. Strikers gathered in the thousands and, at the same time, the government issued Decree Number 1 that ordered the military to open fire on the unarmed strikers and their families.⁷ It is estimated that anywhere from 50 to 2,000 people were killed in Ciénaga’s train station that night.⁸ Despite this, once daybreak came around, only nine bodies were left behind. Some strikers theorized that the nine bodies were symbolic of the nine demands of the strikers. The Colombian military did not end there, with them killing over 1,000 strikers. Laborers responded by destroying a number of United Fruit’s buildings.⁹

This massacre was not the effort of just the Colombian government. In fact, the United Fruit Company leveraged their power in the United States government to ensure that the strike was brought to an end. Considering that the strikers’ demands would have resulted in higher operation costs for the company, U.F.C. utilized their ties with the United States government to have the Marine Corps threaten to invade Colombia if the Colombian government did not protect the company’s interests and bring an end to the strike.¹¹ Such corporate interference in international relations would not have been possible prior to World War I, when there was a greater amount of suspicion of corporate power. However, by the 1920s, corporations and businessmen were idealized, as the American public viewed them as instrumental parts of the war effort.¹² The American government in the 1920s therefore supported corporations like the United Fruit Company to expand their markets and acquire raw materials through applying economic, diplomatic and military pressure. This was particularly common in Latin America. The pressure could be subtle or indirect. However, in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Santo Domingo, the U.S. government took more direct and bold action to protect corporations’ interests by sending troops.¹³ The Banana Massacre was the direct result of American military threats and pressure against the Colombian government. 

Justifying such violence and anti-union activity required the use of fear-mongering, with the most effective tool being the apparent threat of the spread of communism. The strike in Colombia did in fact occur in alliance with the Colombian Communist Party, which helped mobilize the poor and small business owners to provide support for the strikers and their demands.¹⁴ Prior to the massacre, from 1919 to 1920 the United States was the site of a Red Scare, which was the successful result of the Bolshevik Revolution in what became the Soviet Union. During the Red Scare, the American public feared that communism would create a revolution in the United States. Due to this, significant hysteria spread throughout the United States, with people such as organized laborers falling under intense scrutiny.¹⁵ For this reason, corporations that suppressed strikes were viewed as safeguards against communism.¹⁶ This was not coincidental, as corporations, with the help of the press, made it seem as though all strikes were part of a larger communist plot.¹⁷ Furthermore, companies like the United fruit Company hired public relations firms to ensure that such bloody stories like that of the Banana Massacre did not reach the American public.¹⁸ Despite these efforts, the memory of the massacre has remained deeply ingrained in Colombian culture, with it even inspiring a scene of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Nobel Peace Prize winning book One Hundred Years of Solitude.¹⁹

Citations

Footnotes

1.  “Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See,” Visualizing the Americas, accessed March 31, 2025, https://visualizingtheamericas.utm.utoronto.ca/1928-massacre-1. ︎
2.  Handling Bananas, Backing the Bunch, Colombia, 1924., ReVista (Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School, 1924), https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/making-a-difference-repatriating-photographs-revista/. ︎
3.  Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s, ed. Eric Foner (New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1995), 77. ︎
4.  Lindsey Morey, “Blood For Bananas: United Fruit’s Central American Empire,” Roots of Contemporary Issues, 2014, https://history.wsu.edu/rci/sample-research-project/. ︎
5.  “Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See.” ︎
6.  Mariana Ramirez Cabal, “The Dark Side of Bananas: Imperialism, Non-State Actors, and Power,” Harvard International Review, June 9, 2023, https://hir.harvard.edu/the-dark-side-of-bananas-imperialism-non-state-actors-and-power/. ︎
7.  “Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See.” ︎
8.  Aviva Chomsky, “Globalization, Labor, and Violence in Colombia’s Banana Zone,” International Labor and Working-Class History, no. 72 (2007): 901–115, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27673094, 95. ︎
9.  “Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See.” ︎
10.  Comisaría de La United Fruit Company En Ciénaga, 1928., 1928, Wikimedia Commons, 1928, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comisariato_cienaga.jpg. ︎
11.  Ramirez Cabal, “The Dark Side of Bananas: Imperialism, Non-State Actors, and Power.” ︎
12.  Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 31-32. ︎
13.  Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 36. ︎
14.  Chomsky, “Globalization, Labor, and Violence in Colombia’s Banana Zone,” 95. ︎
15.  Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 218. ︎
16.  Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 32. ︎
17.  Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 220. ︎
18.  Dumenil, The Modern Temper, 31. ︎
19.  “Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See.” ︎

Bibliography

Chomsky, Aviva. “Globalization, Labor, and Violence in Colombia’s Banana Zone.” International Labor and Working-Class History, no. 72 (2007): 901–115. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27673094. 

“Colombia: A Photograph We Were Not Supposed To See.” Visualizing the Americas. Accessed March 31, 2025. https://visualizingtheamericas.utm.utoronto.ca/1928-massacre-1. 

Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. Edited by Eric Foner. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1995. 

Handling bananas, backing the bunch, Colombia, 1924. ReVista. Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School, 1924. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/making-a-difference-repatriating-photographs-revista/. 

Morey, Lindsey. “Blood For Bananas: United Fruit’s Central American Empire.” Roots of Contemporary Issues, 2014. https://history.wsu.edu/rci/sample-research-project/. 

Ramirez Cabal, Mariana. “The Dark Side of Bananas: Imperialism, Non-State Actors, and Power.” Harvard International Review, June 9, 2023. https://hir.harvard.edu/the-dark-side-of-bananas-imperialism-non-state-actors-and-power/.

stefanieviera

Stefanie Viera is a 3rd year History and Humanities & Global Studies double major who is taking the Discovering Digital History course in the spring of 2025. She currently work at the Jane Addams Papers Project as an Editorial Assistant.

Ross’ Early Years

Nellie Tayloe Ross was born on November 29, 1876, in St. Joseph, Missouri, on a plantation owned by her maternal grandfather in Andrew County. Her parents were James Wynns Tayloe and Elizabeth Blair Green. Nellie’s family had been devastated by the Civil War’s aftermath; in response, she had always feared poverty. Ross’ education was facilitated by her brothers who aided in helping her learn how to read when she was 5 years old. She attended the Maxwell School with her brothers. To achieve a more successful future, her family moved to Miltonvale, Kansas. She attended the United Presbyterian Church and her mother was involved in women’s suffrage. Here, she witnessed her mother in a position of leadership, a position which her father had respected. Her southern upbringing and her mother had influenced her political beliefs. She remained a Democrat for most of her life and gained the belief from her mother that women’s traditional roles were compatible with public responsibilities.² After her mothers death, her family moved back towards the Missouri river into Omaha, Nebraska. There, she became a kindergarten teacher. In 1900, she went to visit relatives in Tennessee where she met and married her husband, William Ross. They moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1902 and had four boys together. William started his own law practice and got involved in politics. He ran for governor and won with the state’s failing economy as his main concern.

The Election of Nellie Tayloe Ross

On September 25, 1924, her husband underwent an appendectomy. He died on October 2, just one month before the general election. The Democratic Party asked Nellie Tayloe Ross to be their candidate and after much convincing, she agreed. Both the Republican and Democratic parties held their conventions in Cheyenne on October 14 to choose their candidates. The Republican Party nominated Casper attorney and politician Eugene J. Sullivan. After receiving the Democratic nomination, Ross remained at home and let her friends lead the campaign. Political advertisements encouraged voters to support Ross because she promised to carry out her husband’s policies. This included policies that helped the economy and workers. They also portrayed her opponent, Sullivan, as a supporter of the founder of Sinclair Oil, Harry Sinclair, who was involved in the Teapot Dome Scandal. One advertisement in The Buffalo Voice encouraged voters to “Beat Texas to It,” encouraging Wyoming to become the first state to elect a female governor, as Miriam “Ma” Ferguson was also running for governor in Texas.⁶ While both Ross and Ferguson were the first women elected as governors in the U.S, Ross was sworn in first, earning her the title of “First Female Governor of the United States”. She defeated Sullivan by more than 8,000 votes. In addition, she even outperformed Republican Francis E. Warren, Wyoming’s senior U.S. Senator.⁷ On January 5, 1925, she was sworn in as governor of Wyoming during an inauguration ceremony in the Senate chambers in Cheyenne. She served as governor from 1925 to 1927.

Ross’ Governorship: Politics, Law, Economics, Prohibition, & Agriculture

The 1920s has the reputation of being a time of prosperity, economic growth, and the boom of the stock market. However, it differed from state to state. Before the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, Wyoming was facing an economic depression. Ross would be among the governors who confronted this depression. Wyoming’s economy depended on livestock, business, farming, coal production, and the Union Pacific Railroad. In post-WW1 Wyoming, the loss of government contracts, declining demand for certain commodities, deflation, and the 1919 drought contributed to this economic depression. To tackle these problems, Ross proposed a plan to address the state’s budget deficit and outlined strategies for managing it. She found that railroad property values were lower than those in neighboring states and that many mining corporations owned large amounts of property while avoiding taxes. She believed that more equitable taxation could help resolve the issue. In the 1920s, businesses and businessmen were becoming more idealized, striving to present a more polished and positive image. At the same time, the issue of business taxes became a significant concern in response to previous revisions to tax laws. People, such as Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, sought to reduce business tax, while Ross was concerned with equitable tax within her state.⁸ Following this, she discovered that falling oil prices were causing shortfalls and that light oil production was decreasing. In response, she supported producing more black oil and using it to build state’s highways. To her disappointment, her proposals to explore commercial possibilities for black oil were declined. Banks were also failing. Between 1920-1924, 68 state and national banks had failed in Wyoming. Half had closed by 1924.⁹ To address banking closures, Ross proposed laws to protect banks and depositors. This included laws that made sure that people wouldn’t lose their money if a bank failed. Lastly, Ross answered to further tax concerns by supporting a bill that would give one-third of mineral royalties to public schools. This would help with reducing local taxes. However, it was not approved by the legislature.

When we think of the 1920s, we also often think of Prohibition, a time when alcohol was banned across the U.S. During the late 19th century and into the 1920s, women had entered the political arena. One popular reform amongst them was Prohibition. This led to the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act that made the production, sale, and transportation of alcohol illegal. Women supported Prohibition because they believed male drinking led to reckless behavior, such as sexual excess, which harmed women and children in the home.¹¹ Ross, like these women, supported this law. She believed that the purchaser of alcohol was just as guilty as the bootlegger. She proposed a bill to enforce this, however, it was later declined by the legislature. During her term, she had to deal with two sheriffs who were involved in alcohol related acts. She received and agreed to a request from District Court Judge Metz to allow an investigation into Park County Sheriff William Loomis.¹² Loomis was accused of accepting pay from alleged bootlegger, Fay Willford, in protection money. Loomis faced charges for serving confiscated alcohol to prisoners, accepting bribes and protection money from Willford and James P. Morgan in relation to whiskey on Morgan’s property, and for appearing intoxicated in public. Ross ordered a removal of Loomis who she deemed unfit for his position. On June 17, 1925, The Park County Herald reported that “The Governor (Ross) having heard all the evidence, does find generally against the defendant, William H. Loomis”.¹³ Another Sheriff named Scott Hazen was charged with appearing intoxicated in public, taking confiscated alcohol for his own use, getting involved in a plan to transport and sell alcohol, and failing to serve warrants to known bootleggers while allowing speakeasies to operate. In response to his future hearings on this matter, he resigned from office.

In addition, Ross also dealt with several other issues, including farm and agricultural concerns, and protecting Wyoming’s claims to Colorado River water. Farm foreclosures and low prices were an issue in Wyoming. This prevented the settlement and expansion of farms on federal projects in Wyoming. Under her husband’s governorship, he had created a farm loan program which she continued by making it permanent. Later, Ross convinced Elwood Mead, the man behind water laws, and the Secretary of Interior, Herbert Work to review these projects. Mead explained that he could only point out the problems, and it was up to farmers and state officials to determine the additional funds and introduce legislation to address those issues. Ross worked with a man named George Kreutzer from the Bureau of Reclamation to address these issues. She used local newspapers to collect farmer’s concerns and seek help from the Bureau of Reclamation. She also created a reclamation committee made up of farmers to explain their challenges and issues to the Bureau of Reclamation.¹⁴

Women’s Rights, Feminism, Reform and Ross’ Views on Women

Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing into the 1920s, the “new woman” became more active in politics, with Ross serving as an example. They became political actors and lobbied for progressive reform. Suffrage was one of these reforms. Through this, women had gained the right to vote in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Wyoming, the state where Ross governed, however, already became the nation’s first suffrage state in 1869. This prompted many people and newspapers to declare Wyoming as the “Equality State”, further encouraging the election of Ross. Other reforms that “the new woman” supported included labor laws, which Ross had also aligned with. A suffragist named Grace Hebard had written to Ross in regards to a child labor bill. Ross responded by confirming her position on this issue claiming that the bill would be an important step in protecting the children of America. However, her child labor bill was later declined by the senate because of fear it would interfere with the rights of parents to give their children working roles.¹⁶ She also advocated for protective legislation to support female employees, but this proposal was also rejected. Ross continued to be dedicated to maintaining the welfare of workers. She supported and proposed mine safety legislation. These legislations were successfully approved.

While women became increasingly involved in politics, their views on women’s rights varied. Women, like Alice Paul and The Woman’s Party, advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that guaranteed equal rights for men and women. They believed that while suffrage was a major breakthrough in women’s political equality, the ERA would answer to the remaining limitations that women faced. This included the inability to execute contracts, unequal wages, and marriage property rights. In 1923, the legislation was introduced to Congress. Women like Julia Lathrop and Frances Perkins emphasized women’s distinctiveness, arguing that special labor protections tailored to their sex were necessary. This led them to reject the ERA in fear that it would undermine sex-based labor legislation that specifically protected women.¹⁷ Like these women, Ross held her own views on women’s roles, rights, and nature, which often left some feminists disappointed. Initially, many women’s rights advocates, suffragettes, and feminists viewed Ross’ election as a great victory. However, some women were left disappointed in Ross’ refusal to prioritize her influence on the women’s rights movement. Instead, she stated that her duty was to the people of Wyoming as their governor. In 1925, Hebard, the same woman who had written to Ross about a child labor bill, also suggested that Ross appoint women to positions in the Child and Animal Protection Board and the University Board of Trustees. This was left unanswered. Hebard continued to suggest that she attend a meeting of the “National League of Women Voters”, which Ross had declined.

Ross did believe in women’s capabilities within the political sphere and encouraged them to seek public office. However, she would often express her belief that a woman’s most important social role was being a wife and a mother. On March 28, 1926, The Brownsville Herald reported that “Although she (Ross) has faith in the future of America’s young womanhood and believes that ‘freedom of the younger generation of women will prove beneficial. Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross holds that the highest position of woman in life is matrimony and motherhood’”.¹⁹ Despite this, it did not stop her from believing in the importance of women in politics and positions of power. She was more concerned with the perception that engaging in politics had “unsexed” her.²⁰ She was committed to proving that despite her role in political power, she was still a feminine woman. In other words, femininity, politics, and public service were all compatible. While she praised motherhood, marriage, and domestic responsibilities, she also made it clear that women should not limit themselves to traditional roles alone.

Ross did not reject the traditional notion of women being wives and mothers. However, another reason for her distance from feminist ideology was the political climate of the 1920s. Politicians and political parties often supported women who did not engage in the feminist movement. If she had explicitly engaged in feminist activism, it is likely that she would not have been chosen as her party’s political candidate. She found herself having to prove that she could be as tough as any male politician while still maintaining her femininity. She advised women to not portray themselves as too “aggressive” when they entered office.²¹ Ross wanted people to support her because she was a capable candidate, not just because she was a woman. She hoped they would focus on her abilities and not discriminate against her because of her sex. In 1926, Ross responded to concerns that the entrance of women in politics would cause them to create havoc by exercising their newfound power. On January 24th, The Washington Post reported that she responded by stating, “It opens to woman the door for unbounded service and challenges her to prove whether she does possess high ideals.”.²² After losing her second-term election, she admitted regretting not doing more to appeal to women and challenge the sexist notions she faced.

Overall, despite Ross’ goal to distance herself from explicit feminist activism, she is still viewed as an important figure to women’s rights. Her title as the first woman governor in the U.S was and is still revered. She inspired other “new women” to get involved in the field of politics.

Wyoming’s Re-Election & Ross’ Post-Term

In 1926, The Democratic Party remained with her as their candidate for the next election. The Republican Party chose Frank Emerson, the state engineer. While Ross had won the 1924 election by a significant amount of votes, she did not succeed in re-election for a number of reasons. The most basic reason was that Wyoming was still an overwhelmingly Republican state, and the party had strengthened once again. Wyoming’s senior U.S. senator, Francis E. Warren, was believed to have been on the brink of passing away of old age. At the same time, Wyoming also had a Democratic junior senator, John B. Kendrick. If Ross had won re-election, she would have had the right to choose the next senior senator.²⁵ Republicans would not have preferred two Democrats. Another reason was that during the 1920s, the Klu Klux Klan had a resurgence, and many had controlled votes. Anti-immigrant sentiments and nativism surged during the decade, with Catholics and Catholic immigrants facing discrimination. Some Republicans portrayed Ross as a Catholic, which the KKK held hatred against. Lastly, Ross was a woman. Many still believed women were incapable of handling politics. Some female voters even believed that Ross didn’t automatically deserve their votes just because she was a woman. The Cody Enterprise reported on a woman who had voiced this. A woman named Mrs. Jenkins stated “What has Mrs. Ross done particularly to deserve the votes of women? Has she ever since taken any interest in Woman’s Suffrage? Has she ever been a delegate to a Woman’s Suffrage convention, to a Woman’s Christian Temperance meeting, to a Woman’s Relief Corps convention, to a meeting of the Federation of Woman’s clubs for Wyoming?.”.²⁶ However, while she had lost, she remained in politics and Democratic women’s groups. In the 1930s, she became a campaign orator and was even later on appointed as Director of the U.S Mint by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Significance

I chose Nellie Tayloe Ross’s achievement of becoming the first female governor in the U.S. because of my interest in women’s history. I was surprised to learn that a woman had already become a state governor as early as the 1920s. Ross’s victory was widely reported, with many 1920s newspapers covering her historic achievement and status as the first woman governor. It was perceived as a significant accomplishment.

The story of Nellie Tayloe Ross both reinforces and complicates our understanding of the decade. Common themes of the 1920s are flappers, economic prosperity, and prohibition. Flappers are known to have been young “new women” who strayed away from restrictive and traditional female roles. However, Ross represents a different kind of “new woman” who did the same. She was a woman involved in politics. Another aspect that her story demonstrates is that while women were increasingly becoming involved in politics, some had to distance themselves from feminism in order to gain support from male peers. Ross’ distance from feminism and her commitment to continuing what her husband left behind may explain why newspaper coverage of her victory was more positive than many people today would expect.

The theme of Prohibition is something many associate with the 1920s and Ross’ time as governor demonstrates that it is an accurate depiction. Prohibition had Americans question the amount of power the federal government possessed. Many people and certain senators argued that it violated the constitution by limiting states’ rights.²⁷ However, Ross’ stance on strict prohibition enforcement demonstrated that some state leaders supported it. She proved this by confronting two sheriffs who were accused of crimes associated with it.

Finally, Ross’s story complicates the common image of the 1920s as being filled with prosperity and fun. Wyoming was a state that was going through an economic depression and Ross’s election loss exposed a darker side of the decade. ​The KKK had reemerged and gained some influence in the political sphere.

Bibliography

Mackey, Mike. “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics.” Journal of the West 42, no. 3 (2003): 25–34.https://research-ebsco-com.library2.ramapo.edu:2443/linkprocessor/plink?id=f5cae36e-3b49-3ace-ba5b-0cabe6b1f206

Scharff, Virginia. “Feminism, Femininity, and Power: Nellie Tayloe Ross and the Woman Politician’s Dilemma.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 15, no. 3 (March 1, 1995): 87–106. doi:10.2307/3346786.

Scheer, Teva J. 2005. Governor Lady: The Life and Times of Nellie Tayloe Ross. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.http://site.ebrary.com/id/10129006.

Dumenil, Lynn. The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995.

“Beat Texas to It, and Elect Woman Governor,” The Buffalo Voice (Buffalo, Johnson County, WY), October 17, 1924. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92067096/1924-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/.

“Wyoming Inaugurates Nellie Tayloe Ross—First Lady Governor in United States.” Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), January 7, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066928/1925-01-07/ed-1/seq-1/.

“Her Excellency, The Governess.” The Challis Messenger (Challis, Idaho), January 14, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88056159/1925-01-14/ed-1/seq-3/.

“Evening Star.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), January 18, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1925-01-18/ed-1/seq-96/.

“Wyoming Senate Rejects Child Labor Amendm’t.” The Cody Enterprise (Cody, Wyo.), January 21, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066929/1925-01-21/ed-1/seq-1/.

“Armed Prohibition Force Guards Gov. Nellie Ross.” The Washington Post (1923-1954), April 11, 1925. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post, pg. 1.

“Gov. Ross Removes Loomis from Office.” Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), June 17, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066928/1925-06-17/ed-1/seq-4/.

“Matrimony Is Proper Thing.” Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Tex.), March 28, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063730/1926-03-28/ed-1/seq-5/.

“Woman Governor Sees No Havoc in Vote for Her Sex: Merely Opens Door…,” The Washington Post (1923-1954), January 24, 1926. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post, pg. A7.

“Clean Politics Urged On Women.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), December 2, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1926-12-02/ed-1/seq-27/.

“Prominent Wyoming Lady Says Mrs. Ross Not Entitled to Woman Vote—Sympath Not Issue.” The Cody Enterprise and the Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), October 13, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066930/1926-10-13/ed-1/seq-4/.

Rockpile Museum. Nellie Tayloe Ross for Governor. Postcard, 1926. Catalog No. 2004.025.0005. Accessed March 21, 2025. https://rockpilemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/E78C4C54-6A62-4033-A6E8-793416583805.

Bettmann Archive. Nellie Ross and Eleanor Roosevelt. Photograph. July 1928.

Bettmann Archive. Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross Opens Gimbels. Philadelphia, 1926.

Bain News Service. Gov. Nellie T. Ross. [ca. 1915–1920]. George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014709682/.

Featured image: Bettmann Archive. Nellie Tayloe Ross Making a Speech with Clarence Morley, 1924.

Additional Resources

Nellie Tayloe Ross. YouTube video, 7:00. Posted by Wyoming PBS, 7 years ago.

National Governors Association. “Nellie Tayloe Ross.” National Governors Association. Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.nga.org/governor/nellie-tayloe-ross/.

Rea, Tom. “The Ambition of Nellie Tayloe Ross.” WyoHistory.org, November 8, 2014. Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/ambition-nellie-tayloe-ross.

Wyoming History Day. “Nellie Tayloe Ross, First Woman Governor in the United States.” Wyoming History Day. Accessed March 17, 2025. https://www.wyominghistoryday.org/theme-topics/nellie-tayloe-ross-first-woman-governor-united-states

“Nellie Tayloe Ross: Wyoming, United States’ First Female Governor.” Wyoming Public Media, January 10, 2025. https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/open-spaces/2025-01-10/nellie-tayloe-ross-wyoming-united-states-first-female-governor.

“Nellie Tayloe Ross Papers, 1900-1977.” Archives West, accessed March 24, 2025. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv317842.

“Nellie Tayloe Ross.” Digital Public Library of America, accessed March 24, 2025. https://dp.la/search?q=Nellie+Tayloe+Ross.

Lucht, Tracy, and Chelsea Davis. “Gender, Race, and Place in Newspaper Coverage of Women ‘Firsts’ after the Nineteenth Amendment.” Journalism History 47, no. 4 (October 2, 2021): 333–52. doi:10.1080/00947679.2021.1982564.

Citations

1. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images, Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross Opens Gimbels, Philadelphia, featuring Ellis Gimbel, Governor Ross, and Mayor Kendrick of Philadelphia; Bain News Service, Gov. Nellie T. Ross, [ca. 1915–1920], George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2014709682/. ︎
2. Teva J. Scheer, Governor Lady: The Life and Times of Nellie Tayloe Ross (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005), 27. ︎
3. Wyoming Inaugurates Nellie Tayloe Ross—First Lady Governor in United States,” Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), January 7, 1925, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066928/1925-01-07/ed-1/seq-1/. ︎
4. “Her Excellency, The Governess.” The Challis Messenger (Challis, Idaho), January 14, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88056159/1925-01-14/ed-1/seq-3/. ︎
5. Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), January 18, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1925-01-18/ed-1/seq-96/. ︎
6. “Beat Texas to It, and Elect Woman Governor,” The Buffalo Voice (Buffalo, Johnson County, WY), October 17, 1924. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92067096/1924-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/. ︎
7. Mike Mackey, “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics,” Journal of the West 42, no. 3 (2003): 26. ︎
8. Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s (New York: Hill and Wang, 1995), 32-35. ︎
9. Scheer, Governor Lady, 74. ︎
10. “Armed Prohibition Force Guards Gov. Nellie Ross,” The Washington Post (1923-1954), April 11, 1925. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post, pg. 1. ︎
11. Dumenil, Modern Temper, 229. ︎
12. Mackey, “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics,” 28. ︎
13. “Gov. Ross Removes Loomis from Office.” Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), June 17, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066928/1925-06-17/ed-1/seq-4/ ︎
14. Mackey, “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics,” 30. ︎
15. “Wyoming Senate Rejects Child Labor Amendm’t.” The Cody Enterprise (Cody, Wyo.), January 21, 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066929/1925-01-21/ed-1/seq-1/. ︎
16. Scheer, Governor Lady, 83. ︎
17. Dumenil, Modern Temper, 105.
    ︎
18. “Clean Politics Urged On Women.” Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), December 2, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1926-12-02/ed-1/seq-27/. ︎
19. “Matrimony Is Proper Thing,” Brownsville Herald (Brownsville, Tex.), March 28, 1926, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063730/1926-03-28/ed-1/seq-5/. ︎
20. Virginia Scharff, “Feminism, Femininity, and Power: Nellie Tayloe Ross and the Woman Politician’s Dilemma,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 15, no. 3 (1995): 88. ︎
21. Scharff, “Feminism, Femininity, and Power,” 88. ︎
22. “Woman Governor Sees No Havoc in Vote for Her Sex: Merely Opens Door…,” The Washington Post (1923-1954), January 24, 1926. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post, pg. A7. ︎
23. Nellie Tayloe Ross for Governor, postcard, 1926, Catalog No. 2004.025.0005, Rockpile Museum, accessed March 21, 2025, https://rockpilemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/E78C4C54-6A62-4033-A6E8-793416583805. ︎
24. Bettmann Archive, Nellie Ross and Eleanor Roosevelt, photograph, July 1928. ︎
25. Mackey, “Nellie Tayloe Ross and Wyoming Politics,” 31. ︎
26. “Prominent Wyoming Lady Says Mrs. Ross Not Entitled to Woman Vote—Sympath Not Issue,” The Cody Enterprise and the Park County Herald (Cody, Wyo.), October 13, 1926. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92066930/1926-10-13/ed-1/seq-4/. ︎
27. Dumenil, Modern Temper, 29. ︎

grlynn

Grlynn is a Ramapo College senior majoring in history

Delta Airlines is one of the world’s largest airlines, with a rich history spanning over 90 years. Founded in 1924, Delta has grown from a crop-dusting operation to a global airline that serves more than 300 destinations in over 50 countries. This post will explore the history of Delta Airlines, from its early beginnings to its current status as a major player in the airline industry.

Early Years

Delta Airlines was founded in 1925 as Huff Daland Dusters, a crop-dusting company based in Macon, Georgia. The company’s founder, Collette E Woolman recognized the potential for commercial aviation and decided to expand the company’s operations to include delivery and passenger flights. 

Huff Daland, Delta, played a significant role during the 1920s and continues to play a vital role in commerce. During the 1920s crop dusting was part of the reason for the decline in crop prices advancing the great depression. Crop dusters allowed farmers to tend to larger land plots leading to increased production. The overproduction of food drove down food prices and during an economic depression the demand for food went down and everyone suffered. Looking forward to after the great depression, the practice of crop dusting is still in practice in 2023, to plant crops over a large spread of land and mass produce crops. The importance of crop dusting is cited by different papers during the 1920s. In 1925 Alabama newspaper, The Montgomery Advertiser, printed a story about failing cotton crops due to weevils and offered Huff Dusters as a solution to the problem, “foretelling of the greatest weevil emergence in history…State department of agriculture arrangements have been completed with the Huff Daland Dusters, Inc., to give a demonstration of airplane crop dusting.” The demonstration in Alabama proved to be successful. A few months later a Pennsylvania based newspaper, The Bristol Courier, published a story about Huff Daland’s agriculture contracts and tract record, “Airplanes of Huff Daland Dusters Inc., will protect 65,000 acres of cotton this year from insect pests.” The paper also talked about how Huff Daland Dusters are holding contracts in the south not only because of their ability to protect crops but also for their ability to bring manufacturing jobs to rural areas. “At the new airplane factory of the Huff Daland Company which is to be located in a portion of the merchant shipyard here, airplanes will be built to be used in dusting the Southern cotton fields.”

The success of Huff Daland Crop Dusting allowed the company to transition to commercial flights in addition to crop dusting. In 1928 The New York Times published an article titled, “Flying School Started Here”. The article is about Huff Daland hiring and training commercial pilots to operate the crop dusters while reassuring readers about the safety of aircrafts, “The Huff Daland Dusters, Inc., …have conducted dusting operations all over the south, in Mexico, and in Peru. Not a single fatality has occurred in any of their dusting operations, although this is considered one of the most hazardous types of flying.” The positive news coverage of Huff Daland Dusters gives the brand credibility as safe, professional, and efficient. Huff Daland soon changed its name to Delta airline and began doing passenger and cargo flights in addition to crop dusting. 

In 1928 Huff Daland  expanded into passenger flights from just crop dusting and changed its name to Delta air service. Delta was the first airline to allow passenger flights and they started with airports from Dallas Texas to Jackson Mississippi. The next year Delta expanded across the south to include services to Georgia and Delta air service changed its name to Delta Air Corporation. Starting in 1934 Delta began contracting work for the US Post office delivering mail via air from various post offices. Bringing mail via airplane significantly reduced the time it takes for people to receive mail and the cost to transport it long distance. In 1935 Delta began running night flights setting the current standard of nocturnal flights.

World War II (During and Post)

During World War II, Delta Air Lines was contracted by the U.S. military to provide air transport services. After the war, Delta resumed its commercial operations and continued to expand its route network. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the airline began flying to destinations in Europe and South America, cementing its status as a major international carrier.

Expansion and Innovation

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Delta Air Lines continued to expand its route network and modernize its fleet. In 1955, the airline introduced the first commercial jet service with the Douglas DC-8, which was faster and more efficient than the propeller-driven planes that had dominated the industry up to that point. Delta also introduced stewardesses in the Delta DC-8 and DC-9 jets. During the 1970s, Delta faced increasing competition from other airlines, including low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines. To remain competitive, the airline began to focus on providing high-quality service and amenities to its passengers, including upgraded seats and in-flight meals.

Mergers and Acquisitions

In the 1980s and 1990s, Delta Air Lines underwent a series of mergers and acquisitions that helped to cement its status as one of the world’s largest airlines. In 1984, the airline merged with Western Airlines, adding routes to the western United States and Hawaii.

In 2000, Delta merged with Korean Air, creating a strategic alliance that allowed the two airlines to share routes and resources. Continuing throughout the 200s, Delta Air Lines continued to expand its operations and modernize its fleet. The airline added new routes to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and began to focus on providing more personalized service to its passengers. Looking forward to 2012, Delta acquired a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways, giving the airline access to new routes and expanding its presence in Europe. Six years later in 2018 when climate change became a primary concern for businesses, Delta announced plans to purchase a total of 20 new Airbus A350 aircraft, which are more fuel-efficient, and have a lower carbon footprint than previous models and methods of air transportation.

Looking forward Delta airlines created a demand for more pilots which worked in both peace and war time. During World War 1 America started to build its air force then in a time of peace from 1919–1939 the United States invested in aviation and during World War 2 the USAAF peaked with approximately one million airplanes. The grand size of the United States Army Air Force can be attributed to companies such as Delta that managed to mass produce planes and pilots.   

Sources Used

     Downs, Eldon W., and George F. Lemmer. “Origins of Aerial Crop Dusting.” Agricultural History 39, no. 3 (1965): 123–35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3740251.

  Federico, Giovanni. “Not Guilty? Agriculture in the 1920s and the Great Depression.” The Journal of Economic History 65, no. 4 (2005): 949–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3874910

https://www.newspapers.com/image/413687705/?terms=Huff%20Daland&match=1

https://www.newspapers.com/image/82051137/?terms=Huff%20Daland&match=1

https://news.delta.com/deltas-history-dusting-crops-connecting-world

KC

Ramapo College senior majoring in history. My concentration is in the 1920s machine politics in major cities. In particular the unsustainability of the machine politic model.