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National History Day in South Dakota

Women Homesteaders

A black and white photo of Julia Stockton standing in front of her claim shanty outside of Aberdeen, SD. She is wearing a white dress and a wide-brimmed hat.

The Homestead Act of 1862 opened South Dakota to Americans, explicitly allowing women to own their own land. This opportunity was hard to pass up for some women, they packed up everything they could and moved to the Great Plains to try to “prove up,” their land.

Available Resource(s):

  •  - An autobiography by Edith Kohl, where she described her life on her homestead near the Lower Brule reservation.
  • * - Physical copy of this Journal available at the Agricultural Heritage Museum in Brookings
  • SD Agricultural Heritage Museum Exhibit - FarmHer * - Exhibit is open until February 2020.
  •  - This article compared women's lives in the 1920s, one woman was from South Dakota while the other was from Iowa. 
  •  - This book, by H. Elaine Lindgren, gives a well-rounded view of life for women on the frontier 
  • South Dakota Art Museum Exhibit - Harvey Dunn* - Opening Fall 2019

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