Miriam Butterworth facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Miriam Butterworth
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Butterworth in 1971
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| Born |
Miriam Ford Brooks
April 14, 1918 |
| Died | July 9, 2019 (aged 101) Bloomfield, Connecticut, US
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| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Mims Butterworth, Miriam Brooks Butterworth |
| Occupation | educator, politician, historian, activist |
| Years active | 1940–2018 |
Miriam Butterworth (April 14, 1918 – July 9, 2019) was an American educator, activist, and politician. She worked hard to make sure everyone had fair representation in government. Miriam was also a big part of the international peace movement. She traveled to other countries to help end the Vietnam War and later observed elections in Nicaragua. She taught at schools, led a state utility board, and was president of Hartford College for Women. She also served on her town's council and became the town historian.
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Early Life and Education
Miriam Ford Brooks, also known as "Mims," was born on April 14, 1918. Her hometown was Hartford, Connecticut. Her father worked in a grocery store and for the government. He was also a Methodist preacher. Her mother played the church organ and worked as a cook.
Miriam grew up during the Great Depression, a time when many families had little money. She lived in Windsor, Connecticut. She was able to attend the Chaffee School for free because she lived nearby. There, she met Oliver Butterworth, who would later become her husband.
After high school, Miriam received a scholarship to attend the Connecticut College for Women. She studied history and German. In 1938, she visited Germany on a student trip. This was just before World War II began. This trip made her very interested in world politics. She graduated in 1940. Soon after, she married Oliver and moved to Kent, Connecticut. Miriam continued her studies and earned a master's degree from Wesleyan College.
Working for Change
Miriam Butterworth started her career teaching at the Ethel Walker School. She later taught history at her old school, Loomis Chaffee. While living in Kent, she and Oliver had three of their four children. They later moved to West Hartford.
Fighting for Fair Voting
In West Hartford, Miriam became active with the League of Women Voters. She noticed that voting representation in the Connecticut General Assembly was unfair. An old rule from 1818 gave each town two representatives. This rule didn't consider how much populations had changed.
In 1962, a big court case called Baker v. Carr decided that states could change their voting districts. Miriam and Oliver joined a lawsuit with eight other people. They wanted to make voting districts in Connecticut fairer. The League of Women Voters supported this effort. Miriam was the only woman who was part of the lawsuit.
Their case, Butterworth et al., won in court. The state tried to appeal, but the decision was upheld. This meant that voting districts in Connecticut were changed to be based on population size. This made voting much fairer for everyone.
Working for Peace
Miriam Butterworth had been involved with the Democratic Party since she first voted. In 1968, she led Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign in Connecticut. She also went to the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Miriam was against the Vietnam War. She attended many peace rallies. In 1971, she traveled to Paris with other delegates. They went to discuss how to achieve peace and end the war. Miriam was a strong pacifist, meaning she believed in peace and was against war. She wanted the war to end right away.
For many years, Miriam protested every Saturday in West Hartford Center. She protested against wars, including those in Nicaragua, Iran, and Iraq. She also spoke out against nuclear weapons. She served on the national board of the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, also known as SANE.
Public Service and Leadership
In 1975, Governor Ella Grasso appointed Miriam to the state's Public Utilities Control Authority. This board oversees things like electricity and gas companies. In 1978, Miriam became the chair of this board. She was the first woman to hold this important leadership position.
Later, in 1979, Miriam became the president of the Hartford College for Women. This was a temporary job, but it showed her leadership skills. In 1981, she ran for a seat on the West Hartford Town Council. She won with more votes than any other Democratic candidate.
In 1984, Miriam traveled to Nicaragua. She was an international observer for their first democratic election in ten years. She was concerned about the United States' policies in Central America. She worried that tensions could lead to another war like Vietnam. In 1985, Miriam decided not to run for reelection to the town council.
Historian and Author
By the 1990s, Miriam Butterworth was working as the town historian for West Hartford. She helped plan events for the town's 150th anniversary. In 1995, she attended the World Conference on Women in Beijing.
To share a more complete history of West Hartford, Miriam wrote a book in 1997. This book focused on the contributions of African American people to the community. Her book, along with another town history, was published in 2001 as Celebrate! West Hartford: An illustrated history.
In 2008, she wrote her memoirs, which are stories about her own life. She didn't plan to publish them, but in 2010, her book Just Say Yes was released. In 2018, her fourth book, Lull Before the Storm, was published. It was based on a diary she kept during her 1938 trip to Heidelberg.
Death and Legacy
Miriam Butterworth passed away on July 9, 2019, at the age of 101. She died from heart disease in Bloomfield, Connecticut.
Her important papers were given to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut Libraries. The Hartford College for Women named an art gallery the Miriam B. Butterworth Art Gallery in her honor. This shows how much she was respected and remembered for her contributions.
