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Oklahomas "Good Angel Kate"
She ran for the office and won by a large majority even though only men could vote. She made United States history. She was the first woman in the country to hold an elected statewide office. As leader of the Office of Charities and Corrections, Kate enacted many reforms. She set up a state employment bureau to help out-of-work people find jobs. She implemented prison reforms that called for better treatment of prisoners. They had been abused in the past. She helped establish juvenile courts because she believed there was a difference between children who committed crimes and the more hardened adult prisoners. In most cases, adults committed far more serious crimes than children. Kate also worked to get better facilities and treatment for the physically and mentally handicapped. Because she did so much to help people, many Oklahomans began referring to Barnard as "Our Good Angel, Kate." Although Kate was re-elected for a second term, she ran up against a problem that she could not solve. When she learned that hundreds of Indian children had been cheated out of oil royalties, she tried to help them. At one point she went to Muskogee and found three "wild" Indian children all sleeping in the same tree. They dug in garbage piles, looking for food when they should have been rich. White adults had cheated them out of their oil money. Kate investigated and wanted something done to protect the children. But many powerful state and local politicians were involved in the cheating. They would not give up the money that they had stolen. They tried to ruin Kate by their constant harassment. They also cut all of the funds to her Department of Charities and Corrections. Always frail and sickly, Kate was broken by her opponents. She decided not to seek a third term in 1915. Kate lived on until 1930 and continued to perform charity work as a private citizen. Study Guide Questions:
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