Charlestown mayor reads to students on Read Across America Day

CHARLESTOWN, Ind. (WDRB) -- The mayor of Charlestown provided a message to students about bullying on Read Across America Day.

Mayor Treva Hodges, the first woman to serve as Charlestown's mayor, read "A Vote for Susanna: The First Woman Mayor" to elementary school students at the Charlestown Public Library Wednesday morning. 

The book tells the story of Susanna Salter, who was nominated as a joke but went on to become the first female mayor in the U.S. in 1887.

Hodges said we've come a long way since then, but there's still work to be done.

"Some of the things that came out in the newspapers then talked about how she looked, what she wore, how she wore her hair and questioned whether she could be a good wife and mother and also be mayor," Hodges said. "And I want to tell you, 135 years later, I still face the same critiques."

More than 100 copies of "A Vote for Susanna" were given out to students and the library on Wednesday.

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