Alice Mary Robertson was an American educator, social worker, government official, and politician. She was the first woman from the state of Oklahoma to serve in the United States Congress.
Her services to soldiers during the Spanish-American War brought her honorary membership in the organization of the Spanish American War Veterans.
Background
Alice Mary Robertson was born at the Tullahassee Mission in Creek Nation, Indian Territory, the daughter of William Schenck and Ann Eliza (Worcester) Robertson. Her mother was the daughter of the noted missionary to the Cherokees, the Rev. Samuel A. Worcester, and both parents gave the greater part of their lives to missionary work among the Creeks. When the Civil War broke out the Robertsons left the Indian Territory.
Education
Alice attended school in Wisconsin and at Highland, Kan. , but returned with her parents to Tullahassee in 1866.
For the next five years she received no formal schooling but studied under the direction of her father.
In 1871 she entered Elmira College, New York, where she remained until 1873.
Compelled to leave before graduating in order to provide for the education of her sister, she received from the college the honorary degree of A. M. in 1886.
Career
From 1873 to 1880 she was clerk in the Office of Indian Affairs at Washington and for the following two years she was secretary to Captain Pratt of Carlisle Indian School, but the death of her father and the failing health of her mother caused her to return to Indian Territory in 1882. Here she taught in an Indian school at Okmulgee and collected funds to erect the Creek school called Nuyaka Mission. In 1885 she was placed in charge of a Presbyterian school for girls at Muskogee. This later became Henry Kendall College and was eventually removed to Tulsa and became the University of Tulsa. For nearly fifteen years Miss Robertson held various positions in Henry Kendall College. Her services to soldiers during the Spanish-American War brought her honorary membership in the organization of the Spanish American War Veterans. In 1900 she was made superintendent of Creek schools in Indian Territory and in 1905 was appointed postmaster of Muskogee by President Roosevelt. She held this position until 1913. For the next seven years she lived at her country place near Muskogee and operated it as "Sawokla Dairy Farm, " at the same time operating "Sawokla Cafeteria" in Muskogee. During the World War she provided food and hot coffee for the soldiers who passed through Muskogee. Others joined her in this work and she became head of the canteen service of the city which fed thousands of soldiers. At her cafeteria, where no soldier was permitted to pay for a meal, she fed hundreds more. Her work attracted so much attention that in 1920 she was elected to Congress on the Republican ticket from the second Oklahoma district. When her term expired in 1923 she entered the Veterans' Hospital at Muskogee and for two years served as a welfare worker. Later she went to Washington as correspondent for the Muskogee News. Returning to Oklahoma she was employed by the Oklahoma Historical Society for two or three years to do research work, but age and ill health at last forced her to retire from active employment.
Politics
Her work attracted so much attention that in 1920 she was elected to Congress on the Republican ticket from the second Oklahoma district.