- This program was made possible in part by the Big Sky Film Grant, the Greater Montana Foundation, and Humanities Montana.

Additional funding provided by.

[peaceful acoustic music plays] [footsteps] [horse galloping] - She really paved the way for women in a very fiery way and I love now that we're finally starting to look at her and give her the credit that she's been very long overdue.

♪ - But as far as Montana athletes, I would put Fanny up there, at least in the top ten.

[crowd cheering in background] ♪ - If Montana did give the gift of Charlie Russell to the world, I think Nancy Russell is the one that gave us the gift of Charlie Russell.

♪ - Everybody, if they want to, can work really hard, but you need other skills.

And she had all those skills.

♪ [peaceful acoustic music concludes] - [Narrator] In 1878, America was a land of expansion, grit, and hard realities; a place where opportunity and struggle went hand in hand.

That was the world Nancy Cooper entered as a baby.

Born in Kentucky to a woman named Texas Annie, her father left before she was even born.

At just eight years old, Nancy's life shifted again.

When her mother remarried, Nancy was left in the care of her grandparents.

Seen more as a burden than a blessing, she was raised on a farm where affection was scarce and survival came first.

- Nancy Cooper, growing up on a tobacco farm, would have had unimaginably hard labor as a child because tobacco was one of the last crops in the United States to be mechanized.

So it was all hand labor, and it was really hard labor.

So she grew up as a child not loved and having to work very, very hard.

- When her stepfather and mother had a second child, they then decided they were going to move to Montana and they did take Nancy back.

The four of them came to Montana, and then that stepfather left.

- At the age of 12, Nancy, her mother and younger half-sister found themselves in Helena, having to make their way alone.

Texas Annie became sick with tuberculosis, and Nancy became her caretaker.

Four years later, Texas Annie died in 1894, leaving 15 year old Nancy and her younger sister completely alone.

- When Nancy's mother died, her stepfather came back and took his child, Nancy's half sister, and left Nancy behind.

She was only 15 years old.

She didn't have anywhere to go, and once again, she's on her own.

Within a year, she was taken in by a family in Cascade, the Roberts family, the first real family life she ever had.

And within a year of being taken in by them, she met Charlie Russell.

[hopeful acoustic music plays] - Charlie Russell had come to Montana when he was just barely 16 years old.

He was a pretty wild youth.

He always had a good time.

He was extremely popular.

He was he was never... even he admitted he wasn't a good cowboy, per se, but his fellow cowboys on the ranch loved him primarily because he could tell such good tales.

- On an autumn night in 1895, 17 year old Nancy locked eyes with a local artist, a meeting that would change not only the course of her life, but also leave a mark on the world of Western art for generations to come.

- She always describes meeting him that night as standing in the kitchen getting ready for dinner, and she heard boots on the porch boards outside, and then the door flew open and Mr.

Roberts said, Lila, Charlie's here.

And she said, there I stood with a plate of sliced ham, looking at this man with beautiful blue eyes and, and he walked over to the corner of the kitchen and splashed some water into the basin to wash up for supper.

And, when he was finished, I'm still standing there with that plate of ham!

He was drying his face, and he peeked out around the corner of the towel, and he winked at me.

Well, that was the beginning.

♪ - A year later, Nancy and Charlie were married in an intimate ceremony in the Roberts' front parlor with just nine guests.

Early on, it became evident to Nancy that if Charlie was going to be successful, she needed to help him.

Charlie didn't like charging people money for his work, but the art of business was where Nancy excelled.

- So Charlie had made a painting for the mayor's wife, and Nancy said, can I deliver it?

And Charlie said, yes, but don't you ask for more than $25 or she won't take it.

So when she got to the mayor's house, the mayor's wife loved the little painting and said, how much?

Nancy said, $35.

Wait right here.

I'll get you a check.

- Within a few years, Nancy realized they needed to go back east to expand their careers.

In New York, Charlie met artists who became his lifelong friends and mentors.

Being self-taught, his art improved because of these relationships.

Similarly, Nancy hit the pavement and started learning what this art career could mean for the two of them.

- She didn't know how to sell art.

She probably didn't even know how to describe a watercolor from an oil painting when she first started out.

But she clearly was a quick learner, whether she had a formal education or not.

- The New York trip proved very successful and Nancy's reputation of being a tough businesswoman began to circulate.

[ragtime music plays] - Nancy came from nothing.

She didn't have any money or mentoring or education; so she was pretty naive and not very elegant, I would say, about her dealings with people, but she just held her ground.

- Charlie's work began growing in fame, and Nancy arranged exhibitions throughout the U.S., Canada and England.

She was a keen manager of her husband's time and talents.

If you wanted to get to Charlie, you had to go through Nancy, and that included Charlie's friends.

[music concludes] - She didn't like them.

She didn't want them distracting Charlie from his artwork.

Nancy was only interested in people in terms of what they might do for her.

So if somebody wasn't going to be a good customer of Charlie, she really didn't want them taking up his time; and she wanted him out there painting.

And so his friends did not like her.

- I think she knew what others said about her.

She knew how others felt.

She was just too, too much of an ambitious person, too much of a driver.

And...and he knew it too.

But he always smiled.

He always looked the other way, she said.

Pretended not to see my faults.

[somber music plays] - Regardless of the friction, Charlie loved Nancy.

They always wanted children, but were unable to have children of their own.

In 1916, they adopted a three month old baby boy and named him Jack.

- The war was on, and there weren't a lot of activities in terms of art exhibits and selling art and such.

So for the first couple years of that little boy's life, he had both his parents right there with him, and Charlie was just in love with this little boy.

But as soon as the war was over and Nancy could travel again and Nancy could get out there and promote Charlie, she turned her attention to that.

- While his parents worked, young Jack was left home with friends.

To Nancy, this was a part of childhood; but this parenting style had a lasting effect on Jack.

[somber music continues] - Jack was nine years old when Charlie died.

Nancy and Jack moved from Great Falls right after Charlie died to the house that they were building in Pasadena, California.

And then they lived there the rest of Nancy's life.

- While Charlie's death greatly impacted Nancy and Jack, it did not bring them closer.

Jack was put in boarding schools most of his life, and the two had a serious falling out when he married.

- She gave him one of Charlie's masterwork paintings for a wedding present, and he sold it immediately for the money and at that point, she struck him from her will, and there was no more real connection after that.

- Nancy died on May 23rd, 1940, after years of ill health.

She was 62 years old.

- But I think that she is in some ways that pull yourself up by the bootstraps example that Americans like to hold on to.

And even if people at the time disparaged her for that, we should look back and see what she was able to do, considering the childhood that she had and the lack of social and educational and financial resources that she had.

[contemplative music plays] - She was a remarkable individual who battled her own physical health, who battled perceptions of the time, who battled a lack of education and a lack of any sort of worldliness.

She just stepped into a role and embraced it and did the best she could.

And if it was inelegant at times, she still helped to provide for us a legacy of art and stories that we would not have otherwise.

♪ [contemplative music concludes] [upbeat acoustic music plays] - [Narrator] During Montana's copper boom in the 1880s, wild mustangs roamed the mountains, and so did the people who loved them.

In the spring of 1887, Rachel and Datus Sperry welcomed their daughter Fannie in the Prickly Pear Valley.

The fourth of five children, she grew up on the family homestead and was riding horses before she could walk.

♪ - There were a lot of mustangs on the... wild horses on the side of the mountain.

The family could hear them run by at night.

And one morning she woke up.

She must have heard them run by.

And the story goes, she was about three years old, and she told her mom, I'm going to catch me a whiteface horsey.

- Fanny got her first horse when she was six.

By the time she was eight, she raced her horse to and from school with her best friend and neighbor, Christine Syness.

Fannie was a good student, but the highlight of her day was her riding.

Soon, Fannie and her brother began breaking horses and her talent started to gain the attention of the community.

- I think people noticed her talents at a very early age.

She was in her first rodeo in 1901, in Mitchell.

She wanted to ride a bronc.

And at first she was refused.

But then, she persuaded them to let her ride, and she took second place.

And so you can say that's the start of her her rodeo career in a way.

[upbeat western music plays] - At the age of 17, Fannie began her professional rodeo career.

She and three other girls formed the girls' Montana relay race team.

- And they were timed races, so it wasn't like they were racing side by side against someone like you see on the track.

So the first gal, they start the stopwatch, she saddles her horse, jumps on the horse, races around the track, and when she comes to the finish line, then the other gal does the same thing, you know, saddles her horse, jumps on, races around.

- The one thing though that was interesting is they would wear bloomers, which is considered very shocking, these racing bloomers and silk tops.

- But the girls didn't mind, they were winning!

In 1906, they set a world record at the Minnesota State Fair.

Fannie soon shifted her focus to bronc riding, and in 1909, she entered her first professional competition at the Lewis and Clark Fairgrounds.

♪ She won, doing it her own way.

- So there were other women that were competing, but she was one of the few that rode them slick.

Now, the other gals would hobble the stirrups so they would tie the stirrups underneath the belly of the horse and keep their feet in the stirrups.

And it was supposed to be safer, but Fanny thought it was, that she could do a better ride by riding them like the men did.

- In 1912, the Calgary Stampede was the extravaganza that celebrated the old west.

At the age of 25, Fannie showed off her skills in front of 60,000 people.

This was the event that cemented Fannie's legacy.

[music concludes] - And when she got up there, she drew a horse by the name of Red Wing, which had stomped a cowboy named Joe Lamar the first day of the rodeo and killed him.

But she rode Red Wing, and the crowd loved her.

She got a standing ovation.

[crowd cheering] - Fannie won $1,000, worth about $32,000 in today's money, as well as a $300 belt buckle and a $250 saddle.

- She became the first ever lady bucking horse champion of the world.

It's a title she would win again the following year, in 1913 at the Stampede in Winnipeg.

- The rodeo world was a small one, and it wasn't long before Fannie crossed paths with Bill Steele, a fellow bronc rider and rodeo clown.

Their connection grew, and in 1913 they were married.

- [Jennifer] They traveled the rodeo circuit all over the country, including places like New York City, the Pendleton Round-Up.

They also had a stint with Buffalo Bill Cody in Chicago and performed not only rodeo, but tricks.

She could shoot a cigarette out of Bill's mouth.

They were quite a power couple.

I'd say.

[gunshot echoes] - Fannie drew big crowds wherever she performed, but the demanding rodeo life gradually took a toll on her body.

- [Jennifer] Her last competition was in 1925, although she competed exhibition bronc...on exhibition broncs until she was in her 50s.

[reflective violin music plays] After retirement, she and her husband, Bill, started a dude ranch up Arrastra Creek near Lincoln.

And they did outfitting, ran a string of horses, and packing into the back country.

- Fannie made history again as Montana's first female hunting and fishing guide.

♪ After Bill's passing in 1940, she continued guiding solo for another 25 years, carving out a legacy of strength and determination.

- [Jennifer] She shod and packed all her horses and guided people all summer long.

At the end of the season, she would train her horses all the way across the Continental Divide by herself, to the pastures near where she grew up.

♪ - In 1965, at age 78, Fannie fully retired.

After Bill's death, she learned his share of their Arrastra Creek ranch had been left to his son from a previous marriage.

Unable to keep the property, she was forced to sell her portion, a devastating personal and financial loss that sent her back to her family's homestead in the Prickly Pear Valley.

♪ Even as her world narrowed, her legacy only grew.

- [Jennifer] In 1975, she was the first woman inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame.

And she was the first Montanan inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1978.

[reflective violin music continues] - We've had five world rodeo champions, and Fanny was the first.

[crowd cheering in background] -The other thing I think about Fanny and the women who performed in rodeos and Wild West shows is that they also opened a door for all women athletes.

When people went to those Wild West shows and saw women, riding broncs and standing bareback on horses and, you know, doing all kinds of tricks, that had to make people rethink the capability of what women's bodies could do.

[soft acoustic music plays] - Fannie lived until she was 95 years old and died on February 11th, 1983.

♪ - [Jennifer] Fanny was destined to be great.

She competed in a man's world as an equal.

And she was an incredible athlete and tenacious woman.

♪ - [Mary] She found a way to make a living and have a whole life with the thing she loved best.

And that was horses.

[child laughing] [acoustic music concludes] - [Narrator] Born in 1860 in Northwood, New Hampshire.

Ella Knowles started off life with her upper class parents, David and Louisa.

- Ella Knowles is a child of farmers and we don't really know much about them, but I think that someone in that family must have prized education.

- And that someone was her mother, Louisa.

She taught Ella everything she knew, schooling her at home and shaping her sharp mind.

When Louisa fell ill and died, Ella was just 14.

- I think this might have been really impactful on her.

Her mother educated her at home until she passed away, and I think it would have been really quite traumatic for her to lose her mom.

- Ella was a gifted student who, after graduating from Northwood Seminary at just 15, went on to earn admission to the prestigious Bates College, a remarkable milestone for any woman of her time.

[violin music plays] - [Mary] And she goes to Bates College in Maine, which was one of the few colleges at that time that was coeducational.

That did not mean that there was an equal number of women.

There were very few women and very few women graduated.

- While at Bates College, Ella excelled on the debate team, earning honors for her skill.

She also made history as the first woman to serve on the editorial board of the school newspaper.

In 1884, she became one of the few women to graduate from Bates.

Despite her determination, Ella struggled with respiratory issues.

Doctors recommended she leave the East Coast, believing the high, dry air of the West would benefit her health.

- Ella moved to Montana in 1888, and she ended up in Helena, Montana.

As many women were at the time, she found work as a teacher.

So she worked for a short time as a public school teacher.

But she left that pretty early on to pursue her passion in the law field.

♪ - There was one hurdle standing in Ella's way, at the time women were not allowed to practice or even study law in the Montana Territory.

But with her determination in hand, Ella took her plight to the Territorial Legislature and argued that Montana women should have the opportunity to study the law.

- I don't think they thought she could pass the bar.

I think they said...they thought we can easily appease her.

We will allow her to practice law, women can practice law, and we don't think they'll be able to pass the bar.

She takes the bar exam and not only does she pass it, the examiner said that she passed it with more success than any other student he's examined.

- With that, Ella Knowles became the first female lawyer in Montana and one of only 50 female lawyers in the entire U.S.. [violin music concludes] - But having passed the bar, she still has to get clients.

[upbeat classical music plays] So the story goes that she started out, as did other early young men as lawyers, trying to collect debts.

♪ She goes to this merchant and he's clearly tired of listening to her.

And so he says, women have borrowed umbrellas from me in my store, and I want them back and if you can get them back I'll give you 25 cents for each umbrella.

And he thinks he's sent her on his way.

And she comes back with two umbrellas and then he doesn't want to pay her.

♪ And so, she turns to the other customers in the store and lays out her case, ♪ and they all agree she should be paid.

And so he gives her two 25 cent pieces, which she kept for the rest of her life as a symbol of her first paid work as a lawyer.

And subsequently he became one of her best clients.

- Her law practice grew steadily, earning her a reputation for skill and determination.

In 1894 she was commissioned to represent the state of Montana in Washington, D.C., taking on a case involving over $200,000 in contested mining interests and school property.

- And so she was the first woman to successfully vouch for a case in Washington, D.C., in front of the federal government, and she won.

[classical music concludes] - With her notoriety came new opportunities.

In 1892, she was nominated for Attorney General of Montana as a Populist Party candidate.

She ran an intense campaign during a period when women were still fighting for equality.

- At that time in the state of Montana she wins the most votes in an election for a third party candidate.

And this is also in 1892 when women don't have the vote.

So you can only kind of imagine if women had the vote at that time, she probably would have done tremendous in that election.

- Ella's tenacity and intellect remained undeniable, even in defeat.

After she lost the election, Attorney General Henry Haskell recognized her talent and appointed her as Assistant Attorney General.

Their work relationship grew into affection, and the two soon married.

- We don't know too much about what their married life was like.

It was a fairly brief life.

He decided to move to Glendive.

And I think that was just too small a world at the time for Ella.

So they divorce and she ends up moving to Butte.

- After moving to Butte in 1901, Ella quickly became an integral part of the community.

She became a member of nearly every fraternal auxiliary in Butte and spoke at numerous events.

She was also an excellent lawyer and quickly grew a very successful practice specializing in mining rights and laws.

- One of the things I think that is really notable about Ella Knowles Haskell is that she did make a lot of money, and that was also something that people didn't think women necessarily should do.

[hopeful music plays] - While thriving in Butte, Ella's health took a sudden turn when a throat infection proved fatal.

She died in 1911 at age 50.

[reflective music plays] Her passing shocked the community.

Her will was published in full in the local paper, a testament to the remarkable life and legacy she left behind.

♪ - In Ella's will, she makes provision that no less than $1,000 be expended on her tombstone.

So I think that, you know that speaks to how, what she thought of herself and that she recognized the important place that she had played in, you know, Montana's life and in the life of her family.

But she also went on and on in her gifts to people.

And it's a really interesting piece of paper because it's... it's just so thoughtful.

I mean, clearly she was a good lawyer in drawing up this will.

- Ella's generosity was on display in her death.

She provided a pension for her father, gave money to her hometown to take care of the cemetery where her mother was buried, she also gave property and gifts to several of her closest friends and colleagues.

- [Mary] So when they were making the arrangements, the Silver Bow Bar Association arranges that all of the pallbearers will be lawyers from the Butte community.

And the president of the bar association puts a notice in the paper that he expects every member of the Silver Bow Bar Association to be at her funeral.

♪ - It was a striking tribute, not just to Ella's accomplishments, but to the deep respect she earned from the legal community.

For a woman navigating an overwhelmingly male world, that kind of recognition didn't come easily.

Ella had to understand what mattered to the men around her, how the system worked, and where she could carve out a space of her own.

- And so for a woman trying to make her way in a overwhelmingly male world, she had to know what they valued, how they operated, and where she could nudge herself into that business, or find a niche in which she could be successful.

I think from the point of view of thinking as an organizer or as a person who wants to make change in society, she's kind of a model for how to do that.

[reflective music concludes] [peaceful acoustic music plays] - [Narrator] For generations, the women of Montana have pushed boundaries, broken barriers, and shaped history in quiet and extraordinary ways.

♪ - The United States was a country based on the principles of liberty and equality.

But it took generations for different groups to achieve any sense of liberty or equality.

And so I've come to think about looking at the past, for Americans in particular, to reflect upon how much work it took to get what we now think of as our basic rights, and also to look to the past to realize how fragile our hold on those rights are, and that they can be taken away in a flash unless you consciously work to protect them.

[peaceful acoustic music continues] ♪ [peaceful acoustic music concludes]