A Life on Fire: Oklahoma’s Kate Barnard author talk with Connie Cronley

On Saturday, February 8, at 1:30 p.m., the Oklahoma Territorial Museum will host an author talk featuring Connie Cronley. This event is free to the public. Copies of her book, A Life on Fire: Oklahoma’s Kate Barnard (2021), will be available for purchase in the museum’s store during the event.

Cronley’s award-winning biography focuses on Catherine Ann “Kate” Barnard (1875–1930), a passionate political reformer and fearless activist who advocated for the vulnerable and marginalized. Barnard made history as the first woman elected to state office in Oklahoma, serving as the Commissioner of Charities and Corrections in 1907—almost fifteen years before women gained the right to vote in the United States.

“I believe Kate Barnard is the most important woman in Oklahoma history,” says Cronley, “the mission of this book is to answer that question.” Cronley is a native Oklahoman and an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, currently residing in Tulsa.