Adversaries: Lyda Conley

Eliza Burton “Lyda” Conley (c.1869 - 1946) was a lawyer and Wyandot Native American. She was the first woman admitted to the Kansas Bar Association and was the first Native American woman admitted to argue a case in front of the United States Supreme Court.

For Further Reading: 

• Lyda Conley: Saving Her People’s Heritage
• Lyda Conley 
• Lyda Conley’s battle for Huron Indian Cemetery in KCK
• Indigenous Peoples’ Day Featuring Eliza “Lyda” Burton Conley
• How a trio of sisters occupied – and saved – a sacred Native cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas
• Lyda Conley Interview, 1909

This month we’re talking about adversaries. These women fought against systems, governments and – sometimes each other to break barriers in their respective fields. They did unthinkable and sometimes unspeakable things to carve out their place in history.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Hannah Bottum, Lauren Willams, and Adrien Behn. Special thanks to Shira Atkins. Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this
is Womanica. This month, we're talking about adversaries, women who
fought for their place in history. Whether they fought to
get to the top of their sport against how society
perceived them, or fought with each other to be champions.
We're talking about women who broke barriers and sometimes did

(00:25):
seemingly impossible or unspeakable things to carve out their place
in history. This episode of Wimanica is brought to you
by the All New Toyota Camery. Today we're talking about
a woman who took on more than just one person.
She picked a fight with the United States federal government
and fought tirelessly to protect the land and history of
her indigenous community. She went to battle for people who'd

(00:47):
been pushed out of their homes, separated from each other,
and taken advantage of by colonizers. Let's talk about Lida Conley.
Eliza Lida Burton Komm was born between eighteen sixty eight
and eighteen sixty nine in Kansas. Her father was an
English farmer and her mother was the descendant of a

(01:07):
wine dot chief. Lida was part of one of the
few remaining Wine Dot families in Kansas. At the beginning
of the nineteenth century, the Wine Dot tribe was based
in Ohio and Michigan, but before Lida was born, the
wine Dots were forcibly removed to a reservation in Kansas
by way of the Indian Removal Act at eighteen thirty.

(01:28):
This new reservation was rife with disease, and the land
was for the most part unlivable. Many people died during
the move. In the mid eighteen hundreds, the US government
once again tried to force the wine Dots to move,
this time to Oklahoma, but Lida's family didn't want to go.
They were among a group of Wine Doots who accepted

(01:50):
a treaty with the federal government in eighteen fifty five
to avoid having to leave Kansas. Though Lida and her
family were allowed to stay, they were forced to dissociate
from the Windott nation and become US citizens. Their legal
tribal identities were dissolved in the process. Lyda grew up

(02:10):
in extreme poverty. Her mother and one of her sisters
died when she was just two years old, and her
father passed away when she was a teenager. Her older sister, Ida,
got a job cooking at the local county jail and
saved up some money to send her younger sisters to
Park College in Missouri. Lida made the most of her

(02:33):
education and worked tirelessly, even rowing herself across the river
every day to make it to school. She eventually graduated
from college as a telegraph operator and took up a
teaching job in Kansas City. One critical place in that
city would forever alter her life. The Huron Indian Cemetery

(02:55):
was established in eighteen forty three after the forest relocation
of Wine Dots to Kansas deaths of many tribal members.
Huron is the name French settlers used to refer to
the Wine Dot. The tribe built a cemetery on a
bluff above the Missouri River to avoid flooding. These burial
grounds were an important part of the community and a

(03:15):
long tradition of paying respect to their ancestors. Lida's mother
and sister were both buried at Huron, along with two
hundred other Windott people. The land was supposedly protected under
the Treaty of eighteen fifty five. In the decades after
the cemetery was established, the city grew around it, and
the land grew in value. Eventually, the federal government and

(03:37):
many windots in Oklahoma decided to sell the cemetery. To
do so, they'd exhumed the bodies that had been laid
to rest there. Lida was horrified, so she refused to
give in. In nineteen oh two, Lida graduated from the
Kansas City School of Law as one of the only
women in her class. Later, she was admitted to the

(03:58):
Missouri bar. In nineteen o six, when Congress officially authorized
the sale and mass exhumation of the Huron Cemetery, Lida
submitted a permanent injunction to prevent the sale. She and
her sister Helena set themselves up with their father's shotgun
at the cemetery entrance. They built a small shack they
dubbed Fort Calmly. They ignored repeated threats of arrest from

(04:22):
the police and US Army, and hung a sign that
read trespass at your own peril at the cemetery gate.
For six years, the two sisters kept up and protected
the burial site in shifts they waited for Lyda's lawsuit
to move through the courts. Lida later talked about her
time at the cemetery saying I was not afraid of

(04:42):
the troops. I knew that was only a plan to
scare me away from the place. I knew the Constitution
too well to be afraid of them. Lyda vowed to
go to Washington to personally defend the cemetery if that
was what it took. She explained, no lawyer could plead
for the grave of my mother. I could. No lawyer
could have the heart interest in this case that I have.

(05:04):
If I lose, then I will admit that the Constitution
of the United States is Greek to me. In nineteen
oh seven, Lida filed a nearly seventy page brief to
appeal to the United States Supreme Court. In nineteen ten,
she took the stand, opting to represent herself. At the time,
she was the third woman and first Native American woman
to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.

(05:27):
During Lida's oral argument, she drew attention to the hypocrisy
of the situation. She said, bury me with my father's
and Huron cemetery the most sacred and hallowed spot on
earth to me, and I cannot believe that this is
superstitious reverence any more than I can believe that the
reverence every true American has for the Grave of Washington
at Mount Vernon a superstitious reverence. Lyida fought bravely in

(05:53):
the court on behalf of her people. She highlighted the
unjust government actions that benefited white colonizers at the cost
of indigenous people. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled against her,
claiming that the federal government had the right to administer
tribal Landlida and Helena did not let this stop them

(06:17):
from continuing to guard the cemetery. In nineteen thirteen, a
Republican Senator from Kansas named Charles Curtis passed a bill
that permanently protected the cemetery and funded its upkeep. Lyda
fought for the cemetery until the end of her life.
Her shack was destroyed. She was arrested several times and

(06:37):
even spent ten days in jail to protect the land
that was rightfully hers. She declared, while we live, these
bodies shall not be disturbed. Lida died in nineteen forty six.
According to a friend, Aslida was leaving the Kansas City
Public Library, a stranger hit her on the head with

(06:58):
a brick and stole her purse, even though she only
had twenty cents inside. Lida died from her injuries. She
was seventy six years old. Still her legacy lives on.
In nineteen seventy one, the Huron Indian Cemetery was added
to the National Register of Historic Places and renamed the

(07:19):
Wine Dot National Cemetery. This is where Alida was laid
to rest and remains to this day. All month, we're
talking about adversaries. For more information, find us on Facebook
and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast Special thanks to Liz Kaplan,
my favorite sister and co creator. As always, will be
taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you on Monday.