History master’s student London Hawes took a career turn from urban planning to studying the American suffrage movement
London Hawes
By Colin Bowyer, Communications Manager - March 12, 2025
History was always an interest of London Hawes, an experienced city planner, but was never thought of as a potential career path. After almost ten years working in the urban planning departments of cities around the United States, Hawes saw an opportunity at the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion to turn her passion in history into something more.
Hawes grew up in Eugene and received her undergraduate degree in international studies from Brigham Young University - Idaho, including studying abroad at length in Beijing. Always drawn to cityscapes and urban environments, Hawes enrolled directly into graduate school, earning her Master of Planning degree from the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy.
After graduation, Hawes worked in the urban planning departments of South Jordan and Lehi City, Utah; Hampton, Virginia; Grand Junction, Colorado; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hawes’ expertise was specifically on short and long term land use regulation and zoning, including reviewing building and site permits, as well as development for residential, commercial, and public structures.
A huge component of working in municipal planning departments is acting as a representative of the city in a public setting, listening and learning from residents. “Whether McDonalds wants to open a new restaurant or the city is creating a new strategic plan, for a majority of development or changes in land use restrictions, the city needs to put aside time for public comment,” said Hawes. “Becoming the face of many of these development projects and initiatives has taught me invaluable lessons in listening and patience.”
Hawes' final planning manager role was in Yelm, Washington, outside of Olympia. In September 2022, Hawes was laid off due to restructuring within the city government office.
“This was a huge turning point for me,” said Hawes. “I had been in city planning roles for almost ten years and could keep going, but a part of me always wanted to re-examine my interest in history and become a professor. Though, I had no history degree or research experience.”
Hawes applied to the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion’s master’s in history program, utilizing her wealth of experience in urban history and planning to help with her application. She was accepted and began in fall 2023. Now finished with her first year of classwork, Hawes is beginning to work on her thesis detailing the life of C. Eleanor Spears, a writer, suffragist, and member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
“Truthfully, when entering the master’s program, I didn’t have a specific topic in mind to explore,” explained Hawes. “My advisor and mentor, Marisa Chappell, suggested I look into the suffragist movement more broadly, which ultimately led me to Spears.” Hawes was attracted to the strong role models of the suffragist movement, examining this first wave of feminism in the grand scheme of feminists.
Spears was a New York suffragist whose activism and influence has flown under the academic radar, said Hawes. Spears worked on the national campaign for the 19th amendment by lobbying President Woodrow Wilson and through the WCTU, she was also a gigantic political influence in the ratification of the 18th amendment.
In a twist of political ideology after living as a fundamentalist in New York, Spears moved to Southern California in the 1920s. She listened to Herbert Hoover’s speech at the 1932 Republican National Convention and became wholly upset by what she heard. Shortly after, Spears became heavily involved in socialist causes, including organizing a socialist club in Inglewood, California, and campaigning for Upton Sinclair’s candidacy in California’s 1934 gubernatorial election.
“She lived a life of contradictions,” said Hawes. “My goal is to situate Spears in feminist history.”
After the history master’s program, Hawes hopes to enter a Ph.D. program and dig deeper into suffragism, looking specifically at the marriages and partnerships of suffragists and how they influenced their positions and perspectives.