Who was the first woman to serve in the United States Senate?

The US Senate has been established in 1789. Since then, 46 women senators have served in that body. Very few women were elected until the late 20th century; and the number of women in the Senate started increasing only since 1992. 20 female senators serve in the upper house today.

The fact is that the first female senator in the American history served only for a single day. Rebecca Felton was elected to fill the vacancy after the death of Senator Tom Watson from Georgia. She held the post for 24 hours until the successor was elected.

Rebecca was sworn on the 21 of November, 1922. At that moment, she was 87 years old, which made her the oldest freshman in the history of the US Senate. Rebecca was an active society woman, who called for different reforms and women's suffrage.