Lorraine Morton (1918- ) came to Evanston in 1941 to study for her Master’s Degree in Education at Northwestern University. In 1953, Morton took a position at Foster School, a segregated K-8 school in Evanston. Quickly she found herself challenging segregation. She was the first African-American teacher at Nichols Middle School and the first African-American […]
Today is International Women’s Day! Here’s a description from the organization’s web site — “International Women’s Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, IWD is a national holiday. The first IWD was run in
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Catharine Waugh McCulloch (1862-1945) was an attorney, activist and suffragist. McCulloch was the first female Justice of the Peace in Illinois and the first woman to serve as a presidential elector. Deeply concerned about the family and women’s legal rights, McCulloch helped push the age of consent law in Illinois from 14 to 16 and
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World renowned social reformer Frances E. Willard (1839-1898) lived in Evanston all her adult life. Through her efforts, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union became the largest women’s organization in the U.S. before 1900, and mobilized countless women to take on a wider role in the world through temperance activism. Her “Do Everything” reform agenda included
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Alice Cushing Donaldson Riley (1864-1953) was an author and playwright who lived in Evanston from 1898 until 1931. She wrote children’s poetry and stories, and several one-act plays. Her best known work is “Slumber Boat,” a familiar children’s lullaby which she co-wrote with Dorothy Gaynor. Her home at 1822 Sheridan Road (now demolished) was the
Dr. Isabella Garnett (1872-1948) was born in 1872 to one of Evanston’s earliest African-American families. One of the first African-American female physicians in the state of Illinois, Garnett received her medical degree in 1901 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Chicago. She returned to Evanston in 1904. Recognizing that hospital care for African-Americans
You might be wondering about our new heading — who the women are and where we got the title “Lifting as We Climb.” Our next few posts will tell you more about the women pictured, but first we’d like to tell you about the title. “Lifting as We Climb” is the title of our new
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Doctor, author, publisher, and sexual reformer Alice Bunker Stockham led the way in many important causes of her day. Stockham came to Evanston in 1890. As a doctor who specialized in pediatrics, Stockham came to realize that her work was very connected to family planning. As such, she published and publicized these materials through a
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