• WWHP Launches New Website!
• Activist Rose Meyer Turns 95
• Voting Rights in Danger
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WWHP LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE!
by Jackie Kirley
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Below the banner is WWHP’s simple and clear vision:
WWHP’s vision is to have a society in which women’s contributions are known
and valued and inspire young women to continue their work.
At the bottom of the Welcome page are two features that reflect WWHP’s educational 501(c)(3) function of sharing information:
- The most recent E-newsletter and a link to all past E-newsletters. Articles are carefully researched and informative.
- An archive of photos and short bios of 13 women – historical and living – who have been influential in social reforms. The viewer can move back and forth among the women, making it almost interactive. Test yourself: You probably know Mother Jones, Karen Lewis, and Lucy Parsons, but how many of you know Hannah Shapiro, Maria Mangual, or Yolanda “Bobby” Hall?
A new group of women will be featured after one year. (There are so many fantastic women to celebrate that this will not be difficult!!)
GETTING TO KNOW WWHP
A visitor to the site can read about WWHP’s history under “About Us.” Another way to learn about WWHP comes from examining the 42 events WWHP has staged from its inception in 1995 to the end of 2020. Many are original plays that feature individual women who fought for a better life for workers in general and for women in particular. Individual speakers or a panel follow the performance of the play in order to connect the play’s message to contemporary issues. For example, the Director of the Working Women’s Department AFL-CIO was the keynote speaker after a 1996 play about historical women who fought to establish unions. A 2018 play about achieving partial suffrage for Illinois women in 1913 was accompanied by a panel of women from organizations that promote voter registration.
Audience comments and questions are part of every event.
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WWHP’s motto remains:
Connecting Today with Yesterday
Making Women’s History Come Alive
RESOURCES THE WEBSITE OFFERS
- The list of organizations with whom we work (About Us: Partners) and their websites (Resources: Links of Interest)
- Resources: Interviews. Read interviews with our founder, Yolanda “Bobby” Hall and with the Reverend Addie L. Wyatt. [We hope to add more.]
- Resources: Reviews of books about labor and unions. [We hope to add others.]
- The words of activist women at the bottom of each tab in the ribbon.
“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains”
~Rosa Luxemburg
“We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul.”
~Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
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Activist Rose Meyer Turns 95
This article by Joan Morris is largely based on a video interview of Rose Meyer
Conducted in 2010 by Helen Ramirez-Odell for WWHP
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For our April issue, WWHP decided to profile Rose who turned 95 on April 5th, 2021. She had been a very active member of Working Women’s History Project and served for many years on the board. She has been a lifelong activist, working for labor rights, women’s rights and community rights.
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To get a better picture, Rose Meyer is barely 5ft tall, has a small stature and a kind demeanor. She often wears a butterfly in her hair, but don’t let this fool you. For while she got married and raised a family, she became a union activist, teacher, and leader in her community. She grew up believing in hard work and that others regardless of race or gender should be treated with respect and dignity. She fought for her beliefs with a strength and determination that belies her small frame. These are only some of the highlights of Rose’s life:
Rose was born in Philadelphia, but grew up in New York. Much of her character and values came from her father and mother. Both of her parents worked, she as a beautician and he as a barber, but they also performed in the Yiddish Theatre in New York. So, she grew up believing in hard work and an appreciation for the arts and theatre.
When Rose was two, she woke up her father at 3 in the morning asking him to give her new pair of black patent leather shoes away. “Dad, you send them to the children in Russia you told me about. I have two pairs and they don’t have any.” From her father, she learned to always give working people their due and never to cross a picket line. She grew up speaking Yiddish, and didn’t learn English until she attended school at age five.
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She lived in New York until she was a teenager, then went with her father to find work in Chicago. She went to Marshall High School at 14, but decided to quit at 15 to help with the war effort. Rose went for job in a war plant where you had to be 18 to work. Undeterred, she pretended to be older by wearing heels and makeup and got the job at the war plant. When they asked for her birth certificate, she said she was born in Philadelphia and would send for it. Eventually she was found out and was fired because she was only 16 when she started working.
She left her job, but the union said she could stay to work on the union newsletter. She quickly learned from her fellow workers and began helping the unions in every way she could. She learned to set linotype, write articles, and promote the union. Many of those she worked around were called radicals, and she was surrounded by radical thought. Rose explains, “Radical thought was not about tearing things down. It was about, what am I going to do to make this a better place.”
One day, she was passing out leaflets on the street about a union meeting and a young man took a leaflet. A couple of weeks later, the young man showed up at the union meeting. Three weeks later they got married. She then became pregnant and had twin girls, and all this happened, “before I was old enough to vote.”
Rose’s best friend was Bobby Hall the founder of WWHP. Rose credits Bobby for pushing her to go back to school. Rose’s family and friends also encouraged her to further her education. Consequently, Rose went back to high school, then went to college and got her Master’s degree in teaching K through 8 and a degree in Special Education.
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L to R (standing): Sue Staus, Alma Washington, Bobby Hall, Rose Meyer. Seated: Helen Ramirez-Odell, Joan Morris
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Rose Meyer, Barack Obama, Ruth Ginsberg
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Rose Meyer–Biden Supporter
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Rose taught special education at Marshall High School. At Curie High School, Rose was the guidance counselor for special programs in the Arts. She worked as a union delegate of Chicago Teachers Union representing Marshall and Curie High Schools. Rose became Functional Vice-President of the High School Teachers when Jackie Vaughn was the President of the Chicago Teachers Union. As time went on, she took on increasing responsibility and became more political. Rose became the first Teachers’ Representative at Curie High School on the local school council. She learned that people thought all the problems in the schools were the fault of some of the teachers, watering down the curriculum and not motivating students. However, it is important to realize that at the time, mostly white legislators set up the plan and the budget for education. Teachers were not largely a part of the discussion or plan for education. Moreover, they had not been in charge of the curriculum which had been imposed on the schools and long needed upgrading.
Rose along with others fought to be a part of the plan for education and its budget discussion. As a result, they were given a budget and charged with the responsibility, but not the power to make major changes. However, she and the other teachers worked on updating the curriculum, and tried to make sure teachers were trained to teach this curriculum. This was an uphill battle, as many opposed any change. Rose continued as a union delegate in CTU representing Curie High School. Later, she supported the Women’s Rights Committee, worked to get an afterschool program, and worked in favor of Title IX. Rose, along with many others, fought No Child Left Behind, which had initially looked wonderful, but in reality, had no substance. At Curie High School, Rose brought in Women Employed who set up workshops, so students would have the skills to be employable. In all, she spent over 35 years working in education and being active in the union.
After 35 years, she retired because her husband’s health was failing and her mother was getting older and needed more care. Then, she moved into Brookdale Senior Living in Oak Park. There, she continues her activism and became President of the Residents Association and President of the Literacy Volunteers of America. During the election, she helped make sure the other residents were registered to vote and voted. She is a proud mother, grandmother and great grandmother. At 95, Rose is continuing to pass on her message that we need to fight to make our country a better place.
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A Bitter Irony!
The Voting Rights Ida B. Wells-Barnett and others fought
so hard for are in danger of being rolled back
by Jackie Kirley
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A photo of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, the famous fighter for civil rights and voting rights, graces the cover of May’s WTTW/WFMT Guide, and during this time, the National John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Action Day will take place in Chicago and other cities. Why? Because following the record-breaking Black and Brown voter turnout in the Georgia and other states, 47 states have either passed or introduced legislation to restrict voting rights. What Ida B. Wells-Barnett and others fought so hard for is being rolled back.
The Voting Rights Coalition is demanding preservation and expansion of voting rights.
If you would like to join a motorcade in Chicago, the event takes place on May 8th between 1 and 3 pm. Motorcades will begin in 4 different locations.
For more information, you may go to:
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Working Women's History Project
Please contact us through Amy Laiken
312-402-4188
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