This week was an interesting week of research. I started to research Ella Flagg Young, a pioneer in the Chicago educational system. She was born in Buffalo, New York and moved to Chicago while she was in primary school. She worked her way through the education system, which included studying under John Dewey at the University of Chicago. She then became a pedagogy professor at the University, which reflects her passion of making teachers the best they could be. Ella Flagg Young was a true advocate for having teachers be part of the policy making process. She also wanted the school to act as an instrument for society. I truly enjoyed studying Ella Flagg Young because I am very passionate about education policy. When Ella Flagg Young became the superintendent of Chicago Public Schools in the early twentieth century. She was the first woman to hold this position, which was a monumental triumph for women. She also became the 1st president of the National Education Association in 1910, which was also another triumph for women. Ella Flagg Young consistently achieved accomplishments in the education field and for women as a whole. This is the last week of research, so I will be continuing to research Ella Flagg Young and write a blog post for her.

This week was filled with another productive week of research. Lori was satisfied with the research I collected for Agnes Nestor, so she asked me to continue to my next project, the women’s parade of 1913. I am specifically going to research the local, Illinois and Chicago, response to Ida B. Well’s actions during the parade. According to the historical record, the African American delegation from Illinois was not allowed to walk with the white delegation. Therefore, her move to join the white delegation from Illinois in the middle of the parade can be determined as controversial. I started to research the local reaction to her actions; however, I was having a difficult time this week finding sources. I looked under the newspaper section of the primary source section on the history library site. I also looked at the academic search complete and jstor databases. I was able to find information on the women’s parade as a whole, but was having a hard time finding a specific reaction on the Ida B. Wells action. I will continue to research this issue this week because I do think it would be valuable to understand the local perspective of this momentous action. It would be valuable for the suffrage movement research to know if the local reaction was one of pride or disgust. There are only around 3 more weeks to the semester, so I am looking to finish strong! Happy Easter!

This week was another week of researching for the suffrage anniversary project. I am trying to find the motivation to continue to be productive, but the corona virus atmosphere is not helping with that. I continued to find more information for Agnes Nestor this week. It is a little difficult to find information that goes deeper than what is known as common knowledge. Most of the sources contain details on the leadership positions she held while being involved in the numerous amounts of unions and organizations. I was trying to find more information on where Agnes Nestor lived and for how long. I was able to find her address, which was 4840 North Hermitage Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. I was not able to find any newspaper articles or academic papers that included how long Nestor lived at this address; however, I would assume that she approximately lived in the house from 1898 to 1948. This would have been the time period of when she moved to Chicago from Michigan to her death. I also continued to research other addresses of the suffrage movement to try and give some variety to my research. I have noticed that many of the Illinois suffragettes were based in Illinois; however, local suffrage movements in smaller Illinois towns were just as important. Sometimes I forget going to school in Chicago that there is more to the state, which I think can also happen when looking at the Illinois Suffrage story. This week I will shift my attention to the Ida B. Wells story and continue to look for addresses.  

This week I was working from my home in Virginia! I was communicating with Lori through email, and I was able to receive clear instructions on what I would be needing to research. I continued to search for addresses for Agnes Nestor. I was able to find her home address; however, Lori requested for me to try and find how long she lived in the home on Hermitage street. I also received a pdf form from Lori on what information needs to be gathered for Agnes Nestor, which gave me a better idea of what I needed to be focusing my research on. I was able to find some more information through articles in the Chicago Tribune. I am trying to work on blending my findings of addresses with the basic information that is known about Agnes Nestor, which I will continue to do this week as well. Lori wants me to focus on finishing up the Agnes Nestor story before transitioning to the story of the parade and Ida B. Wells. I wish I could contribute about the office culture and how I enjoy working in a research room at the Evanston History Center, but unfortunately because of the Corona Virus I am back home. I hope to continue researching and finding more about the women that contributed a great amount to the suffrage cause.

This week was a very hectic week with the shift to virtual classes. My internship location was not open this week;however, we had discussed the week prior what assignments we would need to work on in case of this situation. This week I dove further into the story of Agnes Nestor, labor leader. Agnes Nestor was involved in multiple labor unions and organizations. She spent her life trying to advocate for the working class, especially the female working class. I was able to narrow down some of the locations of where she would meet with certain groups. It is interesting to compare the news coverage that I was able to find on Agnes Nestor compared to African American suffrage leaders. African American suffrage leaders are generally only covered in African American newspapers and sources, while white suffrage leaders are written about in a more favorable light in large news sources, like the Chicago Tribune. This shows me that even when fighting an unpopular battle for the time, white suffragettes were still favored over African American suffragettes. Agnes Nestor has a very interesting story because even though she is an Irish immigrant in a city that does not look favorable upon Irish immigrants in the early 20th century, her opinion is still valued more than African American suffrage leaders. I want to relay this message through the blog piece I am writing about this subject. I don’t want to undermine the work of Agnes Nestor, but simply observe the differences and the meaning of them. I also continued to research the story of Ida B. Wells and the suffrage parade of 1913. This seems to be a story that was not heavily written on by many newspapers in Chicago, which is where I found my hidden gems before. I am going to need to dig a little deeper and try to collect the local story. These next couple of weeks are going to be a little rocky with me moving home and everything, but I look forward to uncovering the women’s voice and important contributions of these issues.

Last week was spring break, so I did not go into my internship. This week I went in and explored the labor movement from the perspective of Agnes Nestor. She was a very accomplished woman, who supported the glove industry and labor issues for women. I am amazed at how many amazing things and accomplishments women achieve even in the face of oppression. Agnes Nestor’s family immigrated from Ireland and moved to Chicago in 1897, and by 1898 she was leading a strike within the glove factory. She served in many leadership roles within many labor unions within Chicago. Agnes Nestor was a pivotal figure for the labor movement in the south side of Chicago. I want to continue to research the labor movement and suffrage actions within the labor movement because I want to discover more about the African American side to the story. Lori also wants me to start discovering more about the women’s parade in 1913. She wants me to specifically find more about the Chicago/Illinois reaction to Ida B. Wells joining the Illinois delegation at the last second. I started to research this topic this week, but was not able to find anything at the surface level, so I am excited to have to dig deeper into that story. The office atmosphere was a little bit tense this week because they were unsure if they would be closing or not. Lori emailed us on Saturday morning letting us know that the Evanston History Center would be closed the following week, but we are able to continue our research at home. I am intrigued to find more information about the labor movement and women’s parade in the upcoming weeks.

This week was an interesting week! Last week I was able to finalize my research for Fannie Barrier Williams, which Lori sent off to her superiors. I think she liked the sources I was able to gather and she said the committee was very happy that one of the women was completed. This week, my research shifted to the labor movement and how the African American women’s suffrage movement was related to that. For that topic, I was able to find a great amount of information through primary sources. Knowing about the divide between black and white labor, I was fascinated when I read sources from the African American women’s perspective. I began my research with the Women’s Trade Union and dove deeper from there. I also started researching Agnes Nestor, who seems to be a fascinating figure for the African American community. Along with starting these new research projects, I am also continuing my search for addresses to pin down the suffrage work of these amazing African American women. I like that Lori is continuously giving me new projects to work on that all pertain to the same overhead topic, but look at the different sectors of them. This week at lunch we had a tremendous conversation about costume history and how it all works at the Evanston History Center, which I found to be very interesting. Next week is spring break, so I will not be attending my internship, but I hope to dive right back in the following week.

This week was a very productive week at my internship! I had to pull together all of my information that I had for Fannie Barrier Williams to give to Lori, so that she could inform her committee on our progress. She was happy with my progress because I was able to create a biography for her and also find locations for where she did her suffrage work. Some of the locations where Fannie Barrier Williams advocated for women included the Palmer House, Kenwood Evangelical Church, and All Souls Church. Her home was located at 4203 South Saint Lawrence Avenue in Chicago. I tried to find all of the information that I could for Fannie Barrier Williams, which I mostly did through African American newspapers. Loyola’s library system has really come into handy while doing my research. I feel like all of the sources are located in convenient locations that are easy to access. I also continued searching the other women on the list that was given to me by Lori. I like how there is a mix of African American women suffrage leaders from Chicago, as well as other locations within Illinois. It reminds me that this was a state-wide fight. Lori said she may have me start working on the women’s labor movement and how that correlated with women’s suffrage in the African American community next week, which I am hoping will be interesting. I feel like I am contributing to the research for Lori. It is definitely not very easy to find a multitude of information on African American women and the suffrage movement, but I am trying to be creative with my research techniques. The importance of exposing an under-researched group is becoming more obvious each week I complete research.

After finishing my fifth week interning for the Evanston Women’s History Center, I feel like I am becoming more comfortable with the flow of the day. However, I did pack a full lunch this week and realized I forgot it once I had to switch over to the purple line. I rebounded on an empty stomach and was able to continue my search for the addresses of African American women suffragettes. I hit a bit of a wall this week in my research. I have found that when I find an activity or club that one of the women was involved in, I then have to really dive deep into the club’s history, as well as the history of the woman I am researching for. In the newspapers I have found, such as Broad ax, they will describe the activities and functions of the club, but never say where the club holds their meetings. It takes a lot of digging to pin down one location, but the feeling of success is worth the research. I feel like I am unveiling a story that is not known to most Americans. I never knew of most of these clubs or activities and I am a history major, so I feel like I am aiding in the telling of an important story. One of the most interesting pieces of data that I found this week was that Sadie Lewis Adams, an African American women suffragette, was a delegate at the Pan-American Congress, which collaborated with the National Women’s Voters’ Convention in Baltimore, Maryland. This Congress was held at 1 East Chase Street in Baltimore. I was unaware of this fact and I was really enthusiastic about researching more after I learned it. The vibe of the office is very relaxed. I’m not quite sure what our dress code even is, but I wear professional clothing just to be safe. I really enjoy the supervisors at the Evanston History Center because they all have unique backgrounds! I am excited to keep learning more!

I am in week four of my internship, and I finally feel like I am starting to accomplish some satisfactory research. I was looking for addresses of where some of my leading ladies, like Bettiola Fortson and Fannie Barrier Williams, did the majority of their suffrage work. There seemed to be more information on Fannie Barrier Williams, which allowed me to have an easier time finding some locations for her. Most of her work was done at local churches and clubs on the south side of Chicago. However, I struggled finding a decent amount of information for Bettiola Fortson. I tried becoming more creative with my searches, which pushed me to search local newspaper files. I was able to find African American newspapers during the early 20th century, which is where I hit the mother load. I was able to find the location of the first anniversary meeting of the Alpha Suffrage Club, which is where Bettiola Fortson performed her poem “Brothers”. I was also able to find the location where she participated in political recruitment for the progressive party. Even though Bettiola was not one of the main African American suffrage leaders, she contributed in many ways and was very passionate about her beliefs through her literature. I look forward to next week! Lori told us that we are going to start the map process because we have been finding such good information! It will be nice to have a break from researching and actually be able to apply my findings.