Cool Chicks from History

obitoftheday:

Obit of the Day: Illinois’ 1st Female Chief Justice

Mary Ann McMorrow lived a life of firsts. She was the first woman to graduate from the Loyola University (Chicago) School of Law in 1953 - where she was elected class president. She was the first Cook County State’s Attorney to try felony cases - although her supervisor wouldn’t let her argue before the Illinois Supreme Court because of her gender. She was the first woman elected to the Cook County Circuit Court bench in 1976. Ten years later she was the first woman chosen by voters as a judge on the Illinois Appellate Court.

And she only continued to succeed.  In 1992 she won election to the Illinois State Supreme Court., the first woman to earn a seat on Illinois’ highest judicial body.  A decade later she would become the head of the Illinois judiciary when she won the 2002 election for Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice - the first woman to lead any branch of Illinois government.

When Mrs. McMorrow was sworn in as Chief Justice she said, “I am the 115th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois. You will notice after I take off my robe that I am the only one of the 114 chief justices who preceded me that wears a skirt.” 

Mary Ann McMorrow died on Saturday, February 23 at the age of 83.

Sources: Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, and The Daily Herald

(Undated image of Judge Mary Ann Morrow is copyright of Sally Good/Chicago Tribune)

Iraq War veteran and double amputee Tammy Duckworth, Representative Elect from Illinois.  She is the first Asian American woman elected to Congress from Illinois.

chicagohistorymuseum:

In 1897, local elementary school teachers created the Chicago Teachers’ Federation (CTF), the first teacher’s union in the country. Above: CTF leader Margaret Haley (center) and her supporters demanded the resignation of the city’s superintendent of education in 1913.

Want a copy of this photo?  
> Visit our Rights and Reproductions Department and give them this number: DN-0061817

Six young women carrying a banner advertising a meeting of the Ruth Hanna McCormick Volunteers in Chicago, Illinois. The women are: Mrs. Elizabeth Drake, Helen Farnum, Mrs.Edwin Hersey, Glee Viles, and Jane Schuttler.

Chicago Daily News photo, 1928.

Ruth Hanna McCormick served in the US House of Representatives from 1929-1931.  

University of Chicago co-eds Marian McKenney, Jane Brady, and Natalie Stern, 1935.

Girls at the University of Chicago learn Jiu-jitsu, 1943.

Miss L. C. Berger and an unidentified woman (possibly Miss M. Wilzinski) sparring in Chicago, 1902.

Chicago Daily News photograph

Women collecting books at the Chicago Public Library for US soldiers, 1917.  

Chicago Daily News photograph

Chicago Daily News photo of First Methodist Episcopal Women’s basketball player Lillian Burress, 1909.

chicagohistorymuseum:

Portrait of superintendent of schools Mrs. Ella Flagg Young standing with students outdoors at the Mary Crane Nursery, an open-air school, located at 782 West Cabrini Street (formerly 782 Ewing), 1910.

Want a copy of this photo?
> Visit our Rights and Reproductions Department and give them this number: DN-0008011.

Ella Flagg Young was the first woman in the US to head a large school system and the first female president of the National Education Association.

The Mary Crane Nursery was a school for low income children associated with Hull House.  In 1914, the Mary Crane Nursery was a year round outdoor program.  The average January temperature for Chicago is 30°F/1°C.

chicagohistorymuseum:

Women’s suffrage parade, Grace Wilbur Trout leading women holding flags north on South Michigan Avenue, 1914.

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> Visit our Rights and Reproductions Department and give them this number: DN-0062630.

Grace Wilbur Trout was president of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association and a well known suffrage advocate.  Like many suffrage advocates, she traveled widely, giving speeches in small towns.  

The Joliet (Illinois) Herald described one of her speeches as follows:

Farmers cheer noted suffragist, and with standing room at a premium in the Lincoln theater this afternoon, women and men packed in tight to hear Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout, one of the foremost women in America.

The Danville (Illinois) News called Grace:

one of the ablest speakers among the suffragists- brilliant, magnetic, charming- she is a born leader.

Miss Lydia Monroe of Ringold, Louisiana, a student nurse at Provident Hospital in Chicago. Her father is a machinist at the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company.

May 1942

Chicago, 1941

via Shorpy

July 1942. Back at the Melrose Park Buick plant near Chicago. “Production of aircraft engines. Reconditioning used spark plugs for use in testing airplane motors, Mighnon Gunn operates this small testing machine with speed and precision although she was new to the job two months ago. A former domestic worker, this young woman is now a willing and efficient war worker, one of many women who are relieving labor shortages in war industries throughout the country.”

chicagohistorymuseum:

1904 Chinese New Year, girl in traditional dress.

Want a copy of this photo?
> Visit our Rights and Reproductions Department and give them this number: DN-0003283.