The Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry (1921–1938) was a residential summer school program that brought approximately 100 young working women—mostly factory workers with minimal education—to the
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
campus, in
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, each year for eight weeks of liberal arts study. As part of the workers' education movement of the 1920s and 30s, the experimental program was unique in several ways. It was the first program of its kind for women in the United States; it was conceived, directed, and largely taught by women; and it was hosted by a women's college.
Originally the brainchild of Bryn Mawr president
M. Carey Thomas
Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, and linguist. She was the second president of Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Biography
Early life ...
, the program was funded by philanthropists such as
John D. Rockefeller Jr.
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.
He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in ...
and taught by distinguished faculty drawn from local institutions. Under the direction of
Hilda Worthington Smith it evolved into a successful workers' education program that served as the model for several others. Many of the students, who came from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds and worked in a variety of industries, went on to become union leaders. For political reasons, the program fell out of favor with the college board of trustees and was terminated in 1938.
The school is the subject of a 1985 documentary by Suzanne Bauman and Rita Heller, ''The Women of Summer''.
History
Founding
Bryn Mawr College President
M. Carey Thomas
Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, and linguist. She was the second president of Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Biography
Early life ...
conceived the idea for the school some time after visiting
Workers' Educational Association (WEA) programs in England. According to Thomas, the inspiration came to her in the form of a vision while she was traveling in the Sahara Desert in 1919:
One afternoon at sunset I was sitting on my golden hilltop, rejoicing that British women had just been enfranchised and American women would soon be politically free ... when suddenly, as in a vision, I saw that out of the hideous world war might come as a glorious aftermath international industrial justice and international peace...I also saw as part of my vision that the coming of equal opportunity for the manual workers of the world might be hastened by utilizing the deep sex sympathy that women now feel for each other before it has had time to grow less.
In the fall of 1920, Thomas consulted with Dean
Hilda Worthington Smith and Professor Susan M. Kingsbury about starting a summer school for working women. The planning committee also included labor leaders such as
Mary Anderson from the
U.S. Women's Bureau
The United States Women's Bureau (WB) is an agency of the United States government within the United States Department of Labor. The Women's Bureau works to create parity for women in the labor force by conducting research and policy analysis, t ...
,
Fannia Cohn
Fannia Mary Cohn (April 5, 1885 – December 24, 1962) was a leading figure in the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) during the first half of the 20th century. She is remembered as one of the pioneers of the workers' education ...
from the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membe ...
, and
Rose Schneiderman
Rose Schneiderman (April 6, 1882 – August 11, 1972) was a Polish-born American socialist and feminist, and one of the most prominent female labor union leaders. As a member of the New York Women's Trade Union League, she drew attention to uns ...
(of "
Bread and Roses
"Bread and Roses" is a political slogan as well as the name of an associated poem and song. It originated from a speech given by American women's suffrage activist Helen Todd; a line in that speech about "bread for all, and roses too" inspired ...
" fame) from the
Women's Trade Union League
The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL played an important ...
. The school's aim, as described in a 1929 recruiting pamphlet, was:
To offer young women in industry opportunities to study liberal subjects and to train themselves in clear thinking; to stimulate an active and continued interest in the problems of our economic order; to develop a desire for study as a means of understanding and of enjoyment of life. The school is not committed to any theory or dogma. It is expected that thus the students will gain a truer insight into the problems of industry and feel a more vital responsibility for their solution.
The school welcomed its first 82 students on June 15, 1921. To be eligible, students had to be between 20 and 35; have worked for at least three years, with two of those years in industry; have at least a sixth-grade education; be able to read and write English; and work "with the tools of their trade", not as supervisors or in white-collar jobs.
Administration
Hilda Worthington Smith directed the summer school for thirteen years, and is credited with developing it into the successful program that it became. The school was governed by a Joint Administrative Committee composed equally of industry women (such as Rose Schneiderman, who served on the committee for three years) and women of Bryn Mawr (faculty, administrators, and alumni). The School Council, which met once a week to plan school activities, consisted of seven students, three administrators, and three faculty. Regional committees, also composed equally of industry and Bryn Mawr women, were tasked with recruiting and fundraising. Funding was provided by a diverse group of supporters that included
John D. Rockefeller Jr.
John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.
He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in ...
and the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
The 90 faculty who taught at the school between 1921 and 1938 included trade union leaders as well as distinguished academics. The majority were women.
Philosophy and curriculum
In their overall approach, Thomas and Smith drew on the example of the WEA programs and the educational philosophy of
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
, with a strong emphasis on diversity and democratic process. They intentionally brought together representatives of widely disparate constituencies: trade union leaders and privileged Bryn Mawr alumni; mill workers who had left school at the age of 12 and university professors; union and non-union workers from a variety of industries across the U.S.; native-born Americans and immigrants from Russia, Italy, and Eastern Europe; Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. "We are learning toleration," one student said in an interview with the ''
Woman's Journal
''Woman's Journal'' was an American women's rights periodical published from 1870 to 1931. It was founded in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell as a weekly newspaper. In 1917 it was purchased by ...
''. Another remarked that "to her the summer work, the mingling with the representatives of many industries, of many localities, of many points of view, had brought home the conviction that the problem of each working woman was the problem of all, the problem of all that of each."
Initially the program of study was extensive, and workers with little formal education were overwhelmed. Over time, with input from the students, the curriculum evolved to become more focused on their practical needs. By 1928, they were using the "Unit Method": Classes were divided into units of around 20 students; each unit had two dedicated full-time professors, one in English and one in economics. A 1929 pamphlet describes the Plan of Teaching as: "Small classes in Economics, English Literature, Composition, Public Speaking, Science and Psychology. A tutoring system making it possible for workers to gain much in two months."
There were no grades or exams; students received a certificate of attendance at the end of the summer. As working adults, students were encouraged to participate in decision-making, planning, and classroom discussions. Instructors made a point of learning as much as they could about each student's background and individual needs.
In addition to regular classes, students attended talks by an impressive array of guest lecturers, including
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
,
W.E.B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...
,
Harold Laski
Harold Joseph Laski (30 June 1893 – 24 March 1950) was an English political theorist and economist. He was active in politics and served as the chairman of the British Labour Party from 1945 to 1946 and was a professor at the London School of ...
,
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
,
Walter Reuther,
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
,
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control ...
, and
Norman Thomas. They went on field trips to local museums, historical sites, and factories, and took tennis and swimming lessons. They held an annual folk music festival featuring music from the students' various homelands, and published a student magazine, ''Shop and School'', featuring prose, poetry, humor, and drama. When John Dewey visited the school in 1931, he saw it as "a model of progressive education and experiential learning."
Racial integration
In 1926, at the suggestion of the students, Hilda Worthington Smith admitted the first five African-American students to the summer school. The decision was a controversial one, given that the college had never admitted a black student. M. Carey Thomas warned Smith in a letter not to "complicate" matters, and quoted her late friend
Susan B. Anthony: "Do not mix reforms, but drive straight through to your goal looking neither to the right nor to the left." Smith continued to admit black students despite Thomas's misgivings.
Final years
From the very first year, the working women who came to Bryn Mawr gave school administrators more than they bargained for. In 1921 they organized a student protest, demanding better working conditions for the college's black maids and groundskeepers. In the 1930s, the Depression heightened class tensions between the politically active students and Bryn Mawr's wealthy donors and trustees. One trustee posed the telling question, "Why should we support your organizing workers to strike our husbands' plants?"
In 1934, when students and faculty visited the nearby Seabrook Farms food-packing plant to observe a strike of agricultural workers, the ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' reported that Bryn Mawr was involved in the strike. Alarmed by the publicity, the trustees suspended the summer school for a year. It reopened in 1936, but the damage had been done; funding dwindled, and the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry closed for good in 1938.
Influence
![Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry, 1921](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Bryn_Mawr_Summer_School_for_Women_Workers_in_Industry%2C_1921.jpg)
Historian
Rita Heller
Rita may refer to:
People
* Rita (given name)
* Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984)
* Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962)
* Rita (Japanese singer)
* Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita
Places
* Djarrit, also known as Rita, ...
, who conducted a survey of the students in 1982, found that while some of the respondents were ambivalent about the program's usefulness, most credited it with improving their self-image and social skills and believed the school had helped them advance in their careers. Many went on to take leadership positions in their communities, churches, and trade unions.
Elizabeth Nord became chairman of the
New England Silk and Rayon Workers Union
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
;
Carmen Lucia became vice president of the
United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union; and
Rose Finkelstein Norwood led the Boston chapter of the
Women's Trade Union League
The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL played an important ...
.
The school served as a model for several other workers' education programs, including the
Wisconsin Summer School,
Barnard Summer School,
Vineyard Shore School,
Southern Summer School, and the coeducational
Hudson Shore Labor School.
Summer school alumni and faculty gathered at Bryn Mawr for a three-day reunion in June 1984. Several women at the reunion were featured in a 1985 documentary, ''The Women of Summer'', a collaboration of filmmaker Suzanne Bauman and historian Rita Heller. The film was funded by the
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
and has won several awards, including the
American Film Festival's Red Ribbon and the
CINE Golden Eagle
Ciné film or cine film is the term commonly used in the UK and historically in the US to refer to the 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, and 16 mm motion picture film formats used for home movies. It is not normally used to refer t ...
.
Notable faculty
The following notable people were on the summer school faculty.
* Elizabeth Brandeis, economist
*
Millicent Carey, educator and feminist
*
Alice Hanson Cook, scholar and feminist
*
Grace Coyle, sociologist
*
Mary Florence Curran, artist and social reformer
*
Ida Craven, economist
*
Marion Dickerman
Marion Dickerman (April 11, 1890 – May 16, 1983) was an American suffragist, educator, vice-principal of the Todhunter School, and a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Birth and early life
Born in Westfield, New York, she studied for two y ...
, educator and suffragist
*
Paul Douglas, politician and economist
*
Eleanor Lansing Dulles
Eleanor Lansing Dulles (June 1, 1895 – October 30, 1996) was an American writer, professor, and United States Government employee. Her background in economics and her familiarity with European affairs enabled her to fill a number of importan ...
, economist, author
*
Edward M. Earle, historian
*
Genevieve Fox, author
*
Winifred Frost
Winifred Evelyn Frost (2 March 1902-August 1979) was a freshwater biologist. Her research focused primarily on eels, minnows, pike, and char by observing fish in the wild. After some time as chair, Frost was then appointed president of the Winder ...
, biologist
*
Alice Henry
Alice Henry (21 March 1857 – 14 February 1943) was an Australian suffragist, journalist and trade unionist who also became prominent in the American trade union movement as a member of the Women's Trade Union League.
Henry Street in the ...
, labor leader
*
Lillian Herstein, labor leader
*
Amy Hewes, sociologist and economist
*
Leo Huberman
Leo Huberman (Newark, New Jersey, October 17, 1903 – November 9, 1968) was an American socialist economist. In 1949 he founded and co-edited '' Monthly Review'' with Paul Sweezy. He was the chair of the Department of Social Science at Ne ...
, socialist writer
*
Hazel Kyrk
Hazel Kyrk (1886–1957) was an American economist and pioneer of consumer economics.
Early life and education
Hazel Kyrk was born in 1886 in Ashley, Ohio and was the only child of Elmer Kyrk, a drayman, and Jane Kyrk, a homemaker.
Before ente ...
, economist
*
Mildred H. McAfee
Mildred Helen McAfee Horton (12 May 1900 – 2 September 1994) was an American academic, educator, naval officer, and religious leader. She served during World War II as first director of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Servi ...
, educator
*
Broadus Mitchell
Broadus Mitchell (December 27, 1892 – April 28, 1988) was an 20th-century American historian, writer, professor, and 1934 Socialist Party candidate for governor of Maryland.
Background
John Broadus Mitchell was born on December 27, 1892, in ...
, historian
*
Helen Muchnic, scholar
*
Gladys Palmer, economist
*
Esther Peterson
Esther Eggertsen Peterson (December 9, 1906 – December 20, 1997) was an American consumer and women's advocate.
Background
The daughter of Danish immigrants, Esther Eggertsen grew up in a Mormon family in Provo, Utah. She graduated from Brig ...
, consumer and women's advocate
*
Katherine Pollak Ellickson
Katherine Pollak Ellickson (September 1, 1905 – December 28, 1996) was an American labor economist. For much of her career, she worked for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). During the Kennedy administration, she was executive dir ...
, labor economist
*
Mark Starr, labor historian
*
Mary van Kleeck
Mary Abby van Kleeck (June 26, 1883June 8, 1972) was an American social scientist of the 20th century. She was a notable figure in the American labor movement as well as a proponent of scientific management and a planned economy.
An American of ...
, scholar of women's labor
*
Caroline F. Ware
Caroline Farrar Ware (1899–1990) was a professor of history and a New Deal activist. Her work focused on community development, consumer protection, industrial development, civil rights, and women's issues.
Biography
Family and early years ...
, historian and activist
*
Colston Warne
Colston Estey Warne (August 14, 1900 – May 20, 1987) was a professor of economics and one of the founders of Consumers Union (along with Arthur Kallet), in 1936. He served as president of the board of directors from 1936 to 1979. He also serv ...
, economist and consumer advocate
*
Theresa Wolfson
Theresa Wolfson (1897–1972) was an American labor economist and educator. Wolfson is best remembered as the education director of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union during the second half of the 1920s and as a leader of the workers ...
, labor economist
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Workers' education
History of women in the United States
History of labor relations in the United States
1920s in the United States
1930s in the United States
Bryn Mawr College
Labor schools
History of women in Pennsylvania