Dr. Cornelia De Bey (May 26, 1865 – April 3, 1948) was a

Progressive Era The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...

reformer, homeopathic doctor,

Chicago public school Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. ...

administrator, labor advocate, and leader in the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement. She worked with the famous

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...

community of social reformers, including

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

Julia Lathrop Julia Clifford Lathrop (June 29, 1858 – April 15, 1932) was an American social reformer in the area of education, social policy, and children's welfare. As director of the United States Children's Bureau from 1912 to 1922, she was the first wom ...

, Alice De Wolf Kellogg, and

Ellen Gates Starr Ellen Gates Starr (March 19, 1859 – February 10, 1940) was an American social reformer and activist. With Jane Addams, she founded Chicago's Hull House, an adult education center, in 1889; the settlement house expanded to 13 buildings in ...

. She advocated for major school administration reform, exposing corruption, advocating for more democratic decision-making, and defending the unionization of teachers.

Early life and education

De Bey was born in the Dutch seaport town of Groningen. Her father, Dr. Bernardus B. De Bey, was a minister and a professor at the University of Groningen. In 1868, when Cornelia was three years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, so that Bernardus could serve as minister to the First Reformed Church of Chicago, a Dutch congregation. De Bey remained in Chicago for the remainder of her life, immersing herself in the politics of the Progressive Era in Chicago. De Bey received her education at Cook County Normal School, a teacher-training school in Illinois responsible for training Chicago's teachers. She then pursued her medical degree at the Hahnemannian Medical College in Chicago. After graduating in 1895, she began working with Jane Addams at Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago that serviced many people and neighborhoods in Chicago.

Reform work and The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL)

De Bey was involved in the Settlement House Movement, a reform movement which prioritized women's involvement in

reforms. Women working in the

settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...

in the United States focused on education, cleanliness and health awareness, as well as providing daycare for working mothers. Many women taught adult-education classes to immigrants. De Bey was also involved in 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 ...

(WTUL), a reform movement led by Progressive-Era women including

. This organization was strongly feminist, and was closely tied with the Settlement House Movement. The WTUL worked to establish the eight-hour workday and a minimum wage, as well as the abolition of child labor. The leaders and members supported the female

garment industry Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry (producers of cotton, wool, fur, and synthetic fibre), embellishment ...

workers during the garment industry strikes between 1910 and 1911. De Bey and other members of the Settlement House Movement were involved in the WTUL and other Progressive Era Reform movements because they were educated middle and upper-middle-class women, and they felt morally responsible for helping others that were less fortunate than them.

Later years

De Bey moved to California in 1927 when she retired, then returning to Michigan where she died in 1948. She was buried in Holland, Michigan at the Pilgrim Home Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Bey, Cornelia 1865 births 1948 deaths American trade unionists American women educators History of Chicago American suffragists American feminists