Mary Morton Kehew (September 8, 1859 – February 13, 1918) was an American labor and social reformer. She was a president of the
Women's Educational and Industrial Union, a trustee of
Simmons College
Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include:
* Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts
* Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky
* Har ...
, and the first president of the
National Women's Trade Union League
The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a United States, 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 play ...
. She was also active in the
women's suffrage movement, and on behalf of the blind.
Early life
Kehew was born Mary Morton Kimball in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 8, 1859. She was the fourth of eight children of Moses Day Kimball, a banker, and Susan Tillinghast Kimball (née Morton). Her maternal grandfather was former Massachusetts governor
Marcus Morton
Marcus Morton (1784 – February 6, 1864) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Taunton, Massachusetts. He served two terms as Governor of Massachusetts and several months as Acting Governor following the death in 1825 of Willia ...
. She was privately educated in Boston and in Europe. On January 8, 1880, she married William Brown Kehew, a wealthy oil merchant. The couple had no children.
Career
Like many
Boston Brahmin women, Kehew spent much of her time volunteering. Rather than focusing on charity work, however, she used her social position and political connections on behalf of working class women. Quiet and self-effacing, she preferred to work behind the scenes, lobbying legislators and soliciting donations from her wealthy friends.
In 1886, Kehew joined the Women's Educational and Industrial Union (WEIU), a cross-class organization dedicated to improving working conditions for women. She served as WEIU president from 1892 to 1913 and as chairman of its board of government from 1914 to 1918. Under her leadership, the WEIU was transformed from a charity group to one focused on educating and organizing female workers. It provided legal advice, counseling, educational classes, and vocational training. Simmons College took on some of the WEIU's vocational training when it was founded in 1902; Kehew was on the college's first board of trustees. In 1905 she established the WEIU's research department, which conducted statistical studies on the lives of working women. This research was used to support legislative proposals pertaining to moneylending, pensions, sanitation, and the
minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
, and eventually led to the creation of the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industry.
In 1894, with
Mary Kenney O'Sullivan
Mary Kenney O'Sullivan (January 8, 1864 – January 18, 1943), was an organizer in the early U.S. labor movement. She learned early the importance of Trade union, unions from poor treatment received at her first job in dressmaking. Making a career ...
, Kehew co-founded the Union for Industrial Progress, an auxiliary of the WEIU focused on trade unionism for women. Between 1896 and 1901, the group organized unions to defend the interests of laundry workers, bookbinders, and workers in the tobacco and garment industries.
In 1903 she became the first president of the National Women's Trade Union League, a group that supported the organization of labor unions and strove to eliminate sweatshop conditions for women.
She served on several legislative committees, investigating working conditions in Massachusetts, and provided financial and other support for various social reform organizations, including the Milk and Baby Hygiene Association, the Tyler Street Day Nursery, and
Denison House. She was active in the
women's suffrage movement, worked on behalf of the blind, and served on the executive committee of the Massachusetts Child Labor Commission.
Death and memorials
She died of
nephritis
Nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys and may involve the glomeruli, tubules, or interstitial tissue surrounding the glomeruli and tubules. It is one of several different types of nephropathy.
Types
* Glomerulonephritis is inflammation of th ...
on February 13, 1918, at her home at 29 Chestnut Street in Boston and is buried in
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...
. That April, the WEIU held a memorial service for her at Huntington Hall. Speakers included her friend and fellow reformer,
Emily Greene Balch, who remembered her as "the never failing fairy godmother" of Boston social and labor reform, and the director of the
Ohio State School for the Blind
Ohio State School for the Blind (OSSB or OSB) is a school located in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It is run by the Ohio Department of Education for blind and visually impaired students across Ohio. It was established in 1837, making it the natio ...
, who credited her with organizing "the first work to be conducted with the adult blind 15 years ago in her own office." John F. Tobin, a union leader, described her as a friend of the workingman whose "sympathies were always on the right side."
Kehew is remembered on the
Boston Women's Heritage Trail in connection with the WEIU. She is also included in ''Nine Notable Women'', a mural painted by
Ellen Lanyon
Ellen Lanyon (December 21, 1926 – October 7, 2013) was a painter and printmaker from Chicago, Illinois. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), her MFA from the University of Iowa School of Art and Art His ...
in 1980. The nine notable women are
Anne Hutchinson,
Phillis Wheatley, Sister Ann Alexis,
Lucy Stone
Lucy Stone (August 13, 1818 – October 18, 1893) was an American orator, abolitionist and suffragist who was a vocal advocate for and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone became the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a colle ...
,
Mary Baker Eddy,
Ellen S. Richards, Mary Morton Kehew,
Anne Sullivan
Anne Sullivan Macy (born as Johanna Mansfield Sullivan; April 14, 1866 – October 20, 1936) was an American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller.Herrmann, Dorothy. ''Helen Keller: A Life'', Alfred ...
, and
Melnea Cass
Melnea Agnes Cass (née Jones; June 16, 1896 – December 16, 1978) was an American community and civil rights activist. She was deeply involved in many community projects and volunteer groups in the South End and Roxbury neighborhoods of B ...
.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kehew, Mary Morton
1859 births
1918 deaths
Trade unionists from Massachusetts
American social reformers
American suffragists
Activists from Boston
History of women in Massachusetts
American women activists
Women's Trade Union League people