first woman lawyer
Myra Colby Bradwell was the first woman lawyer in Illinois.
Born in 1831, she married James Bradwell, a law student who was accepted to the bar in 1854. At that time one could learn law by attending law school or studying it under the supervision of a practicing attorney.
Tamera Guilinger: Making Her Hammer Heard on WWHP Board
By Joan McGann Morris Posted April 6, 2007
Recently, Tamera Guilinger was elected unanimously as a member of the Working Women’s History Project’s (WWHP) 2007 Board. She adds a new refreshing distinctive voice, as a proud member of the Chicago Regional Carpenter’s Union, Local 839 of Hoffman Estates, member of Sister’s in the Brotherhood, Chicago NOW, Coalition of Labor Union Women and as member of Chicago Women of the Trades. She comes to us with a rich background and many accolades, including the most recent cover of National Homebuilders Women Build Magazine.
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Side by Side: Great Expectations of a Young Latina
by Luz Loera Posted August 8th, 2006
luzeve1Lado a Lado: Una Gran Expectacions de una Joven Latina. Luz Loera.
Translation by Evelyn Constanza
Click “more” to see in both English and Spanish!
Sharing Our Group History
Posted June 7, 2003
by Bobby Hall
The Working Women’s History Project
began as the Women & Labor History Project in 1996.
We launched our first theater project with Kathleen Miles’ “Come Along and Join” and an address by Karen Nussbaum, head of the new Working Women’s Department of the AFL-CIO. At this event we celebrated the birthdays of two beloved union women, Vickie Starr of the Packinghouse Workers and the Teamsters and Mollie West of the Typographical Union and Secretary of the Illinois Labor History Society.
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Rev. Addie L. Wyatt
Interview by Joan McGann Morris
Working Women’s History Project
“Racism and sexism were economic issues.”
It is December 14, 2002. I am very honored to be in the home of Rev. Addie L. Wyatt, who is the Co-Pastor Emeritus of the Vernon Park Church of God in Chicago, Illinois, along with her husband, Rev. Dr. Claude S. Wyatt, Jr. who has worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from 1958 to 1968 and has participated in major marches in Selma, Alabama, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. She spent thirty years as a leader and officer of the labor movement, retiring in 1984 as Vice President of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. In 1975, Addie Wyatt appeared on the cover of Time magazine as one of its Women of the Year.
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INTERVIEW with Yolanda “BOBBY” Hall 3.2001
by Joan McGann Morris
Yolanda “Bobby” Hall, the coordinator of the Working Women’s History Project, has been a long time union activist and organizer for many years in the Chicago area.
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