The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was the first Black labor organization to be accepted as part of the American Federation of Labor. (The AF of L was formed in 1886 and was one of the first federations of labor groups in the United States.)

When we read about railroads and “days gone by,” the stories tend to focus on the romance of traveling by rail, or the struggle of laying track throughout the western United States. Rarely do we hear about the day-to-day conditions of those who worked for the passenger railroads. The story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters is an important chapter of that story, and it tells of labor and color and class unrest.

Pullman Palace Car Company

George M. Pullman began the Pullman Palace Car Company in 1867. The Civil War ended, and people were beginning to travel by train for business and for pleasure. Pullman felt that customers would pay a premium for luxury service and better sleeping accommodations.

A new workforce also was available with the end of the Civil War. Pullman envisioned that former slaves would be perfect as porters (servants) on a luxury railroad.  White men would work as conductors, but Black men were assigned to be porters.

For a time, the situation seemed a decent plan. Initially, Black men were delighted to find regular employment. The work was hard, and the pay was low, but it was a start.  Some men used their income to pay for education or to put a down payment on a home. For many, it was their first taste of middle class living.

Traveling the Country

Another benefit to the job was seeing the country. As the porters traveled throughout the United States, they took with them news of other areas as well as music and songs that were popular elsewhere.

Eventually this led to the Great Migration with more Blacks leaving the South and settling in other parts of the country for better job opportunities. Some even became homesteaders. (See the article about film director and homesteader Oscar Micheaux.)

Downside as Well

In addition to the low salaries, the porters had to pay for their own supplies like shoe polish and cleaning equipment. Porters were also expected to be subservient to all the white travelers. They were no longer slaves but there were many similarities in the work.

In a total depersonalization of porters as people, customers were encouraged to refer to each porter as “George,” after the founder of the company.

Paternalism

During the 19^th century, large textile factories and mining communities set the precedent of operating their own towns. They provided housing for their workers, and supplies were available at a company store where the prices weren’t necessarily cheap.

George Pullman followed this pattern for his company base. He built the town of Pullman just outside Chicago. Housing was provided, and workers were expected to patronize the company store.

Pullman realized that if he was providing a town for his white workers, he needed to do something for his maids and porters as well. He could not force integration in the town (nor would he have been inclined to), so George Pullman donated to black churches and other organizations in the Chicago area where the company was based. This increased worker loyalty. And eventually made it harder to build union support for the Brotherhood.

Inequalities Rankled

But the inequities of the working conditions continued to rankle many of the porters and maids. Porters were paid about one-third of the monthly salary earned by white conductors, and their work months were about 400 hours vs. 250 hours for conductors. In addition, the porters were expected to absorb the costs for their needed supplies as well as for food and accommodation while on the road.

The company justified the different pay scale by saying that porters could earn tips, but as workers today know, tips are not a dependable income.

Agitating for Change

Porters in the New York area were the first to push for change. But they knew that Pullman—like other big employers—hired  undercover detectives to serve as union-busters.

Since the company was headquartered in Chicago, the agitators knew they had to spread the word carefully. Many of the porters were just glad to have a steady job, and Pullman’s donations to Black causes near Chicago meant that not everyone wanted to challenge the status quo. Ironically, the techniques pioneered by the women suffragists, many of them Black women, were helpful to the Brotherhood.

In 1913, the women of Illinois–Black and white–gained state suffrage rights. With that goal accomplished, some took their experience to help fight for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and full citizenship for Black men.

Getting Around the Spies

To avoid detection by the detectives, the Brotherhood organizers knew they needed a leader who could not be brought down from within the company. With that in mind, they selected a non-Pullman executive to lead the organization.

Asa Philip Randolph was a well-connected Harlem business owner who edited a monthly magazine, The Messenger.  He was a strong leader and could operate without fear of reprisal since he had nothing to do with the Pullman Company.  He was fully committed to the fact that porters should be able to negotiate their own economic contract and that “the time had passed when a grown Black man should beg a grown white man for anything.”

Railway Labor Act

After Randolph took the helm in 1925, it took ten more years’ to win concessions for the porters. As important as their cause was, the Depression of the 1930s added to complexity of the negotiations. It was no time to walk off a job.

Finally, federal changes in the Railway Labor Act in 1934 meant that in 1935, the Brotherhood won certification to represent the porters. At that time, the American Federation of Labor fully recognized the all-Black organization.

Two years later the Brotherhood signed its first collective bargaining agreement with the Pullman Company; they gained pay increases, a shorter work week, and the right to overtime pay. Ultimately, the leadership and skills gained by members who were part of the Brotherhood went on to be used in organizing the U.S. civil rights movement. But there was nothing easy about it.

For more information, read about Septima Clark, who started citizenship schools to help with voting, Worcy Crawford who drove the Black community in Birmingham at a time when no other bus company would, and John Lewis, who was part of the civil rights movement from the original march on Selma until his recent death while serving in Congress.

Worker safety in factories and industrial plants became an issue in the late 19^th century when more workers left their farms for jobs in cities.

Alice Hamilton, a young woman from a well-to-do family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, set her sights on becoming a doctor but shifted to pathology as she saw the new issues that were arising because of human exposure to chemicals in the workplace.

Industrial toxicology was a very new field of pathology, and Alice Hamilton quickly became known for her work in identifying workplace hazards. Workplace accidents, of course, could occur, but there was another unknown field involving the dangers of worker exposure to chemicals. For example, little was known about lead poisoning, or the dangers of working with mercury, phosphorous, and radium. Companies were also beginning to make artificial silk (viscose rayon), which proved to be a very toxic process. Hamilton studied it all.

Dr. Hamilton dedicated her life to finding answers to the issues that caused harm to people.

Early Years

Alice Hamilton (1869-1970) was one of five children born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Hamilton children were given a good education through home tutoring. Then all four of the girls (there was also a brother) were sent to a finishing school– Miss Porter’s Finishing School in Farmington, Connecticut.

Despite her genteel upbringing, Alice Hamilton was exposed to enough of the world that she aspired to be a doctor. However, her home schooling did not include the necessary math or science, nor did Miss Porter’s curriculum include these topics.

In this era, students usually went from high school directly into medical school, but Hamilton had hurdles to overcome. Her first challenge was persuading her father that this would be a good path for her. He finally agreed, and they found another tutor to fill in her gaps in math and science. When that was accomplished, she qualified for the University of Michigan Medical School, graduating in 1893.

Medical School

In medical school, Hamilton became fascinated by pathology. What made people sick? She decided she would study to be a research scientist instead of going into clinical practice.

One of Hamilton’s sisters was going to Europe to study classic literature. Hamilton knew that she could gain more education in bacteriology if she could enroll at a university in Europe.  But neither she nor her sister were given easy access.

At universities in Frankfort and Berlin, they were turned away because of their gender. They then moved on to Munich and Leipzig where they were given limited access. At universities in both cities, Alice was permitted to attend lectures in bacteriology and pathology “if she made herself inconspicuous.”

She then returned to the United States where she became a researcher at Johns Hopkins Medical School, working under Simon Flexner, a young pathologist who went on to head Rockefeller Institute in New York City.

Hull House in Chicago

In 1897, she became professor of pathology at the short-lived Women’s Medical School at Northwestern University. She was then hired as a bacteriologist at Chicago’s Memorial Institute for Infectious Disease.

She also took up residence at Hull House, a settlement house for the poor in Chicago started by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates. This gave her an opportunity to live and work with immigrants, seeing whatever challenges they faced and helping them through it.

In Twenty Years at Hull House, Jane Addams writes of the conditions in the area: “schools [are] inadequate, sanitary legislation unenforced, street lighting bad, paving miserable…” And many houses in the area were not connected to Chicago’s rudimentary sewer system, so sewage in the streets was a frequent problem.

At Hull House, one of Dr. Hamilton’s main projects was establishing a “well baby” clinic. She saw that parents needed education and support so by providing opportunities for babies to be bathed at the clinic, it improved infant health by encouraging cleanliness, and it provided an opportunity to teach parents about how to care for their infants.

Typhoid Epidemic

In 1902, Chicago residents experienced a typhoid epidemic. Very little was understood about the spread of disease at that time. In the mid-19^th century, British doctor John Snow had determined that cholera passed among people via contaminated water, but medical information of that sort traveled slowly. There was no reason for doctors to think that the spread of cholera might relate to how typhoid traveled.

As Dr. Hamilton watched typhoid ravage the families in her part of the city. She noted how the sewage in the neighborhoods attracted flies. She knew sewage harbored disease, and she concluded that the flies might transmit illnesses.

She gave speeches and wrote scientific papers on the topic. While her general theory proved to be true, the actual cause of this particular typhoid epidemic was later revealed to be primarily from a broken sewer pipe that contaminated drinking water. City maintenance workers did a temporary repair but hid the situation for as long as they could.

When the deception was revealed, Dr. Hamilton had enough authority to step in to see that Chicago’s Department of Health was reorganized.

Industrial Dangers

In the late 19^th century, there were few laws regulating safety in the workplace, yet public pressure was mounting.  Because Dr. Hamilton was among the few experts in the field, she was called upon to address issues for the government.

In 1908, the governor of Illinois appointed her to the Illinois Commission on Occupational Diseases, and the group ran a groundbreaking study surveying industrial diseases in Illinois.

The federal government took notice and appointed her to be a special investigator for the Bureau of Labor (later called the Department of Labor) From 1911 to 1920, Hamilton served as a special investigator for that branch of the federal government.

Other industrial dangers arose from poor working environments. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is an example of management showing complete disregard for worker safety.

The Dangers of Lead

Lead has been considered the “father of all metals,” and from ancient times forward, people have found helpful ways to use it. In America, the early colonies benefited from mining and forging lead. The metal had a low melting temperature which made it very adaptable. And because it did not corrode, it lasted a long time.

People were often exposed to lead, as it became a frequent additive to paint. This meant that lead-based paint was almost everywhere. In addition, lead was used in face powder, cigar wrappers, and the chemicals used to polish cut glass. Workers who manufactured products using lead found that workers often became ill.

In 1921, a new discovery led to a new and even more pervasive way to use lead. Engineers found that by creating tetraethyl lead gasoline, they could make high-power, high-compression combustion engines. But in the process of running the engine, the fumes from the gasoline released lead into the air. This meant people often breathed particles of lead in the air.

The deadliness of tetraethyl lead was confirmed in the summer of 1924—very shortly after the discovery was made. Workers engaged in producing the additive fell sick and died at several refineries in New Jersey and Ohio. Banner headlines greeted each new fatality until a total of 15 workers had lost their lives; many also suffered mental confusion from working there. Despite this, the industry continued manufacturing gasoline with lead for decades after.

While the manufacturing process was improved somewhat, it wasn’t until 1996 that lead-containing gasoline was fully phased out.

Challenges of These Studies

One of the difficulties in the field of industrial toxicology was that many of the industrial exposures took time before symptoms ensued. (The factories manufacturing tetraethyl gasoline were unusual in how quickly workers were sickened.) Most forms of lead poisoning were from chronic exposure. They symptoms could be debilitating, sometimes leading to death. Because these things did not occur instantly, it was harder for Hamilton and others to prove cause and effect.

And this lack of understanding caused other problems. No one thought about the importance of cleanliness for workers. It was very common for employees to finish at a factory and come home without changing clothes or washing their hands. This meant added exposure for the person as well as his or her family.

Many Other Toxic Substances

As Dr. Hamilton continued her government studies, she remained committed to sharing what she learned. In 1942, she wrote a book, “Exploring the Dangerous Trades.” She told her life story along with many warnings about the workplace.

Among those chemicals that were used a great deal in the early 20^th century were phosphorus, mercury, and radium. Phosphorus was used in manufacturing matches and was known to cause “phossy jaw.” The victim’s jaw would become tender and abscesses could develop. Often the only solution was for part of the jaw to be removed surgically.

Mercury was used freely in the hat industry, and those workers often suffered brain damage. “Mad as a hatter” described the mental state of some of the workers.

There were also grave dangers in the watch industry. Consumers loved the fact that watches could have glow-in-the-dark numbers. But this involved using paint with radium. The young women in these jobs breathed radium in the workrooms, and many also licked the end of their paintbrushes to tighten up the brush point. This heightened their exposure, leading to illness and death. They became known as the “Radium Girls.”

Education and Confrontation

Dr. Hamilton knew that educating workers as to the dangers they faced in the workplace needed to be part of her job. She wrote articles and gave speeches, but also knew she had a duty to inform company presidents as to what was happening to their workers.

Because lead was such a major source of danger, Dr. Alice Hamilton finally found a way to confront Edward Cornish, the head of the National Lead Company. According to a booklet published by the American Chemical Society, she approached Cornish and presented to him 22 cases of serious illness among his workers.

He was indignant at first, but then went about making changes to reduce the fumes and dust exposure for workers.

Harvard Appointment

By 1919 Alice Hamilton was the acknowledged expert in the field of industrial medicine. Though Harvard University’s entire faculty was male, the medical school determined that they would create a department of industrial medicine with Hamilton as its leader.

Hamilton was to be given the title of assistant professor, but Harvard placed three qualifications on her appointment: Dr. Hamilton was not to use the Faculty Club; she would not be permitted to march in commencement processions with the rest of the faculty; and she would never be given football tickets, a “perk” available to the rest of the faculty.

She took the position and was never given a higher standing than assistant professor.

International Work

In 1924, she served a six-year term on the Health Committee of the League of Nations and was able to share her findings with an international audience.

At that time, the Soviet Union was advanced in the field of public health, and they had a facility dedicated to occupational illnesses. Dr. Hamilton was invited to Moscow to tour the facility.

More Studies in Toxicology

Though she maintained a full schedule of teaching responsibilities at Harvard, she insisted she be given time to return to live and work at Hull House for part of each year.

She continued to conduct her surveys of employment conditions within various industries and preferred to be in Chicago at Hull House while running those studies.

In addition to lead, mercury, radium, and the chemicals used in rayon, Dr. Hamilton added to her list of substances that needed to be studied: Carbon monoxide, certain dyes, benzene, and the chemicals used in storage batteries all came under her eye.

Tried to Help Whistle Blower

In 1933, Dr. Hamilton received an alarming telegram from what today would be described as a “whistle blower.” The anonymous writer wrote: “Rayon Factory Having Epidemic of Mental Cases.”

Rayon was one of the first semi-synthetic fabrics created. Working from wood pulp, chemicals (hydrogen sulfide and carbon disulfide) are added until the material becomes soft, shiny, and pliable. In the process, workrooms—usually lacking good ventilation— became almost instantly toxic. People fell ill quite rapidly from it.

Dr. Hamilton responded immediately to the telegram but could not gain access to the factory. A few weeks later, she met the company president at a social gathering. She discussed the telegram with him. He appeared concerned and assured her that she would be invited in just as soon as some remedial work was completed at the factory.

Despite continuing to express interest, she ultimately, she was never permitted in. 

Never Gave Up

In 1934, she became 65, the mandatory retirement age for teachers at Harvard, Hamilton moved in with one of her sisters in Hadlyme, Connecticut, located in the southern portion of the state, just east of the Connecticut River.

From there, she avidly followed politics and social issues. She was pacifist and actively campaigned against McCarthyism.

Hamilton died in 1970 at the age of 101. She dedicated her life to making life better for other people and was active with both health-related and political causes.

While important progress was made during Dr. Alice Hamilton’s area, more work in industrial toxicology is needed.

Today when you hear “toxic workplace,” people are generally referring to a company with discriminatory, hostile attitudes toward their workers. But chemical hazards have not gone away. From miners suffering “black lung” to the factories making weed killers, unsafe workplaces abound. We need watch dogs paying attention to hazards of many types. Industrial toxicology is an important and growing field.

To read about a devastating industrial accident of another type, see “The Boston Molassacre.”

Dick and Jane books were the predominant readers in public schools from the 1940s through the early 1960s. The books were created by educator Williams S. Gray and former teacher and reading consultant Zerna Sharp, who believed that the “whole word” method was the ideal way to teach reading.

To understand the phenomenon of Dick and Jane, it is helpful to have a little background on the books that preceded the series.

Learning to Read Before Dick and Jane

In the early 19th century, schoolhouses were not well-supplied with books of any kind, so students were asked to bring a book from home. Few families owned many books, so the most common one children brought was a Bible.

The early one-room schoolhouses made it impossible for children to be separated by age or ability, so teachers did their best to provide students with skills that could be used regardless of the book they had in front of them. For that reason, phonics—sounding out words—was the preferred reading method. It could be applied by students reading at various levels.

Textbooks Were Needed

The first popular reading textbook was written by William H. McGuffey (1800-1873) and published in 1836. McGuffey was born to Scottish parents who settled in Pennsylvania. They raised the McGuffey children to value education and religion. At the age of 14, William McGuffey became a traveling teacher who moved from community to community in search of subscription scholars–children whose parents would pay for their education.

When he had the time and the money, McGuffey returned to attend classes at Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College) in Pennsylvania. In 1826, he became a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. While there, he was hired by a publisher to prepare a template for a reading primer that could be scaled for different reading levels.

McGuffey created four levels of the reader. He selected short stories, poems, prayers, oratories, and religious stories for the textbooks. In this way, the children were exposed to a curated but varied selection of writing. Because of the variety of material, reading phonetically was important.

As times changed, so did the content. More immigrants came to the country and brought with them a wider variety of religions, so the religious material was no longer appropriate. By 1879, the text was nonsectarian but the stories offered good examples of family values and morality.

The McGuffey Readers were the preferred textbook in the classroom for many years, selling an estimated 122 million copies over almost 90 years.

But by the late 1920s, the theories behind teaching were changing.

Reading Theories Change

As early as 1898, psychologist and education reformer John Dewey (1859-1952) and others were urging reform of primary education. Dewey wrote that at a time of massive social change, it was important to re-examine the way reading was taught. Dewey advocated for teaching children from experiences to which they could relate. While he did not advocate for a specific way to teach reading, he was among those who set the stage for the coming changes.

William S. Gray (1885-1960) was among those who led the way for a new way of teaching literacy. Gray received a Ph.D. in education at the University of Chicago. He then became dean of the college of education at the University and eventually was chairperson of its teacher preparation committee (1933-45).

Gray’s strong background in education and his specialty in reading assessment made Gray attractive to Scott, Foresman and Company. The publisher was looking for an expert to create a reading curriculum for schools.

Zerna Sharp (1889-1981) was a former classroom teacher who was hired by Scott, Foresman as a reading consultant.

Whole Word Reading Method

Gray and Sharp came from two different educational backgrounds, but both observed that some students struggled with sounding out words.

They were among the educators who became enamored of what is known as the “whole word” or “look-say” method of reading. This method taught children to look at each word as a whole unit. These educators felt students could recognize the word “house” or “down” more easily than they could sound it out.

With this philosophy, Gray and Sharp created the Dick and Jane stories. They originally appeared as part of what was called the Elson-Gray reader published by Scott, Foresman. (William Elson had been a text book writer at Scott, Foresman since 1909.)

When interviewed later, Zerna Sharp described Dick and Jane as her “children” and said that she selected the names. Given Gray’s and Sharp’s backgrounds, we might assume that Sharp was the story editor, carrying out an overarching theory of learning laid out by Dr. Gray.

Dick and Jane Content

The stories featured a very limited vocabulary with clear illustrations demonstrating whatever the page was about. For example, if the word to be emphasized was “up,” the story might involve Dick launching a toy airplane into the air with Jane and Sally talking about it. “See it go up. Up up it goes.”

In the very earliest books (the Elson-Gray readers) the characters were not yet fully identified. Siblings Dick and Jane had a sister, called Baby. Baby, of course, eventually becomes Sally. Their cat, Little Mew, eventually became Puff. The dog in the stories was a terrier. Later, the dog acquired a name, Spot, and became a cocker spaniel. Tim was the well-loved Teddy bear. And of course, Mother, Father, and Grandmother, and Grandfather all appeared in some of the stories.

A typical first primer contained about 80 words. Zerna Sharp believed that children became overwhelmed by too many new words, so one new word was added only every third page. There was a lot of repetition, and a typical page might read: ”See Dick run. Run Dick run.”

Classroom Readers

The readers that were sold for classroom use came with a page-by-page teacher’s guide that listed the vocabulary for each of the textbooks. In the classroom, phonics drills of letter sounds were replaced by word flashcards. The teacher could hold up cards with “house,” “up,” “down,” or “Spot” written out, and the children practiced recognizing the word.

There were more advanced levels of Dick and Jane books written to be used through Grade 9, but the early books were the more popular. By the 1950s, it is said that almost 80 percent of primary grade classrooms used Dick and Jane.

William Gray believed that by the time a child completed second grade, students needed phonics to sound out more complex words. In the leap to teaching “whole word,” it is not clear that school systems ever got the message about teaching phonics later.

The Illustrations Were Important

Perhaps because the text is so dull, the illustrations stand out in memory. The first books were illustrated by Eleanor Campbell and Keith Ward. Campbell was said to have pored over recent Sears catalogs to put the family in clothing that was the latest fashion for the day.

Robert Childress illustrated the books of the 1950s. Richard Wiley started his career as an illustrator after the war (1946). He was the first to illustrate books with African American characters in the series (1965). Until the late 1970s, Wiley continued to work as a commercial illustrator, and later transitioned into portrait work until the late 1980s/early 1990s when his deteriorating eyesight forced him to put away the brushes. 

Dick and Jane in Anytown, USA

The world created for Dick and Jane was very bland. They lived in a suburban neighborhood; their house had a white picket fence, and Mother took care of the home while Father went to an office during the week and mowed the lawn on weekends. To appeal to all regions of the country, the stories are devoid of any indications of location.

There were few additional characters, but those who appeared were white. Zeke, the gardener, was a little different; perhaps his dark hair and slightly darker complexion was to indicate ethnicity of some type. The children loved him, but he was in a worker role.

While the creators felt that in Dick and Jane’s world, they had created a neighborhood with which children could identify, the limited number of words each volume could use severely restricted the action. While Dick might send his toy plane up in the air, there was little opportunity for more excitement.

Besides teaching reading, Dick and Jane set examples of positive contributions. They did their chores, they were helpful to other people, and they were kind to each other. Laughing at baby Sally was done in good fun.

Other Opinions

As early as 1929, experts were raising alarm over the “whole word” or look-say reading method. Dr. Samuel T. Orton (1879-1948), a neuropathologist and expert in reading disabilities, wrote that the “whole word” sight reading method would cause problems for a large number of children. While he realized that there were children who could benefit, he wrote a paper for the Journal of Education Psychology (February 1929) where he described the “whole word” method as an obstacle to reading for the majority of students. (His paper is quoted in Chalcedon Magazine, a Christian education publication.)

But that did not slow the pace of the reform movement. Other publishers were mimicking the style, and by the 1950s, Dick and Jane books were in an astounding 80 percent of American classrooms for early education.

Sentiments Change

By the mid-1950s, the tide was finally turning. In an article in Life magazine in 1954, author John Hersey (1914-1993) sought to answer “Why Do Students Bog Down on First R?” In reporting on the issue, Hersey noted that these books were dull. How do you inspire children with insipid content?

Shortly after the Life article, Rudolf Flesch, an author and reading consultant, wrote Why Johnny Can’t Read. In the book, he condemned the “whole word” method.

These events were the underpinnings of the rise of Theodore Geisel. A former advertising illustrator, Geisel’s first book for children was published in 1937, and it was And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street. But with the press covering the dullness of children’s literature, Houghton Mifflin and Random House asked him to take on a challenge: Could he write an engaging children’s primer using only 220 vocabulary words?

Indeed he could. The resulting book was The Cat in the Hat. (1957).
The book changed Theodore Geisel’s career by making him a household name, but it also changed the trajectory of children’s literature. Children’s books no longer had to be “white bread” stories, devoid of imagination. Dr. Seuss’s work helped erode the power of the look-say reading method that was so entrenched in the schools.

More Change Needed

White suburbia was losing its luster by the early 1960s. The civil rights movement was in full swing. Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) outlawed “separate but equal,” and President Lyndon Johnson brought a new view to the White House in 1963. Johnson had attended a teachers college for his higher education. From 1928 to 1929, Johnson paused his studies to teach Mexican-American children at the segregated Welhausen School in La Salle County, Texas.

Johnson needed the income to pay for the rest of his education but the year gave him more than salary. He saw that most of the students couldn’t even dream of college because they were too poor. In remarks made at Southwest Texas State College in 1965 he said: “I think it was then that I made up my mind that this nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to any American.

Johnson taught for a couple of more years before going into politics, and those experiences never left him. When Johnson assumed the presidency, he called for an Act of Congress to improve the education opportunities for underprivileged students.

The result was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It provided money for supplemental educational material but with a provision: The subject matter had to also be appropriate for urban schoolchildren.

As desegregation was enforced in the late 1960s, book publishers realized they needed to reflect future classrooms. Dick and Jane acquired a black family in their neighborhood in Fun with our Friends (1965), but it was really too late for Dick and Jane. The 1965 books were the last new editions of the series. Scott Foresman (no longer Scott, Foresman) moved on to publishing other materials that emphasized a multicultural world.

Place in History

For many reasons, Dick and Jane earned a place in our history. Their names are synonymous with early reading books. And if you should still have any copies of a Dick and Jane book, you may be in luck. They are considered collector items.

They are so iconic that in 2003, Grosset & Dunlap re-released the original Dick and Jane primers. The publisher added a disclaimer, noting that the books are nostalgic and were not intended to be used to teach children to read.

They sold over 2.5 million copies of the reissue, which spawned merchandise. Mugs, refrigerator magnets, T-shirts, and carry-all bags have all been produced with the iconic imagery and catch phrases, like “See Spot run!”

Note: While my own children were learning to read, I was involved. Now that I’ve read more in depth about the learning process, I realize that word recognition was key for them in the beginning… then they needed phonics.
Of course, this is what William Gray recommended, but his full message never seemed to be conveyed.

To read about another classroom reading staple from this era, read about Weekly Reader.

And if you remember Dick and Jane, you might also enjoy reading about the School Safety Patrol.

Wheelchairs today offer a very high level of independence and mobility to people who cannot walk because of injury or disability. When and how did they come about?

While not in common use until the last century, the earliest known wheeled conveyance dates to the Greeks who put wheels on a bed in order to move an invalid from location to location.

Innovation arrived in 1665. A German watchmaker who was a paraplegic came up with a workable way to get himself around. He added hand pedals to a wheeled seat, which gave him a certain degree of mobility. There still would have been many limits for him in an era when there were no elevators or paved roads.

For many, many years, only the wealthy who were sick or injured could consider any type of option for mobility.  The poor who were disabled needed family to care for them. Those without family were left to beg on the streets; others worked in freak shows (circus side shows) where people with all types of disabilities sometimes found work.

Starting in the mid-1800s, the U.S. Patent Office began to receive patent applications for various forms of chairs for those who lacked mobility. Most of these chairs were described as “nursery” chairs or “invalid” chairs. They were sometimes referred to as “convertible” chairs, as the wheels were generally just one option. For example, in 1878, U.S. Patent # 206450 was for a chair with a base that could be switched from rockers to wheels.  By 1881, one patent included “push rims” (handles on the wheels) to permit a person to move themselves forward. The chairs then, however, would have been heavy enough that the push rims would have helped, but they would not have made a person fully independent.

Rolling Chairs Begin To Be Used

The first use of what were called “rolling chairs” in any number was in Bath, England in the mid-1800s. Patients were often told by physicians to visits Bath for its healing, natural warm springs. The chairs were used to get people from their hotels or residences to the spas.

The Bath chair was not a perfect item; it had two large wheels in the back and one smaller wheel in front. Because they were heavy and awkward, the chairs required someone strong to push them. They also were said to be not that comfortable for the patient. But they were a start.

In the U.S. these “rolling chairs” began to be used in Atlantic City in 1876, where the seaside air was considered medicinal.

As early as 1903, a wealthy woman appeared in Atlantic City with her own personal rolling chair and was widely admired. She and the chair were so distinctive, she merited mention in The New York Times (3-22-1903):

The sensation of the week came in the person of a beautiful and mysterious woman, who made her appearance on the Boardwalk the other day in a superb private roller chair, propelled by a gigantic Negro in sable livery. She is here alone, except for the attendance of a large retinue of servants who share with her a beautiful villa in the Chelsea district. There are many rumors as to her identity, but the landlord refuses to satisfy curiosity beyond admitting that she comes from New York. The chair is made of white wood, trimmed with turquoise blue. The occupant has appeared twice in a costume to match the trimming of the chair, and with a flimsy blue veil.

In addition to these private wheelchairs, there were many public rolling chairs available for rent.  Because the Atlantic City chairs were so appealing, healthy visitors began feigning an inability to walk so that they, too, could be pushed along the Boardwalk to look at the local attractions. At this point, the chair rental company made the smart business decision to offer them to tourists as well as the ill.

Rolling chairs were in common use in Atlantic City for many years but eventually their use faded away. Then in 1984, a hotel clerk came upon 83 ramshackle old chairs in storage and decided to refurbish them and bring them back into use.

While there is a long dotted line between the popularity of the Atlantic City Rolling Chairs and a greater acceptance of wheelchair users in towns around the United States, one has to assume that Atlantic City offered a very early step in creating a world that is more wheelchair acceptable. (More about this later.)

The Need for Wheelchairs Grew in Spurts

While the world has always had people with disabilities, the Civil War created an expanding need for ways to help the wounded. It was the first battle where injured men in any number were survived. This meant that ways had to be created to help them live in the world.

In 1916, there was another increase in the need for wheelchairs at the outset of World War I. Initially, the United States hoped to not enter the war, only providing support to the Allies.  The New York Times (9-17-1916) wrote about how wheelchairs and other supplies were being shipped to Italy by the War Relief Board. The article noted that the American Relief Clearing House for the Society of Mutilated Soldiers handled the distribution of “rolling chairs” to maimed European soldiers.  (9-17-1916)

And of course, by 1917, the United States was no longer just an observer of the war. With its entry into the War, American soldiers, too, soon needed wheelchairs.  World War II and the 20^th century incidence of polio also drove up need for wheelchairs.

An Early Powered Wheelchair

The first “wheel-chair” patent (as opposed to a patent for an invalid chair or rolling chairs) was in 1915, and it was distinctly different from the others as it had a small battery-powered motor.  The chair could be controlled by hand or by knee and was for people who hadn’t the strength to self-propel the earlier models.

More Advances Needed

Though advances were being made on these early wheelchairs, the

chairs themselves were still heavy and inflexible.  When a mining engineer named Herbert Everest was caught in a mine cave-in and broke his back, he never regained his ability to walk. Before his accident, Everest had enjoyed getting around in an early automobile. He was determined to find a way to get himself and his wheelchair into a car to regain some of his freedom.

He often complained to his friend, Harry Jennings Sr., who was a mechanical engineer. The two of them thought and talked about ways to build a better wheelchair.

Jennings began working out how to execute their ideas. By early 1936, the two men were satisfied with the chair they created. They applied for a patent on what was a lightweight foldable wheelchair that offered a sturdy ride for its passenger but could be collapsed and put in the trunk of a car. The patent was approved in 1937, and they established a factory where the chairs could be manufactured. Herbert Everest had some of his freedom back.

The Everest and Jennings wheelchair became the dominant wheelchair in the United States. Because there was little competition in the marketplace, Everest & Jennings International was a bit slow on innovation, but they could turn out product. When a Canadian designed the first workable, modern electric wheelchair, he found little interest in the product from Canadian companies. He finally gave manufacturing rights to Everest & Jennings. At least he knew that they could produce the chairs. By the mid-1950s, they began manufacturing the power chairs in big numbers.

Wheelchairs Today

Today there are many forms of wheelchairs, and there have been significant advances.  These newer models range from very

lightweight chairs that maneuver easily and can be used for sports to bigger chairs that can be controlled with a joystick, a head stick, or sip and puff devices for those with upper body restrictions. Today there are even chairs that can climb a flight of stairs. Some have hydraulic lifts that permit the chair to elevate the person into a standing position if so warranted.

While the invention of the wheelchair was a significant step forward, we have not addressed accessibility.  That’s a separate story of bravery and determination on the part of many individuals. I’ll write about that in a few weeks.

To read about a fellow who spent 30 years of his career in a wheelchair with barely a mention of it, read about Lionel Barrymore.

Lionel Barrymore had a long and successful acting career. From the silent era through the early 1950s, he primarily played character roles in films. Barrymore also directed films and composed music. While he would have loved a career in the fine arts, he made do with hobbies that kept him involved in painting and the graphic arts.

Barrymore was injured in the mid-1930s. This ultimately caused a shift in his career as he became more comfortable with a wheelchair. For almost half of the one hundred films in which he acted, he delivers all his dialogue while sitting down, or he uses a wheelchair. Yet little was made of it by the press, and the audiences clearly didn’t mind.

As The New York Times wrote in his obituary: “It was a tribute to his popularity and ability that parts were written around him, and audiences never questioned the appearance of an actor in a wheelchair.”

Lionel Barrymore’s Early Life

Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954) was born in Philadelphia into the well-known acting family, the Barrymores. (The Barrymore name was retrieved from a deceased relative and established as the family’s stage name.) His parents were both actors—Maurice Blyth and Georgiana Drew. All three of their offspring went into acting. Lionel became a great character actor. Youngest brother, John (1882-1942), played many leading roles and was known for his great looks and famous profile.

Sister Ethel (1879-1959) preferred the stage, and in a career lasting six decades, she earned the title of “First Lady of the American Theater.”

Lionel worked in the theater as a teenager, but he did not intend to continue in the “family business.” As a young man, he moved to Paris and studied art for several years. When he saw that he was not going to earn a decent living with painting, he returned to the U.S. and went back to acting. An early introduction to D.W. Griffith garnered him parts in many silent films.

Barrymore also directed. His first film was His Secret in 1913. Throughout the next two decades, he continued to direct while also acting. In 1929, he won an Academy Award nomination for his directorial work on Madame X.

Two years later, he won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in A Free Soul (1931). Over time his acting career was to predominate.

Barrymore’s Injuries

Lionel Barrymore suffered physically and emotionally in 1936. He broke his hip in an accident, and in December of that year, he lost his beloved wife, Irene Fenwick Barrymore (1887-1936), who was only 49.

The following year, he was filming the movie, Saratoga with Clark Gable and Jean Harlow; he tripped over a cable and broke his hip for the second time.  Repairs for this type of injury were rudimentary then.  Barrymore was plagued with arthritis since the late 1920s, so the second accident meant that he never really recovered. From that time on, it was very painful to walk. He used crutches occasionally but soon settled into the wheelchair full time.

By the date of the accidents, Barrymore had been part of the MGM family for many years. He worked for Louis B. Mayer even before 1924 when MGM was created. The two men had a long and good friendship.

Mayer knew Barrymore was a valuable property to the studio, so Mayer put out the word. Scripts for Barrymore should take into account that he wasn’t comfortable walking.

The studio was happy to keep him working.

Dr. Kildare Movies

In 1938, MGM acquired the rights to the character of Dr. Kildare, based on a book by Max Brand. Scriptwriters amended the story line to be about a young doctor making his way at a city hospital under the watchful eye of his mentor, Dr. Gillespie. Barrymore was cast in the role of Gillespie. Dr. Kildare was played by Lew Ayres.

These movies were highly successful, so additional scripts were prepared. In all of these movies, Barrymore uses his wheelchair but that is never the focus of the story.

In 1942, the war brought about unanticipated changes. Kildare actor Lew Ayres was drafted, but he refused to go. He was a conscientious objector and did not want to fight.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the pro-America war sentiment meant that the public turned against Ayres. He was removed from the films, and the Dr. Kildare films that followed focused on Dr. Leonard Gillespie. (Ayres did serve in the military but as a medic and a chaplain’s assistant. This permitted him to return to his career.)

Dust Up with the Roosevelts

Though Barrymore supported Franklin Roosevelt’s early campaigns for president, his sentiment changed in 1944. In 1944 he actively campaigned for the Republican candidate, Thomas Dewey. This did not sit well with the Roosevelt family.

Two years later when MGM was preparing a film about FDR, the press knew that Barrymore was likely to be cast to be Franklin Roosevelt. A phone call to MGM from Mrs. Roosevelt got Barrymore pulled from the film.

This was only a minor setback in Barrymore’s career. In 1946, Barrymore played the villainous Henry Potter in the Frank Capra classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. Potter was not written as a character in a wheelchair, but when Barrymore was cast in the role, he made it work very successfully.

Two years later he appeared as the hotel owner in Key Largo. That film starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Barrymore went on to make thirteen more films before the end of his life.

During his last two decades, he also played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in annual broadcasts of A Christmas Carol and was well-remembered for that role.

Successes in Other Fields

In addition to his long list of acting credits and his 1929 nomination for best director, Barrymore succeeded in several other fields. He loved composing music, and several of his compositions were performed by professional orchestras. One of these was “In Memoriam,” written in 1942 on the occasion of his brother’s death. It was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. A few of his compositions were also used in films.

Though painting never brought him professional success, Barrymore continued to work in graphic arts. Several of his prints were recognized by the Society of American Etchers.

Barrymore’s Contribution to Film Industry

It is unfortunate that the film industry has been so slow to follow the great example set by Lionel Barrymore and those who continued to hire him. We are now 75 years from the time when Barrymore demonstrated that an actor in a wheelchair could still bring an important story to audiences. Our progress since that time should be greater.

The story of the invention of the wheelchair is not what you would expect. Click here to read The Wheelchair: Who Thought of It?

The first animal shelter in America came about due to the efforts of Caroline Earle White (1833-1916) of Philadelphia. White was also the power behind several other animal protection organizations.

She was among the first to launch the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and she created an offshoot of that organization to create a welcoming environment where women, too, could work for animal welfare. Later she became aware of the medical testing that was being done on animals, and she was first to establish the American Anti-Vivisection Society in the United States.

Early Life

Caroline Earle White was raised in a well-to-do Quaker family. Her father was an attorney and fully devoted to abolishing slavery. Her mother, a cousin of suffragist advocate Lucretia Mott, worked for suffrage as well as abolition.

Both Caroline’s parents placed high value on education, so Caroline had more learning opportunities than most girls her age. In addition to a general education, she studied astronomy and learned five languages other than English.

Animal Life in the Mid-1800s

During the mid-1800s, horses and mules were work animals and were vital to the delivery of goods within a city. Any big street would have been filled with horse- or mule-drawn wagons. It was not uncommon for drivers to beat the animals when they felt the animals weren’t pulling the heavy loads fast enough. As a young girl, Caroline hated witnessing scenes like this, and she then tried to avoid walking down certain streets that had caused her particular pain.

Marriage Offers More Opportunity

In 1854 she married out of the Quaker religion, marrying Philadelphia attorney Richard P. White, a Catholic. At that time,

Protestants and some Quakers found Catholic beliefs to be objectionable, but Caroline’s parents were open-minded and felt that whatever religion Caroline followed would be fine. (Caroline did eventually convert to Catholicism.)

Richard White was very supportive of his wife. He recognized her sincere interest in animal welfare, and he knew that well-to-do New York businessman Henry Bergh had just formed the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1866). White encouraged Caroline to set up a meeting with Bergh, which she did.

Bergh offered suggestions on what needed to be done to get an organization launched in Philadelphia. Caroline White returned to Philadelphia, and in 1867 she began seeking funds and signatures for the cause. In doing so, she found that another fellow, Colonel M. Richards Muckle, was interested in the same thing. They teamed up to work together.

When it came time to legally establish the organization, Caroline White offered the services of her husband since he was an attorney.  When the board was formed, Richard White and Colonel Muckle were among the board members of the organization. Caroline Earle White was not.

The inability for the men to give Caroline Earle White her rightful place at the table was indicative of the time. Women were welcome to help with causes but not to run them. It is not clear that Caroline White was particularly bothered by this. She continued to work with the organization, and after only 18 months, the association had 600 members.

In 1869, Caroline White set up an offshoot of the PSPCA so that women could become more actively involved. The Women’s PSPCA, later known as the Women’s Human Society, undertook different causes.

Welfare of Small Animals

The main focus of the women’s organization became the number of stray dogs on the streets of the city. Rabies was common at this time, so animal management was important for the human population, too.

When considering household animals, there is a vast difference between “then” and “now.” In the mid-19^th century, cats would have been kept at houses and in businesses to keep down the rodent population. City dogs would have been kept as guard dogs. Many would have been considered “pets,” but not the pampered pets of today.  A family might have provided dinner scraps and a place for a dog to sleep, but the animal would have had a lot of latitude to travel the town. This freedom during the day would have guaranteed an active number of puppy births on a regular basis.

First Animal Shelter

At the third meeting of the women’s branch of the PSPCA, the women passed a motion that “one of the objects of this Society shall be, to provide as soon as possible, a Refuge for lost and homeless dogs, where they could be kept until homes could be found for them, or they be otherwise disposed of.”

The women raised funds to have a facility, which was the first animal shelter in the nation and was the model for all others. The “refuge,” as they called it, was located in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Philadelphia.

The group also undertook other issues: Dog fighting and rooster matches were popular at that time, and the WPSPCA worked actively to end this form of animal abuse. They also brought an end to “animal baiting,” which involved tying up an animal and letting other animals attack it for the amusement of spectators.

Alcohol Part of Problem

Many society women of that time believed that alcohol was the root of much evil, and they campaigned for restriction of alcohol. Those who also supported animal rights felt that alcohol fueled mistreatment of animals of all types. While the bigger issue of temperance was being fought separately, the WPSPCA launched a program to raise money for more water fountains in cities all over the country. The animals would definitely benefit from more convenient access to water. It was hoped by giving the men a free alternative to liquor that it would reduce drinking.

Medical Testing on Animals

During White’s time with the animal shelter, she was contacted by a doctor who made a request that bothered her. The man wanted her to send any unwanted dogs to him to use in medical testing and animal experimentation.

This was an era when great medical progress was occurring, so there was great enthusiasm for learning more through experimentation. But Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species was also beginning to bring focus to animals as part of an evolutionary process. This made the issue of animal rights a topic of conversation for some.

White was horrified at the thought of sending these homeless dogs off to be used in experiments. Because of this, in 1783 White started her third animal-oriented organization: the American Anti-Vivisection Society.

The Anti-Vivisection Society brought animal medical testing to a national audience by arranging to distribute literature at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. They handed out many leaflets concerning the horrors of lab animals and live testing on animals.

White also served as the editor of The Journal of Zoophily, a publication that began to document the history of animal rights.

Society Still Exists

The organization that began as the women’s PSPCA is now known as the Women’s Humane Society and still runs the animal shelter. They

are no longer affiliated with any other animal organization but still maintain an active presence in the community with a low-cost veterinary clinic, an adoption program, and an education program to teach children and community groups about animal care and dog obedience. They also operate a cruelty investigation unit and an animal ambulance service.

The Society still plays an active role in legislative issues to safeguard animals. They have worked to get birds, mice, and rats included in the protective clauses of the Animal Welfare Act, and they have helped reduce the use of rabbits in cosmetic testing. Part of this work has been encouraging exploration of alternative methods to animal experimentation.  They also monitor and advise on the laws that are being put in place regarding animal cloning.

Caroline Earle White’s Greatest Pride

When asked what changes she was most proud of bringing about, Caroline Earle White described the 28-Hour law that the Women’s PSPCA spearheaded. The move toward this legislation came about when organization became aware of inhumane treatment of animals in transport.

Under her leadership, the Women’s PSPCA stationed agents at specific locations along the major railroad routes to observe how the animals were handled. They kept records by telegraphing back to headquarters what they observed on the rail lines.

Eventually they had a strong enough case to take the Reading Railroad to court in 1896 for transporting a shipment of horses over a 52-hour period without ever stopping to feed them or give them water.

They won their case and were able to pass legislation (1907) that mandated that animals be fed and watered after 28 hours in transit.  Fines and convictions of various train lines followed.

Caroline Earle White was a very talented woman with numerous interests. She was also involved in children’s causes and has several travel novels to her name.

Animal Rights Most Important

From early in her life, White was always especially invested in animals. She explains her passion this way:

“There are many people who when we ask them to join us say that they prefer to work for human beings. But are we not working for human beings? Are we not constantly striving to make men and women more humane and disposed to all kindly feelings and to teach children to become gentle and merciful? Is not everything which tends to elevate man in the mortal scale a benefit to him?” 

The Audubon Society is another organization that was launched by a woman in a similar era.  To read about Harriet Lawrence Hemenway, click here.