European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday september 16, 1967 "j0/i4 Fht a a look at Detroit s Mary Riordan Power behind teacher strike by a. F. Mahan a staff writer Mary Ellen Riordan. Gentle woman who leads Tough teacher strike in Detroit. The twinkle in Mary Ellen Riordan s Blue Eye Sand her easy smile belie the toughness with which she has conducted a strike of 11,000 Detroit Public school teachers. Her Al Cio Detroit federation of teacher forsook the classroom for the picket line while she was shooting for More pay and a Shorter workyear$1,200 across the Board and 38 instead of 40 weeks. While teachers were to have gone Back sept. 5and didst mrs. Riordan refuses to term their action anything other than just taking an extended summer that recess which has kept 300,000 Young sters Home beyond their Normal summer break has made blonde Mary Ellen Riordan s name Al most As Well known Here As that of Detroit s most famous redhead Walter p. Day after mrs. Riordan s teachers refused to report Reuther s United Auto workers walked Outon strike against the Ford motor co. Now Many Detroit mothers have not Only the children Home but father too. Picket placards proclaim keep Good teacher sin that says mrs. Riordan is what she s trying to do and thus improve the schools a keeping the Cream of the teaching crop from going elsewhere. Her 125 pounds Well proportioned Over a 5-foot-3frame, mrs. Riordan is a onetime science teacher and holds a master s degree. She joined the de troit federation of teachers in the Middle 1940s, after her husband Daniel was killed in the Bat the of the bulge in world War ii. Then the Union was Small and looked Down upon by the teaching old guard As something unprofessional not proper. By i960, she had become president of her still Small Union. In 1961 she took what has now become a permanent leave of absence As a teacher to build her Union. Her pay is $10,000 a year the same As a 12-year teacher with a master s degree plus an expense account. Energy that propels her through 14 to 18 hours Day resulted in 1964 in her Union s winning bar gaming rights Over the once predominant Detroit education association an affiliate of the National education association. Mrs. Riordan s federation got 62 per cent of the votes. She has a remarkable memory for names which permits her not Only to Greet members by name but to inquire about their school by name and even their children if any. Bea Mazer her administrative assistant say she has never seen mrs. Riordan ruffled that she remains Calm where others would crumple under the pressures. At least once however she has lost her coolant engaged in a shouting match with Michigan s Republican gov. George Romney. She accused him of ignoring school needs. He denied it and expressed resentment. She is a Democrat she lives with her Mother and drives a compact oar of a Vintage several years cluttered front seat leaves Little More than room for her. There is a stuffed and heavy Brief Case plus a pair of High heeled shoes and a bundle of Union propaganda. She switches from picket line Flats to the High heels for More formal events she keeps her age a secret but concedes that since she started teaching in the 40s that at least puts me in my 40s." if she has a major interest other than the Detroit federation of teach ers associates know nothing of More Carrie nation tactics today s Suffragette gentle crusader by Gay Pauley up women s editor today s woman crusades for causes but the world notices her less than her 19th Century sister because the 20th Century female goes about her causing less militantly. Women of fiery spirit such As Carriena Tion Susan b. Anthony Lucy Stone Lucretia Mott Jane Addams and emmeline Pankhurst earned their places in history with ardent campaigns for social political and Legal they faced arrest and Public castigation. But they did t Stop. It is no longer necessary to fight in the same Way says Elinor Rice Hays biographer of some of these Early reformers retake for granted what these women did the Freedom they won for us. But i Don t thin you can say women no longer crusade no longer have a social consciousness. It is just that now we Don t have to stick our neck out so women Are accomplishing they re in High positions. But we Don t have to use up our courage As those women asked to name some 20th Century women who were crusaders the author quickly ticked off the names of Eleanor Roosevelt a Reform Erin Many areas Rachel Carson the late scientist whose the silent Spring stirred a world tempest Over hazards of pesticides Constance Motley now a Federal judge but Early Lead Erin the Legal fight for desegregation of schools and mrs. Lyndon b. Johnson who has taken Ona crusade for a More Beautiful America of thers " a of r ways Kle wife of u s circuit Jussel aug k. Hays became interested in 19th Century women reformers in researching her biography of Lucy Stone. Miss Stone 1818-1893 fought unceasingly for the rights of women and the abolition of slavery. Lucy Stone had married Henry Blackwel member of a distinguished new York family mrs. Hays research on the Stone Book got Herto Reading up on the Blackwell family too now in her new those extraordinary Blackwells Harcourt Brace & world she traces the careers of five daughters and four sons of Samuel Blackwell who migrated from Bristol England in 1832. Perhaps the most famous of the daughters was Elizabeth who became the first woman doctor in the modern world and founded the new Yor infirmary for women and children. Her sister Emily followed her into the practice of medi Cine. Another Blackwell son Samuel married Antoinette Brown the first ordained woman minister in the United states. The whole family was Active in reshaping the world around them said biographer Hays today s world is no less challenging for women than it was a Century ago mrs. Hays said. It is the Arena that has changed. Now the problems Are peace the racial crisis air pol Lution the population explosion poverty it s taken for granted that women go out into the Job world that they go to College onto graduate school that the wife has Legal rights that a woman can achieve in the Man world and not have to be masculine to do it " she said. We be seen that we need All the brain Power around. I do think she added that the problem of Choice is a difficult one for women today marriage and family marriage and family an career career Only even 20 years ago women did t have As much to opt As they do today " lady Bird Johnson. Crusades for a More Beautiful America. Eleanor Roose velt. Her crusades were Many and lasted until the Day she died. T
