Women’s History Tour October 2022
Please also check the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail’s Jamaica Plain trail
Stop 1 - Maud Cuney Hare
1874-1936 Maud was a multi-talented genius: pianist, lecturer, composer, playwright, biographer, poetry editor, folklorist, musicologist, collector, and the founder and director of The Allied Arts Centre in Boston. As an African-American she helped integrate the dormitories at the New England Conservatory.
home at 43 Sheridan Street
“I refused to leave the dormitory, and because of this, was subjected to many petty indignities. I insisted upon proper treatment.”
Stop 2 - MARY E CURLEY
1882-1930 Mary exercised a strong, calming influence on her flamboyant husband Mayor James Michael Curley but stayed out of politics and the public sphere.
Mary E Curley School, 493 Centre Street
Stop 3 - MOTHER MARY JOSEPH ROGERS
1882- 1955 Mother Mary was the founder of the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic. The order was created in 1920. Mother Mary emphasized service to God through service to human beings and making sure the sisters were professionally prepared for their mission.
childhood home at 20 Robinwood Avenue
“I love the expression ‘the understanding of the heart’. It seems to me that understanding is the keynote of true love, just as misunderstanding is fertile soil for hatred.”
Stop 4 - Medical Pioneers
DR. SUSAN DIMOCK
1847-1875 Susan was among the first female doctors in the United States recognized as a surgeon. She was pioneering in her work at the New England Hospital for Women & Children (now known as the Dimock Center in her honor) in the years she was there. Tragically died at just 28 in a ship wreck.
buried at Forest Hills Cemetery (stop at Southern JP Health Center)
DR. MARIE ZAKRZEWSKA
“It was my determination to prove to the
profession, as well as the laity, that a
woman has not only the same (if not
more) physical endurance as a man,
while I thus created a good foundation
of respect for women physicians.”
1829-1902 Dr Zak immigrated from Germany seeing the opportunity to become a medical doctor in the United States. She founded the New England Hospital for Women & Children in 1862. Was also involved in suffrage movement and the New England Women’s Club and its many social efforts.
home at 5 Peter Parley Rd (stop at Southern JP Health Center)
Stop 5 - PAULINE AGASSIZ SHAW
1841-1917 Pauline was a social reformer who used her wealth to pay for a vast number of philanthropic efforts including: financing the first public kindergartens in America, lobbying for both prison reform and world peace, participating in the women’s suffrage movement and founding day nurseries and neighborhood houses (including the North Bennet Street School).
home on Perkins St by Jamaica Pond (stop at plaque on 753 Centre St)
“I had too much - you will all have too much - and it will require great effort with God’s help to determine to “give” rather than to “hold”, and to think deeply as you spend.”
Stop 6 - Suffragists
SUSAN WALKER FITZGERALD
1871-1943 Susan was very active in the woman’s suffrage movement. She was the first woman Democrat elected to the Massachusetts Legislature, serving one term as a Representative. After her political career, Susan became active in the international work of the General Alliance of Unitarian and Other Women.
Home at 7 Greenough Ave
“I was engaged to come here to push the civic side of activities. But I became convinced that women should
have the vote in order that things may be better in civic life.”
LUCY STONE
1818-1893 Lucy was a leader of the woman’s suffrage movement. Founder of the American Woman Suffrage Association and editor of the Women’s Journal. One of the first women in MA to receive a college degree, first woman to keep her name after marriage, first woman to be cremated in New England.
buried at Forest Hills Cemetery (stop at 7 Greenough Ave)
“We protest...against the whole system by which the legal existence of the wife is
suspended during marriage...so that she neither has a legal part in choice of her
residence, not can she make a will, nor sue or be sued in her own name nor inherit property.”
STOP 7 - EMILY GREENE BALCH
1867-1961 Emily won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for her work in the international peace movement (WILPF). She helped to found Denison House (Boston’s first settlement house), taught economics at Wellesley but eventually was fired for being too radical. She devoted the last 40 years of her life to working for international peace.
“I see no possibilities of social progress apart from fundamental changes on both the economic and the political side…..Peace is too small a word for this.”
home at 130 Prince Street (stop at First Church in Jamaica Plain)
Stop 8 - ELLEN SWALLOW RICHARDS
1842-1911 Ellen was the first women to graduate from MIT and then became first female professor there (in Chemistry). Set up the women’s laboratory at MIT and became the founder of the Home Economics movement. She pushed for testing of water & food, teaching women about sanitary conditions and food nutrition.
home at 32 Eliot Street
“The prosperity of a nation depends upon the health and morals of its citizens; and the health and morals of a people
depend mainly upon the food they eat and the homes they live in.”
Stop 9 - SYLVIA PLATH
1932-1963 Sylvia was a poet from an early age but she led a tumultuous life which was cut short at just age 30. Her novel The Bell Jar was published posthumously. Ariel - one of her poetry collections was the best selling collection of the 20th century.
birthplace at 29 Prince Street
Bonus - ELIZABETH MOLONEY
1873-1950. Elizabeth was appointed as the first Supervisor of Mother’s Aid for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a position she held until her retirement in 1943. This program is called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) today. She was active in the woman’s suffrage movement and a charter member of the League of Women Voters.
home at 49 Prince Street