Women’s History Month - Los Angeles Women Pioneers
by Pebbla Wallace, LACHS Board Member
Today’s women have made great strides in American History. But for years women were restricted from voting, signing legal documents, owning property, participating in contracts and lawsuits, retaining their salaries, or even inheriting independently from their husbands. In fact, until around 1850 most women’s legal rights were under the protection and authority of their husbands.
Women were also restricted in what profession they could pursue. Today, when you walk through the halls of any government building in Los Angeles, you will see women working in most all professions. But this has not always been the case. Before the 20th century women were rarely seen working in any government or legislative position. There were barriers that kept women from achieving their goal of pursuing various professional careers – especially in the legal field. Many occupations for women were limited to garment factories, laundry, and domestic service for richer households.
The following women and stories illustrate how far women have come - and how much further they need to go.
Clara Shortridge Foltz
Photo Credit: Security Pacific Nat’l. Bank Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
CLARA SHORTRIDGE FOLTZ – BARRIER BREAKER
Many of you may have heard the name Clara Shortridge Foltz as the name of the Criminal Courthouse building located downtown on Temple and Spring. Or maybe you have heard her name as the first female lawyer in California. But many may not know her importance as a barrier breaker for women and her fight for Women’s Rights in California and the United States.
Clara Shortridge Foltz’s original motivation for being an attorney was not to make headlines, making a statement, or even making a name for herself. It was simply to make a living and make sure her children were cared for.
Her story begins at her place of birth in Milton, Indiana. Her family later moved to Iowa where she eloped and married Jeremiah Foltz in 1864 when she was only 15 and eventually moved to San Jose. After living in San Jose for a period, her husband took what money they had and went to Portland claiming to look for work (he deserted her and the children). Clara was stuck in San Jose raising 5 children. While she tried to make a living doing “woman’s work” - sewing, cleaning, taking in boarders, it just wasn’t enough. Her decision to become a lawyer was influenced by her father who was a lawyer and preacher. She loved the law, and she thought it would be a good profession to help make a living. But every time she tried to pursue a career in law, a door hit her in the face…
Caroline Severance
Photo Credit: Security Pacific Nat’l. Bank Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
CAROLINE SEVERANCE – Suffragist, abolitionist, and Pioneer of the Women’s Club
Caroline Severance was born in New York in 1820. She married Theodoric Severance a banker and abolitionist. The couple and their children lived in Cleveland for a short time where they formed an independent Christian church whose members were abolitionists, and their home became a meeting place.
In 1875 Caroline and her family moved to Los Angeles where she had a major influence on the city’s social and political issues. She was called the “Mother of Clubs” because of the many clubs she established throughout the city. For example, in 1878 she founded the first Los Angeles Women’s Club – activities included Women’s Rights, Suffrage, historic preservation, and world peace. In 1881 she established the Friday Morning Club (one of the most powerful clubs in Los Angeles) which established a lending library, employment service, along with advocating cultural, social, and civic changes in the city. She also advocated and established a free kindergarten in the Los Angeles school system; founded the first Neighborhood Book Club; the Orphan’s Home Society; Horticultural Society; and helped establish the Los Angeles Public Library.
In 1900 the Los Angeles County Woman Suffrage League was reorganized with Caroline as the new president. Later when California achieved the right to vote in 1911, Caroline was featured in every Los Angeles newspaper (at the age of ninety-one) as one of the pioneer women who fought for suffrage for over sixty years.
Severance died in 1914 at the age of 94. But throughout the city, she was always referred to as Madam Severance as a term of endearment and for her prestigious position as one of the most powerful women in Los Angeles.
Charlotta A. Bass (1952)
Photo: Shades of Los Angeles Collection / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass – First African American Newspaper Woman
Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass – Was the first woman to own and operate a newspaper in Los Angeles. She was also the first African American woman to own and operate a newspaper in California and the United States. She published the California Eagle in Los Angeles from 1912 until 1951.
Charlotta was born in South Carolina in 1874. In 1910 she moved to Los Angeles where she worked for the California Eagle by selling subscriptions of the newspaper. When the owner of the paper died in 1912, Charlotta took over as Editor and later as the owner when she purchased the paper at auction for fifty dollars. Besides containing various news stories, the paper’s original concept was to assist new migrants in Los Angeles with housing, jobs (especially those African Americans fleeing the deep south). Charlotta’s husband, Joseph Bass, was later named the editor until his death in 1934.
Charlotta was also a political activist in Los Angeles in the 1940s, promoting multiethnic politics and civil rights among, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Mexican Americans. Charlotta died in 1969 at the age of 95.
Harriet Williams Russell Strong (1921)
Photo: Public Domain
Harriet Strong – Conservationist and Inventor
Harriet Williams Russell Strong was born in Buffalo New York in 1844. In 1861 Harriet moved to Carson City, Nevada where she later met and married her husband Charles Lyman Strong who made his fortune in banking, publishing, and mining. Her husband and daughters later moved to the Los Angeles area. After several failed investments and major debt, Harriet’s husband took his life. Left with the debt of her husband, and four children to care for, Harriet began to cultivate walnuts. She found that walnut groves needed constant moisture to grow, so she designed an irrigation system. This irrigation system eventually led her to advocate for water policies to help in controlling the floodwaters and assist in the water shortage in Los Angeles. In 1887 she was granted a patent for her invention of a series of dams and reservoirs (eventually she patented 5 inventions). In 1894 she was granted another patent for designing a new method of removing debris and storing water. At the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, she was awarded two medals for her inventions. In 1917 she appeared before Congress to advocate for her idea of constructing a series of dams to store floodwaters.
Along with Harriet’s many inventions, she was an advocate of Women’s Rights and traveled throughout California speaking for Women’s Suffrage, education, and economic security. She was also the first female member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and their Legislative Committee; the vice president of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra Association; founder of Ebell of Los Angeles; a delegate to the annual convention of the United States Chamber of Commerce – the first woman to attend the convention in 1918 (representing both Los Angeles and Whittier). Harriet died in 1926 at the age of 82. Her inventions of a series of dams and water storage presented to Congress were instrumental in the construction of the Hoover dam years later.
Christine Sterling (1929)
Photo: Herald Examiner Collection / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Christine Sterling – The Mother of Olvera Street
Although Christine Sterling was born in Oakland California in 1881, she was known as the Mother of Olvera Street. She moved to Los Angeles in 1920 with her husband Jerome Hough – where he later abandoned her and their two children. In 1926 she changed her name to Sterling and started on a quest of renovating El Pueblo de Los Angeles (Olvera Street). She began to petition city leaders for their assistance in renovating this important cultural site and raised money for its rehabilitation. This included hosting various fundraisers and accepting donations from the owner of the Los Angeles Times, Harry Chandler and several other donors. The Los Angeles Chief of Police Charlie “Two-Gun” Davis volunteered prison labor for the reconstruction. On Easter Sunday 1930, Olivera Street opened to the public. She was also responsible for the preservation of Chinatown (the original Chinatown was demolished to construct Union Station). Christine died in 1963 at the age of 82.
Biddy Mason
Photo: Security Pacific National Bank Collection / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Biddy Mason – More than Just a Los Angeles Pioneer
Although Biddy Mason may have died in 1891, many Angeleno’s may only recognize her name as one of the first African American pioneers to own land and real estate in downtown Los Angeles. Or they may only recognize the name as the founder of Los Angeles’ First African Methodist Episcopal Church (First A.M.E.), the oldest African American congregation in Los Angeles. But what many may not be aware of - is that none of this would have been possible if not for an important court case in 1856 in which Biddy set a legal precedent in California courts for future enslaved African Americans in California.
Aurora Castillo
Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize
Aurora Castillo – Community Activist, Environmentalist, Mother of East Los Angeles
Aurora Castillo was born in Arizona in 1914 and later moved to East Los Angeles in the 1920s. Even though she comes from one of Los Angeles’ pioneer families and is the great-great-granddaughter of Augustin Pedro Olvera (which Olvera Street is named after), she will always be known as the Mother of East Los Angeles.
Her story first begins in 1980 when the Governor of California decided to build a prison in East Los Angeles (several prisons were already in her community). Aurora and a group of women from Resurrection Church began to organize a coalition against the prison – the community called them the Mothers of East Los Angeles (MELA), and the name stuck. MELA along with other community groups formed demonstrations against the building of the prisons.
She organized volunteers for monthly meetings, weekly demonstrations, and rallies protesting the prison. Aurora and her MELA group were also known to pack public hearings with her volunteers. On one particular event, Aurora and over 200 volunteers traveled to the Capitol steps in Sacramento to confront the governor. Another demonstration was held on the Olympic Boulevard bridge in which hundreds of mothers marched up and down Olympic Boulevard bridge protesting the building of the prison. Their persistence was recognized in 1992 when the prison was relocated elsewhere.
Aurora and MELA were dedicated to the protection of their community from other harmful projects. They have been able to prevent the construction of a hazardous waste treatment plant built near an East Los Angeles high school; they had a company’s permits revoked for improper storage of hazardous waste and have prevented a variety of other environmental issues in their community.
In 1995, Aurora received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize (equated to a Nobel Prize for environmental heroes). She is the first Angeleno, first Latina, and oldest person to receive this award. Aurora died in 1998.
Dorothy Buffum Chandler
Photo: Security Pacific National Bank Collection / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Dorothy Chandler
Dorothy was born in Lafayette, Illinois in 1901. Her family moved to the Long Beach area in 1904. She later attended Stanford University and met and later married Norman Chandler (publishing family of the Los Angeles Times). In the 1950s, when the Hollywood Bowl was closed due to finances, Dorothy organized a variety of fundraisers that help re-open it. She also served as the president of the Southern California Symphony Association; regent of the University of California and was director of Times Mirror’s parent company (1955-73). It was in 1955 that Dorothy funded the construction of a performing arts and music center in Los Angeles which first opened its doors in 1964. Later, in 1967 the entire complex was complete which included the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Mark Taper Forum, and the Ahmanson Theatre.
In 1985 she was awarded a National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts. She died in 1997.