Category: Women/Gender

CLIFFORD, CARRIE WILLIAMS, (Sept. 1862- 10 Nov. 1934) was a noted orator, poet, suffragist, and an activist for women and AFRICAN AMERICANS.

The CLYTEAN CLUB is a women’s book club that has met continuously since its founding in Cleveland in 1897. Its original name, The Twelve, reflected a membership cap of twelve people, while the name "Clytean” pays homage to the Greek myth of the nymph Clytie, who according to myth was transformed into a flower to always face the sun, which the club interpreted as an ongoing quest for knowledge.

The COLLEGE CLUB OF CLEVELAND, located at 2348 Overlook Road in CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, was founded in 1898 as a social, civic, educational, and philanthropic organization of and for women who had graduated from accredited colleges.

The CONDUCTORS' STRIKES OF 1918-1919 was a series of both threatened and actual labor strikes that pitted organized women – the female streetcar conductors’ union, the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL), and leading suffragists – against the powerful

COPE, BETTY (20 Dec. 1925 – 14 Sep. 2013), a Cleveland native, was a woman director in the male-dominated early days of television. She led the way to found WVIZ TV (Channel 25) and bring educational television to Northeast Ohio. She was the first woman to become the president and general manager of a major market TV station in the US.  

CORLETT, SELENE (13 Oct. 1864-8 Feb.1943) was a milliner and dressmaker who organized a training school which prepared 260 women to work in hospitals, factories, at the AMERICAN RED CROSS, CLE CHAPTER, and on streetcars during WORLD WAR I.

CORRIGAN, LAURA MAE (2 Jan. 1879-22 Jan. 1948), an international socialite, was born in Wisconsin, the daughter of Charles and Emma Whitrock. She married, then divorced, physician Duncan R. MacMartin in Chicago. In 1917 she married Jas. W. Corrigan, son of a founder of the Corrigan-McKinney Steel Co.

COTNER, MERCEDES R. (March 1905-29 Nov.

COYLE, GRACE LONGWELL (22 March 1892-8 March 1962), sociologist, author, and educator, specialized in social reform through group activity while professor at the School of Applied Sciences of Western Reserve University (WRU, later CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY) for almost 30 years.

CUTTER, ANNIE SPENCER (20 Feb. 1877-26 Mar. 1957), teacher and librarian, extended CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY services to junior and senior high schools throughout the city. Cutter was born in Cleveland to Charles Long and Annie Spencer Cutter. She grew up on Woodland Ave. and attended CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL.

CZELUSNIAK, MARY ELLEN (14 Oct. 1935 - 23 Sep. 2020) was a proud deaf woman who ministered to the Catholic hearing impaired community of Cleveland. One of three siblings, Czelusniak was born to Edward Martin and Catherine McDonnell Kenneley.

DEIKE, CLARA L. (1881-13 March 1964) was a distinguished Cleveland artist and art teacher. Born in Detroit, Mich., she came to Cleveland as a child to receive her education at CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, the Cleveland Normal Training School, and the Cleveland School of Art (see CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART).

DEVINE, MARGARET CRILE GARRETSON (2 Feb. 1901-17 Jan. 1993), civic leader, helped train WOMEN to work in war plants during WORLD WAR II. Devine was born in Cleveland, the 1st child and oldest daughter of Grace McBride and GEORGE W. CRILE, SR.

DEWALD, LOUISE (3 Nov. 1877-12 Oct. 1954) was, for many years, the highest-ranking woman in Cleveland's city government. She rose through the department ranks to become Commissioner of Cemeteries (1925-42), possibly the only woman cemetery commissioner in the U.S. Daughter of William and Catherine (Klump) Dewald, she was a Cleveland native and public school graduate.

DIXON, ARDELIA BRADLEY (3 June 1916-16 Oct. 1991) served on the CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY (CPL) board of trustees (1980-88), as chair of both the personnel and community services committees and as secretary.

The DOMESTIC WORKERS OF AMERICA were organized in Cleveland in 1965 as a nonprofit association to study and respond to the workers' personal, economic, and social needs. It was the first successful attempt to organize noncommercial domestic workers in the country and operated as an employment referral service for area day workers.

EASTMAN, LINDA ANNE  (7 July 1867-5 Apr. 1963) became in 1918 the first woman in the United States to head a metropolitan library system. She oversaw the construction of the main library on Superior Avenue in the 1920s and led the system through the darkest days of the Depression.   

ELLSLER, EFFIE (4 Apr. 1854-8 Oct. 1942), a member of the famous Ellsler theatrical family and known as "Cleveland's Sweetheart" from the 1870s to 1900s, learned to perfect the art of emotional distress and extravagant gesture so popular during the pre-Ibsen period of stage and screen.

EVANS, DINA REES (DOC) (19 June 1891-20 Jan.

FAIRFAX, FLORENCE BUNDY (24 Dec. 1907-6 Mar. 1970), a long-time AFRICAN AMERICAN employee of the city's Recreation Dept., who became assistant commissioner of recreation in 1966, was born in Cleveland to George and Florence (Wilson) Bundy.

FARMER, MERIBAH BUTLER (14 July 1805-4 April 1898) was a Quaker minister and philanthropist who, together with her husband, JAMES FARMER, helped found Cleveland's original evangelical Quakers organization and the First Friends Church.

The FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS OF GREATER CLEVELAND was a voluntary nonprofit, nonpolitical, nonsectarian association made up of the leaders of Cleveland's women's clubs. The Federation was supported by membership dues and contributions.

The FEMALE PROTECTIVE UNION was a labor union organized in Cleveland in late 1850. The union, which had features of a mutual-aid society, was formed by about 50 sewing women to combat long hours, low wages, and merchants who refused to accept payment on orders at face value.

FEMINISTS FOR LIFE, OHIO CHAPTER, was founded in 1989 to promote gender equality for women but oppose such things as abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty. The organization is also concerned with issues such as family leave, child care, sexual harassment, and abuse. The organization's most significant accomplishment has been the initiation of "common ground" discussion with pro-choice groups.