JANESVILLE 鈥 Helen Menzies Sutherland鈥檚 election to the Janesville School Board in April 1920 couldn鈥檛 have come at a more historic moment for American women.
Janesville High School under construction. It was completed in 1923.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
Less than a year earlier, in June 1919, Wisconsin had ratified the 19th amendment to the U.S. constitution, giving women in the state the right to vote. Other states were slower than Wisconsin to ratify the 19th amendment, but it was finally officially added to the U.S. Constitution in June 1920, guaranteeing suffrage for women nationwide.
The race between Sutherland and incumbent J.T. Hooper for an at-large seat on the school board drew unprecedented turnout, the Janesville 免费看操逼视频的软件 reported, with Sutherland ultimately winning by an almost 2-to-1 margin.
'She carried every ward'
Helen Menzies Sutherland as a young woman.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
鈥淪he carried every ward, not just with the women but with the men as well,鈥 the 免费看操逼视频的软件 reported.
In a campaign ad in the 免费看操逼视频的软件, Sutherland had said she was 鈥済reatly interested in our public schools and am ready to do what is in my power for their good.鈥
First woman school board president聽
Historical accounts differ on whether Sutherland was the first woman to serve on the school board. Some accounts published at the time, and others written years later, hail her as the board鈥檚 first woman member. Others reserve that honor for Janet Day, saying she had served on the board more than a decade earlier.
What no one appears to dispute is that Sutherland was the first woman to serve as president of the Janesville School Board. She assumed that role in May 1923, three years into what would ultimately be a decade-long tenure on the school board.
1898 Janesville graduate
Sutherland, an 1898 Janesville High School graduate, the mother of two and the wife of a prominent Janesville doctor, had by 1920 been long active in local social and civic affairs, as was her husband, Fred Sutherland. He was also a Janesville High School graduate, was from a family of prominent local doctors and at one time served as president of Mercy Hospital. Fred Sutherland was also active in the local Masonic lodge.
Janesville High School.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
According to her obituary published in 免费看操逼视频的软件 when she passed away in 1967, Helen Sutherland was a charter member of three organizations, all still in existence today: the Rock County Historical Society, the Milton Historical Society and the Janesville YWCA. She was also a member of First Con- gregational Church, the Janesville Woman鈥檚 Club, Janesville History Club, Janesville Art League, Janesville Country Club, Janesville Concert Association, the Red Cross and the MacDowell Music Club.
She was, as well, known locally for breaking norms.
As a young wife early in the 20th Century, when motorized cars were new, it was scandalously whispered that she was driving herself around Janesville, historical accounts say. She brushed off those who called such behavior unladylike.
As she grew older, it鈥檚 said, she kept driving herself, unworried about what people thought.
Janesville schools聽
The Janesville schools were a particular passion for Helen Sutherland.
She was one of the founders and an early president of the Parent Teacher Association at Grant School in Janesville and that involvement appears to have fueled her 1920 school board campaign.
鈥淭he results yesterday surely indicate that we started something and that we were not alone in our wish to have the mothers in the city represented on the school board,鈥 her friend, F.H. Jackman wrote in a note to her dated April 7, 1920, the day after Sutherland鈥檚 election.
Sutherland also appears to have won the 1920 election in part due to her work to make a new high school building on South Main Street a reality.
Helen Menzies graduated from Janesville High School in 1898.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
免费看操逼视频的软件 noted she was 鈥渙ne of the leading figures which directed the campaign to put over the bond issue,鈥 for the new high school that would open in early 1923. That building, which later became Marshall Middle School, still stands today as the Marshall Apartments and the home of the Janesville Performing Arts Center.
免费看操逼视频的软件, in an editorial in May 1923, called her selection as school board president 鈥渁nother step towards full recognition of the place women now hold in governmental functions of a community. It is also recognition of the highly efficient work and constant effort by Mrs. Sutherland for school upbuilding and betterment in Janesville.鈥
The certification of Helen Sutherland鈥檚 1920 election to the Janesville School Board.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
Just four days after assuming the school board presidency, Sutherland had the honor of presiding over a special moment in Janesville school history.
She led the first commencement exercises to be held at Janesville鈥檚 new high school, presenting diplomas to 88 members of the Janesville Class of 1923. The graduation ceremony was held in the high school鈥檚 auditorium, on a stage still in use today by the Janesville Performing Arts Center.
Among her first tasks as school board president was the creation of a new committee 鈥渢o care for granting use of the high school auditorium.鈥
Sutherland鈥檚 daughter, Jean, a high school sophomore at the time, addressed the 1923 graduates, after winning an essay contest on the theme of 鈥淲hat the new high school means to Janesville.鈥
鈥淭he stronger the educational and religious influences of a nation are, the more patriotic and law-abiding the citizens will be. Few people build homes many miles away from schools and churches because civilization never progresses where these two organizations are absent,鈥 wrote Jean Sullivan, who would later marry a New York pastor and relocate to that state.
Helen Menzies as a young girl.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
鈥淲ith the knowledge of this necessity, the people of Janesville have contributed so liberally that we now have the most beautiful high school building in the state of Wisconsin,鈥 Jean Sutherland continued. 鈥淪ince Janesville has made this school a reality, what will the high school give to Janesville in return? It will give a reputation of being an educational center which is of great value to any city. It will draw to Janesville people who are interested in the best.鈥
The following year, in an address to the Janesville High School class of 1924, Helen Sutherland reflected on a similar theme.
The certification of Helen Sutherland鈥檚 1922 election to the Janesville School Board.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
According to coverage of the 1924 graduation ceremony by the 免费看操逼视频的软件, she said "the function of the school is the development of good citizens who understand the moral code on which laws are based.鈥
A 1926 hand-drawn political cartoon as Helen Sutherland was seeking re-election to the Janesville School Board.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
鈥淭his place is a community in itself,鈥 the newspaper reported Sutherland as saying, of the high school. 鈥淚t has its own government, its own bank, and its many societies and clubs. In this way the pupils learn to become good citizens before they leave.鈥
Issues before the school board during Sutherland鈥檚 tenure included whether local public school teachers should be allowed to comment on local politics.
Helen Menzies Sutherland as a young woman.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
In 1926, school board member F. A. Taylor sought to limit what teachers could say politically.
First Congregational Church in Janesville.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
Taylor鈥檚 resolution, as reported by the 免费看操逼视频的软件, stated that 鈥減olitical activity of the faculty-teachers of the public schools has advanced to a point where the efficiency, welfare and morale of the schools are jeopardized, and continuance of such political meddling is repugnant to the high school principal of education.鈥
The school board pushed off approval of his resolution, seeking modifications, and it鈥檚 not clear whether it ever came back for consideration.
In 1926, Sutherland was among the school board members who pushed successfully for further investment in the acoustics in the high school auditorium. And that year she also worked to ensure fire escapes were installed at Janesville school buildings.
The Janesville Country & Golf Club.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
In 1926, she narrowly beat out another woman candidate, Grace Mouat, to win a school board seat representing the city鈥檚 sixth ward. That race drew 鈥渃onsiderable attention particularly because of the fact that both candidates were women,鈥 the 免费看操逼视频的软件 reported, noting that in the sixth ward, the number of ballots cast was nearly double from the previous year.
A third woman on the ballot that spring, Ruth Jeffris, won an uncontested at-large seat.
Opportunity rooms
Helen Menzies Sutherland as a young woman.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
In her time on the school board, another of Sutherland鈥檚 accomplishments was the creation of opportunity rooms for elementary students with special needs, according to historical accounts. Children who had previously been mixed into regular classrooms now had a dedicated space where their individual needs could be met. It was the start of special education in Janesville.
Helen Menzies Sutherland had been born Helen Douglas Menzies in the town of Harmony in Rock County on Oct. 17, 1878. Her parents were Scottish immigrants Jessie and James Menzies.
She taught in a rural school after high school graduation, and didn鈥檛 go to college
She was a member of Rock Prairie United Presbyterian Church until her marriage to Fred Sutherland on Sept. 2, 1905, when she joined First Congregational Church in Janesville, according to her obituary published in 免费看操逼视频的软件.
Janesville High School.
Courtesy Rock County Historical Society
Her home address, as listed on election ballots and on other official documents changed several time over the years to include 331 N. Washington St., 118 S. Atwood Ave. and 219 Jackman St.
She died May 20, 1967, at the age of 88, at the home of her daughter, Jean, and son in law in New York City.
Her husband, Fred Sutherland, had died in 1937 in Janesville. Their son, Fred, a painter by trade, had died in 1947, at age 35, also in Janesville.
