Sylvia McDowell
is published by the
Boston Women’s Heritage Trail
22 Holbrook Street
Boston, MA 02130
617-522-2872
howsmoyer@aol.com
www.bwht.org
Board of Directors
President: Mary Howland Smoyer
Vice President: Sylvia McDowell
Secretary: Jean Gibran
Treasurer: Gretchen O ’Neill
Meg Campbell
Liane Curtis
Jennifer Grant
Charlotte Harris
Vera Johnson
Diana Lam
Barbara Locurto
Maria de los Angeles Montes
Beverly Morgan-Welch
Patricia Sarango
Lisa Simpson
Elaine Taber
Marie A.Turley
Susan Wilson
Advisory Board
Barbara Clark Elam
Carol Geyer
Polly Welts Kaufman
Loretta Roach
Nan Stein
Joyce Stevens
Stephanie Wong-Fan
Consultant
Bonnie Hurd Smith
The Boston Women’s Heritage Trail is a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 as a program of the Boston Public Schools.Through educational programs,publications, and outreach initiatives,the BWHT is dedicated to weaving the lives and work of women back into the story of the City of Boston. We are available for research assistance, speaking engagements, and to collaborate on programs and projects.
Editor: Mary Smoyer
Design: Bonnie Hurd Smith
Logo design: Ginny O ’Neil
As
a board member of the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail since 1992, I have always
been pleased to dovetail Trail work with my work at the Schlesinger Library
on the History of Women in America. The historical record deals prima- rily
with the dead (although living women continue to make history.) Working
with the Trail certainly creates living history for me. The song “On the
Street Where You Live ”has tremendous meaning to me. I am very conscious
of street ad- dresses. A friend of mine moved to a building across the street
from where Sarah Whitman Wyman lived and down the street from the Rose Nichols
House. Each time I visit my friend, I sort of expect those women to materialize,
and I am strongly aware of their experiences and accomplishments. Recently, in representing the Trail board, I had the opportunity to meet with Prof.Lee Lorch, a retired professor of mathematics of York University of Toronto. He is campaigning for recognition of his wife’s role in defeating the local law prohibiting married women from teaching. The inclusion of Grace Lonergan Lorch’s name in the BWHT Guide led him to ask for the Trail’s support.
It was the early 1940s. The United States began its involvement in World War II and young people were hurriedly being married before their new husbands were “shipped out ”as servicemen.When Grace Lonergan, a teacher at the Thompson School here in Boston, and Lee Lonergan were married, she was told to resign from her job. During weekends, Lee would return to Boston to prepare her legal protest and defense, which was successful.While she was not given a permanent assignment, she was permitted to teach as a substitute.
But that is not the end of the story. Mrs.Lorch continued to work in Boston as an activist in political organizations and unions. During the course of their marriage, the Lorches were active in a number of civil rights situations, which caused the loss of a number of teaching positions for him. In 1959, they were forced to relocate to Canada because of blacklisting.
Mrs.Lorch is noted nationally for her role in Little Rock, Arkansas, September 1957. On the first day of the desegregation crisis at Central High School, she helped extract Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, from the angry white mob. At the time, Prof.Lorch was teaching at a small black college in Little Rock. After Mrs.Lorch’s actions, funding of the college was placed in jeopardy, so Prof. Lorch was forced out.
Grace Lorch died in 1974, but Prof. Lorch has continued to work to have her accomplishments in educational policy recognized publicly here in Boston. My wish is that young people particularly would share my enthusiasm for those who make history. Many are and were ordinary people whose seemingly trivial actions were meaningful to others. I found a new heroine in the Lorch story, and there are many, many others out there to be uncovered.
 
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