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Join us for a presentation:
“Labor, Suffrage, and Social Justice: Cynthelia Knefler’s Contribution to Our St. Louis History”
Sunday, April 7, 2024 – 1:00 – 2:30 pm
Presented by: Rosemary Feurer
Hosted by the Electrical Workers Historical Society at:
IBEW Museum; Henry Miller Museum
2726-28 Martin Luther King Drive, St. Louis MO 63106
- Did you know?
Cynthelia Knefler’s father was a member of the United Mine Workers of America, and she was involved in social work in St. Louis in the early 1900s. - In 1907 Knefler and Hannah Hennessey, a local garment worker, created the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) of St. Louis.
- Cynthelia also served as auditor in the St. Louis Equal Suffrage League and was able to utilize her positions in both organizations to create overlap between the labor and women’s suffrage movements.
- Cynthelia Knefler recently has been added to the National Votes for WOmen Trail, honoring lesser-known suffragists.
Come view the exhibit before or after the talk. The IBEW Building will be open from noon until 4 p.m. (https://nbew-ibewmuseum.org/index.php)
Our Presenter: Rosemary Feurer is a history professor at Northern Illinois University and the author of Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950 and the St. Louis Labor History Tour, among other books and articles (https://niu.edu/clas/history/about/faculty/feurer.shtml ). Rosemary previously curated the exhibit “Dangerous Women,” featuring Mother Jones and Fanny Sellins at the St. Louis Public Library in 2022. This exhibit has been recreated at the IBEW Museum.
There is no cost to attend this event. Light refreshments will be served.
Sponsored by: AAUW St. Louis
Supported by: AAUW of Missouri; League of Women Voters Metro St. Louis
For questions, contact Ellen Irons at ironnew82@gmail.com.
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Join us in Celebrating the 200th Birthday of Virginia Minor!!
What: Mayor of St. Louis Proclamation Signing and Cake Cutting Ceremony
200th Birthday of Virginia Minor (b. Mar 27, 1924)
Where: in St. Louis City Hall, 1200 Market St., 63103, Room 200, the lobby to the Mayor’s office.
When: Wednesday, March 27, 2024, 1:00pm
Who: Anyone who is able to join us! Contact Jan Scott with any questions and to let her know if you are coming (jan@stlwomenonthemove.com)
Organized by the Mayor’s Office, AAUW, and Metro St. Louis League of Women Voters
- Virginia was the founding president of the Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri.
- When Virginia attempted to register to vote in 1878, contending that as a citizen of the U.S., the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed her right to vote, she was rejected.
- Virginia sued the registrar Reese Happersett, and the case went to the Missouri State Supreme Court, ultimately reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. Her Supreme Court Case lost.
- Virginia’s loss at the Supreme Court led to a shift in strategy to obtain suffrage through a constitutional amendment.
- Minor continued to fight for women’s suffrage for the rest of her life, serving as president of the Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri for many years. At the time of her death in 1894, she was serving as vice president of the state association.
- In December 2013 Minor was announced as an inductee to the Hall of Famous Missourians. Her bronze bust was unveiled in 2014 as one of fortyfour on permanent display in the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City.
- Minor was named an honoree of the National Women’s History Alliance in 2020.
- A plaque at the site of her St. Louis home on Olive Street was dedicated in 2022 through the National Votes for Women Trail project.
- See link for more info on Virginia Minor’s background: https://www.wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/virginia-minor/
- Virginia Minor – SHSMO Historic Missourians
- Virginia Minor and Women’s Right to Vote – Gateway Arch National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
- Virginia Minor – Wikipedia
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The Black Suffragist and the Harlem Hellfighter
A play written by St. Louis Branch Member Sheila Bassoppo-Moyo
Reader’s Theatre Performance
10:00 am, Friday, February 16, 2024
YMCA O’Fallon Park Recreation Complex
4343 West Florissant Blvd, St. Louis, MO, 63115
This play is about Victoria Clay Haley, a Sumner High School graduate, suffragist, and president of the Federated Colored Women’s Clubs of St. Louis, and Sergeant Henry Johnson, the first African American to win the Croix de Guerre medal in France for acts of heroism during World War I. What happens to them in St. Louis in the early 1900s?
The Active Older Adults, The YMCA O’Fallon Park Rec Complex, and The St. Louis Area Agency on Aging
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Women typically are paid less than 80 percent of 
what men are paid – less for women of color. Use AAUW’s free Work Smart online workshop (https://salary.aauw.org/) to learn how to ask for more.
We break through barriers for women and girls!
The American Association of University Women (AAUW), founded in 1881, is an organization of more than 170,000 members and supporters, open to graduates who hold the associate, baccalaureate, or higher degree from a qualified college or university. The St. Louis Branch, founded in 1893, is one of five branches in the St. Louis area. Other branches may be found at https://stlouis-ibc.aauw.net/
AAUW’s mission is to advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy.
Branch Meetings
Members were getting together on the second Tuesday each month to discuss plans and possible projects for the branch. These meetings were held at 5:30 p.m. at The Pasta House on Delmar at Bonhomme in University City. However, during Covid-19 restrictions, we meet via Zoom. Our meetings are not regular and are based on particular projects and events. President Ellen Irons has been issuing e-mail notices to members. Please join us. We welcome ideas for activities and events. If you have a recommendation for a different meeting place, please let us know.
To see what our branch has been doing, click on About Us > Newsletters
and Programs and Events.
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AAUW St. Louis has a movie group. Members watch a designated movie and then discuss it via Zoom on the 4th Monday of the month. All but one of our movies have been available on Netflix (in case you want to see some good movies): My Octopus Teacher, The Social Dilemma, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Dig, Penguin Bloom, The Trial of the Chicago Seven, Audrey, Philomena, The Zookeeper’s Wife, The Best of Enemies, Radium Girls, Thousand Pieces of Gold, Te Ata, and The Guernsey Literary, Potato Peel Pie Society and more. We range from 5 to 9 members participating. All are welcome!
Visit our Facebook page: AAUW St. Louis Branch | Facebook