Haley, Margaret

Helen C. Sobehart

Born in Illinois, Margaret Haley (1861–1939) fought for educational reform, especially teacher unionization and women's rights. Influenced by her Irish immigrant parents, including her father's active involvement in several labor organizations, she began to teach even before she graduated from school. She foreshadowed her future career when she told her school superintendent that she wanted a $5.00 raise or she would quit. She did not get the raise. She quit, yet she said in her autobiography that she hadn't wanted to fight—only to achieve the result. John Dewey influenced her beliefs about active learning in conducive settings, yet she felt that elementary teachers, mainly female, were treated as factory hands. She had to teach ...

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