A little history, in honour of Labour Day:

Kate Kennedy, born May 31, 1827, sailed from her native Ireland, with one of her sisters and brother, to America in 1849, where she and her sister began working in New York City's garment district. The rest of the family, mother and three more sisters, arrived in 1851.

Drawn by tales of wealth and opportunity in California, the entire Kennedy clan moved to San Francisco. Kate began her thirty-year teaching career in the San Francisco school system and gained a reputation as a superior teacher. In 1867 she was appointed principal of the North Cosmopolitan Grammar School, but because she was a woman her salary did not reflect her promotion. She began an "equal pay for equal work" campaign that concluded in 1874 when the state legis- lature passed a bill that stated, "females employed as teachers in the public schools of the State shall in all cases receive the same compensation as is allowed male teachers for like services when holding the same grade certificate."

As a result of the years she had spent in the New York sweatshop, Kate had strong pro-labor beliefs. She joined the Knights of Labor and the Land Reform League and participated in labor strikes. In 1886 she was nominated state superintendent of public instruction at a labor party convention. However, school officials could not tolerate her political activities, and she was demoted to a smaller school with a lower salary. She was dismissed altogether when she refused the transfer. She waged a three-year battle against the school board, finally winning in 1890 when the State Supreme Court wrote an opinion regarding teacher tenure. By then, how- ever, her spirit and health were broken and she died a few months after the court decision. In 1911 the Kate Kennedy Schoolwomen's Club was founded to further teachers' rights, and a San Francisco school was named in her honor.

from Women's Words, Women's Stories: An American Daybook edited & compiled by Lois Stiles Edgerly ©1994