pregnancy

Mrs. Lora Wagner was a married New York City teacher who protested the New York City policy of suspending teachers who became mothers. She gave birth just 13 hours after leaving the classroom; while still recovering, she wrote to the mayor, asking him to direct the Board of Education to change their policies about teachers and maternity leave. See: Patricia Carter, "Becoming the 'New Women': the Equal Rights Campaigns of New York City Schoolteachers, 1900-1920," in Richard Altenbaugh, ed., The Teacher's Voice: A Social History of Teaching in Twentieth-Century America (Psychology Press 1992): 54.

See NYT of November 12, 1914, select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00612FD3C5C1373... "The Board of Education for fully two hours and a half yesterday afternoon wrestled with the case of Mrs. Lora M. Wagner, the teacher-mother in the Curtis High School. First, it decided by a vote of 25 to 8 against the report of its Committee on High Schools granting her a leave of absence from Nov. 3, 1914, to Sept. 10, 1915, for the purpose of rearing her child. .... "

Thanks to both of you for the information and citations. Fascinating! We'll add some information to the description when we update.

Accompanying note: "Varied treatment and types of services are offered patients at Florida A&M University Hospital here, the largest Negro hospital in this part of the state... it fulfills its function of providing for the health needs of the people of Leon and many surrounding counties."

"Miss" Chase – an unwed mother? Rather controversial for the time, don't you think?

Well, thats actually quite scary.

Nepomock Yeah: I remember, waaay back in the early 1990's, Someone tried to market a Barbie-sized doll that was pregnant. Her name was "Judith." There was a pressure plate in the stomach area where the baby was "stored" until the "birth". When the baby was removed, the plate popped back into place as a normal-looking abdomen. She was made by a European toy company, but as you might imagine, parenting groups in the USA were LIVID !! Just do an eBay search for "Pregnant Barbie" and all sorts of weird contraptions will come up…