[Portrait broadside or poster]: Grace C. Strachan, the President of the Interborough Association of Women Teachers

Portrait poster tribute to Grace C. Strachan, the President of the Interborough Association of Women Teachers and the leader of the "Movement for Equal Pay" in New York City. Printed on heavy card stock and measuring 10.25" x 15.5". Near very good with some light soiling at the margins. Once mounted as some paper remnants are affixed to the verso, with a crack or split at the upper right corner; held together by one of the paper remnants. The poster features a portrait of Strachan positioned above a plaque dated 1912 with verses lauding her qualities. Strachan began her teaching career in Brooklyn in 1893 and was rapidly promoted until in 1900 she had become the Associate Superintendent of Schools. When the greater New York City school system was consolidated in 1900, she was selected to serve as a district superintendent. At the time, beginning women teachers were paid only $600 a year or about two-thirds that of a beginning male teacher ($900), and women's salaries topped out at $1,440 year or about 60% that of a male teacher ($2,400/year) with equivalent credentials and experience. In her new position, Strachan began campaigning for "Equal Pay for Equal Work" and eventually published a book with that title about the same time she became the President of the Interborough Association of Women Teachers (IAWT). As the association president she lobbied extensively for the cause, and was finally successful in the fall of 1911. This tribute poster was printed the following year. Interestingly, she may have become quite wealthy as a result of her campaign as *The New York Times reported that 90% of New York City's female teachers pledged to contribute their first month's salary increase - a total of over $200,000 - as a thank-you "endowment" to Strachan who, when questioned, did not definitively deny that she would accept such a gift, replying, "That is like asking a boy if he would refuse to be President of the United States. We can't grasp what is only in the air.".…