Wikipedia

Jessie Gray (educator)

Jessie Gray (June 2, 1876 – May 29, 1948) was a British-born American educator. She was elected president of the National Education Association in 1933, and in 1925 became the first woman president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

Jessie Gray
A white woman with dark hair, wearing glasses and a string of beads over a dark top with a scooped neckline.
Jessie Gray, from a 1925 publication
BornJune 2, 1876
London, U.K.
DiedMay 29, 1948 (aged 71)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationEducator
This article is about the American teacher born in 1876; for the Canadian surgeon born in 1910, see Jessie Gray; for the British activist born in 1854, see Jesse Clement Gray; for the American politician born in 1923, see Jesse Gray; for the American professor born in 1913, see Jesse Glenn Gray.

Early life and education edit

Gray was born in London,[1] one of the eight children of Alfred Gray and Sarah Jane Percy Gray.[2] Her parents were from Dorset. She moved to the United States as a child in 1881. She graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls, and the Philadelphia Normal School.[3]

Career edit

From 1896 to 1914, Gray was a primary school teacher in Philadelphia. From 1914 to 1942, she was a training teacher at the Thaddeus Stevens School of Practice, a normal school in Philadelphia. She was president of the Philadelphia Teachers Association.[4] In 1925, she became the first woman elected president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA).[5][6] As PSEA head, she raised awareness of the plight of aged and retired teachers without adequate pensions, asking a 1929 audience, "Can you hear 400 teachers ranging from 72 to 90, calling with feeble voices and tear-dimmed hearts to you for help?"[7]

In 1933, Gray was elected president of the National Education Association (NEA),[8][9] the first Philadelphian and the second classroom teacher to hold that executive position.[10] Gray toured the United States as a speaker during her term as NEA president,[1][11] and promoted school district mergers as a budget help during the Great Depression.[12] She was succeeded by Henry Lester Smith in 1934.[13]

Gray was a delegate to the World Federation of Education Associations meeting in Edinburgh in 1925.[14]

Publications edit

Gray wrote for the Pennsylvania School Journal during her term as president of the PSEA, and for other publications when she was president of the NEA.

  • "Watch Our Organization" (1925)[15]
  • "How Can the Teacher Mold Character?" (1925)[16]
  • "A Professional Challenge" (1925)[17]
  • "On To Scranton" (1925)[18]
  • "Greetings from the N.E.A." (1933)[19]

Personal life edit

Gray died after a surgery to amputate her gangrenous right leg in 1948, at the age of 72, at a hospital in Philadelphia.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "They'll Be Here Too, for Teachers Convention". The Austin American. 1933-11-30. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Birth date and parents' names from the Pennsylvania death certificate of Jessie Gray, died 29 May 1948 in Philadelphia; via Ancestry.
  3. ^ "Education in Action". The Journal of Education. 101 (4 (2514)): 115. 1925. ISSN 0022-0574. JSTOR 42833399 – via JStor.
  4. ^ a b "Jessie Gray Dead; Educator 46 Years; Former President of NEA, 72, First Woman Named Head of Pennsylvania Association". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  5. ^ "Woman Heads State Teachers". Intelligencer Journal. 1924-12-30. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-01-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Phila. Normal Woman Heads State Teachers; Miss Jessie Gray, Elected at Erie, First of Sex to Hold Post". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1924-12-31. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-01-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "400 Aged Teachers Seen Living in Need". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1929-02-17. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-01-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Educators Told Needs of System". Evening star. 1934-07-01. p. 12. Retrieved 2024-01-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Will Speak at P.-T. Meeting". The Evening News. 1935-05-02. p. 9. Retrieved 2024-01-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "New N. E. A. Leader Outlines Program; Miss Jessie Gray to Battle 'False Economy' in Schools". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1933-07-11. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-01-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "National Teachers' President in City". Spokane Chronicle. 1934-04-05. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-01-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "School Merger Urged Here by Educator". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. 1934-01-17. p. 19. Retrieved 2024-01-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Dr. Henry L. Smith N.E.A. President; Dean of Indian U. School of Education Succeeds Miss Jessie Gray". Evening Star. 1934-07-06. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-01-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Edinburgh Convention" Pennsylvania School Journal (September 1925): 24.
  15. ^ Gray, Jessie. "Watch Our Organization" Pennsylvania School Journal 74(1)(September 1925): 23-24.
  16. ^ Gray, Jessie. "How Can the Teacher Mold Character?" Pennsylvania School Journal 74(2)(October 1925): 102-103.
  17. ^ Gray, Jessie (October 1925). "A Professional Challenge". Pennsylvania School Journal. 74 (2): 113.
  18. ^ Gray, Jessie (December 1925). "On To Scranton". Pennsylvania School Journal. 74 (4): 231.
  19. ^ Gray, Jessie (October 1933). "Greetings from the N.E.A." The School Press Review. 9 (3): 2 – via Internet Archive.
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