Talk:Helen Elsie Austin

Re-write, I have a draft

I'd welcome thoughts, minding of course it and should grow and be refined. Smkolins 15:13, 1 January 2019 (UTC)

Ok - going live. Smkolins 17:31, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi, you have clearly done a lot of work on this article, and have consulted many newspapers and sources. I have tried to edit it so that more information is grouped by topic and falls in line chronologically, as well as adding more substance about her work. I was losing track of her career story in the listing of speeches, for instance. She had so many achievements! Perhaps you could try to base more content on published peer-reviewed articles in journals, books and academic sources rather than relying on research in Family History and sometimes local newspapers. It might be useful to try to batch more material - rather than listing sentence after sentence about public lectures year by year, simply address that in bulk, with a few cites. In a related way, it is really not needed to have several cites from different sources about commonly accepted material - for instance, 7 or 8 cites saying she was born at Tuskegee. Just because they refer to it, does not mean you have to cite a source, and the number does not have to be added to have consensus. She has been written about a lot, in summaries of state and educational history. The SSDI birthplace appears to be an anomaly; will try to check. NOTE: The SSDI gives the place where the SSN card was issued - Washington, DC. That is not the birthplace. I deleted this cite. Parkwells (talk) 18:09, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

It is difficult to say how to use some of your cites about her father's activities (and maybe there is too much about him in what is supposed to be her article). His letter to the editor about the NY ball is interesting, but is it necessary? Did not mean to make anything more confusing, but wanted to get enough done here so that you might see my intention. Will add more comments later. Parkwells (talk) 21:46, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

While she became active with the Bahá'i movement, it may be easier to keep track of this if it is dealt with as a separate topic and discuss overall, rather than organizing the article year by year. Maybe, after she sets up her law practice, start to group content by decade and focus on subjects: civil rights cases, state law, etc. What do you think? Parkwells (talk) 18:09, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

According to the article on "Education Pioneers" in Queen City Heritage, "During the later years of the Great Depression and World War II Austin served as senior attorney for the Office of Price Administration, as well as handled legal matters for the Office of Emergency Management, the National Labor Relations Board, (my note: these were all part of the New Deal) and the Washington, D.C. Recorder of Deeds Office. During the 1950's she taught in North African private schools, preliminary to her appointment in 1960 as a regional women's affairs officer of West Africa for the United States Information Agency." I think more of this material reflecting her federal career should be paraphrased/included in the article, as it also gives a sense of opportunities during and after the Roosevelt administration. In addition, specifics about her work with USIA could be added. Anyway, good effort! Thanks for all your work on this impressive woman.Parkwells (talk) 18:09, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Citizens Military Training Camps

Her father could not have been rejected from this; they were not authorized until 1920, and operated from 1921-1940. Will try to find out more.Parkwells (talk) 19:20, 2 June 2021 (UTC)