ABSTRACT
Barbara Egger Lennon (Barbe) had first stood tentatively in front of a rural McLean County classroom in 1902. Her ongoing commitment to higher education and activism stretching back to the Progressive Era built the confidence and skills necessary for her transformation into a professional educator as well as a local union organizer and political lobbyist. Like many of Barbe’s widening interests, local union affiliations paved the initial path. In April 1937, acting again as a Bloomington Federation of Teachers delegate, Barbe traveled to Chicago for the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) annual conference, where she was elected to the Executive Board of the Illinois WTUL. Despite Barbe’s focus on the practical applications of laws regarding women’s equality, her progressive approach to race relations exhibited a pattern of thought and behavior that seemed centered less on day-to-day practicality and more on idealism. In October 1939, the Bloomington-Normal WTUL was officially chartered, with Barbe on the Executive Board.
