Citizen Teacher : The Life and Leadership of Margaret Haley

The first book-length biography of Margaret Haley (1861-1939) focuses on her political vision, her activities as a public school activist, and her life as a charismatic woman leader.

Finalist for the 2006 History of Education Societys Outstanding Book Award
Winner of the 2005 Critics Choice Award presented by the American Educational Studies Association

Citizen Teacher is the first book-length biography of Margaret Haley (1861-1939), the founder of the first American teachers union, and a dynamic leader, civic activist, and school reformer. The daughter of Irish immigrants, this Chicago elementary school teacher exploded onto the national stage in 1900, leading women teachers into a national battle to secure resources for public schools and enhance teachers professional stature. This book centers on Haleys political vision, activities as a public school activist, and her life as a charismatic leader.

In the more than forty years of her political life, Haley was constantly in the news, butting heads with captains of industry, challenging autocracy in urban bureaucracy and school buildings alike, arguing legal doctrine and tax reform in state courts, and urging her constituents into action. An extraordinary figure in American history, Haleys contemporaries praised her as one of the nations great orators and called her the Joan of Arc of the classroom teacher movement.

Haleys belief that well-funded, well-respected teachers were the key to the development of a positive civic community remains a central tenet in American education. Her guiding vision of the democratic role of the public school and the responsibility of teachers as activist citizens is relevant and inspirational for educators today.