Out of the Shadows: Redeeming the Contributions of Evelyn Dewey to Education and Social Justice (1909-1919)

Abstract

Evelyn Dewey (1889-1965) is known as the daughter of John Dewey (1859-1952) while little has been written about her contributions as an educator and social activist in her own right. The purpose of this article is to highlight the life and works of Evelyn Dewey from 1909-1919 and beyond. As a political and social activist, Evelyn Dewey supported the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) and the strike known as the Waistmakers’ Revolt before she began her extensive research for the book, Schools of To-Morrow (Dewey & Dewey, 1915). She also worked for the Public Education Association and the Bureau of Educational Experiments, as well as Columbia University. Her work for the Bureau resulted in two books, New Schools for Old (Dewey, 1919), and Methods and Results of Testing School Children (Dewey, Child, & Ruml, 1920). After 1919, Evelyn Dewey was involved in speaking engagements concerning experimental schools and extensive writing that resulted in three books, The Dalton Laboratory Plan (Dewey, 1922), Children of the New Day (Glover & Dewey, 1934) and Behavior Development in Infants (Dewey, 1935).

Keywords: Evelyn Riggs Dewey / Evelyn Riggs (née Dewey) Granville Smith Jr. (1889-1965), John Dewey (1859-1952), Marie Turner Harvey (1866-1952), Elisabeth Antoinette Irwin (1880-1942), Harriet Merrill Johnson (1867-1934), Marietta Johnson (1864-1938), Lucy Sprague Mitchell (1878-1967), Dorothy Payne Whitney