Frances Wheeler Sayler

American activist

Frances Wheeler Sayler
Photograph of a smiling young woman in a business suit
Sayler, 1944
Born
Frances Lee Wheeler

(1916-12-18)December 18, 1916
Butte, Montana, U.S.
DiedApril 27, 1957(1957-04-27) (aged 40)
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
EducationConnecticut College
Occupation(s)civil rights activist, labor organizer, and government worker
Years active1937–1957

Frances Wheeler Sayler (December 18, 1916 – April 27, 1957) was an American civil rights and labor activist. She worked in the La Follette Committee and for the United States Women's Bureau, before became an organizer in the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union. She was active in the early civil rights movement, fighting to desegregate facilities and abolish the poll tax.

Early life and education

Frances Lee Wheeler was born on December 18, 1916, in Butte, Montana, to Lulu M. (née White) and Burton K. Wheeler.[1][2][3] She was the middle daughter of the family of three girls and three boys: John L., Elizabeth H., Edward K., Frances, Richard B., and Marion M.[4][5] Her father was a lawyer, who served as a US Senator from 1923 to 1947.[6][7] She attended Mount Holyoke College[6] and then completed her education at Connecticut College in 1937.[8]

Career

Wheeler began her career working for the United States Women's Bureau.[3] In the mid-1930s, she served in the La Follette Committee, a government inquiry into anti-union policies used by employers in the interwar period.[3][9] In 1938, she began working for the National Labor Relations Board.[10] Wheeler was active in the women's poll tax repeal movement and in the early 1940s, served as an executive secretary of the National Committee to Abolish the Poll Tax. Using her networks, she was able to secure office space for the committee to the railroad union.[11] She married to Allen Sayler, a fellow government worker on August 15, 1941, in Sandy Spring, Maryland.[12] Her parents refused to attend her wedding because of her and her husband's left-leaning politics.[4]

Sayer and her husband first lived in Maryland. They were active in the early civil rights movement. She campaigned to desegregate movie theaters and restaurants in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Rockville. Allan promoted interracial education and organized a successful conference for the Elks Lodge in Washington, D.C.[13] After she left government service in 1942, Sayler worked for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union, an affiliate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.[14][15] She acted as a liaison between unions and their members and government. She also was named to various labor advisory committees of the War Production Board to improve relationships between various industry sectors.[15]

In 1945, Saylor moved to Detroit, Michigan, and worked as a labor organizer.[15] She orchestrated the 1946 two-week strike joined by the workers at the Whyte Electric Company, which made nationwide headlines.[16][17] She continued working with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America until 1950, when she left because the birth of her first daughter, Diana. Three years later she had a second daughter, Gloria.[15]

In 1955, Sayler was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee and questioned for suspected ties to communism.[18] Her father served as her legal counsel and though he did not support McCarthyism, he justified the actions of Joseph McCarthy, which was difficult for his daughter.[19] She wanted to refuse her cooperation with the committee, but her father persuaded her to answer their questions and insist that she was not anti-American.[20]

Death and legacy

Sayler died from a brain tumor at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on April 27, 1957[6] Sayler researched and began writing her father's biography in 1946. She was unable to complete the work before her death, but in 1962, Paul F. Healy used her materials as the foundation for his book, Yankee from the West: The Candid, Turbulent Life Story of the Yankee-born U.S. Senator from Montana.[3]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Birth Certificate 1916.
  2. ^ U.S. Census 1920, p. 3A.
  3. ^ a b c d Scott 2011.
  4. ^ a b Johnson 2019, p. 356.
  5. ^ U.S. Census 1930, pp. 6A–6B.
  6. ^ a b c The Independent-Record 1957, p. 5.
  7. ^ U.S. Congress 2020.
  8. ^ The Billings Gazette 1937, p. 6.
  9. ^ Gall 1982, p. 246.
  10. ^ The Montana Standard 1938, p. 5.
  11. ^ Podolefsky 1998, p. 882.
  12. ^ The Republican & Herald 1941, p. 6.
  13. ^ The Alabama Tribune 1957.
  14. ^ Johnson 2019, p. 440.
  15. ^ a b c d UE News 1957, p. 3.
  16. ^ The Chicago Tribune 1946, p. 5.
  17. ^ The Neosho Daily News 1946, p. 1.
  18. ^ Johnson 2019, pp. 364, 441.
  19. ^ Johnson 2019, p. 364.
  20. ^ Johnson 2019, p. 365.

Bibliography

  • Gall, Gilbert J. (1982). "Heber Blankenhorn, the La Follette Committee, and the Irony of Industrial Repression". Labor History. 23 (2). Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis: 246–253. doi:10.1080/00236568208584655. ISSN 0023-656X.(subscription required)
  • Johnson, Marc C. (2019). Political Hell-Raiser: The Life and Times of Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-6377-2.
  • Podolefsky, Ronnie L. (1998). "Illusion of Suffrage: Female Voting Rights and the Women's Poll Tax Repeal Movement after the Nineteenth Amendment". Notre Dame Law Review. 73 (3). Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame. ISSN 0745-3515. Archived from the original on October 3, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  • Scott, Kim Allen (August 30, 2011). "Allen and Frances Wheeler Sayler Papers, 1945–1967". Archives West. Eugene, Oregon: Orbis Cascade Alliance. Archived from the original on October 9, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  • U.S. Congress (2020). "Wheeler, Burton Kendall (1882–1975)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774–Present. Washington, D.C.: United States Congress. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  • "1920 Census, Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana". FamilySearch. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. January 10, 1920. p. 3A. NARA microfilm publication T625, Roll #1262, lines 19–25. Retrieved November 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  • "1930 Census, Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana". FamilySearch. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. April 12, 1930. pp. 6A–6B. NARA microfilm publication T626, Roll #976, lines 49–56. Retrieved November 17, 2020.(subscription required)
  • "Frances Sayler Dies; Served UE Many Years". UE News. New York, New York. May 13, 1957. p. 3. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  • "Daughter of Wheelers Dies in East". The Independent-Record. Helena, Montana. May 7, 1957. p. 5. Retrieved November 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Disagrees with Dad". The Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. Associated Press. July 13, 1946. p. 5. Retrieved November 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Frances Wheeler in NLRB Office". The Montana Standard. Butte, Montana. October 14, 1938. p. 5. Retrieved November 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Marriage of Wheeler". The Republican & Herald. Pottsville, Pennsylvania. August 29, 1941. p. 6. Retrieved November 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Noted Liberal Dies in Washington, D.C." The Alabama Tribune. Montgomery, Alabama. Associated Negro Press. May 10, 1957. p. 2. Retrieved November 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "State of Montana, Standard Certificate of Birth: Baby Wheeler". FamilySearch. Helena, Montana: Department of Health—Bureau of Vital Statistics. December 19, 1916. File #19461. Retrieved November 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  • "What a World!". The Neosho Daily News. Neosho, Missouri. United Press International. July 12, 1946. p. 1. Retrieved November 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Wheeler's Daughter Opposes Dad's Views". The Billings Gazette. Billings, Montana. Associated Press. March 18, 1937. p. 6. Retrieved November 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.