1/Miss Martha J Graham was one of #Pittsburgh’s 1st female principals. She rose thru the ranks at local schools for over 50 yrs & was beloved by 3 generations of students.
While poring thru articles about her something curious kept popping up, more on that later.
2/ Among Martha’s students were Mellons, Magees & Rauhs
Keep in mind these were public schools & ⬆️ came from powerful families.
3/ In the late 1880s Martha took in a tenant, Miss Jennie Ralston, who also was a teacher.
They remained together in #Pittsburgh for the rest of their lives, moving to various addresses, reforming & innovating education, & hobnobbing at high profile events
4/ Not long after Martha retired, her former students organized a reunion & invited everyone who’d known her from students, to teachers & bigwigs.
As you might imagine decades of involvement = 1200 attended the party, they came from across the US.
5/ At the reading of her will it was revealed that Martha had left her entire estate (value $12,000 in 1919; c $200K today) to, what the papers called “a friend”, Jennie Ralston.
6/ Surprisingly there’s quite a bit of info on Martha & Jennie, unsurprisingly there’s not even a hint of the nature of their relationship.
For centuries LGBT people have been dismissed & persecuted as ‘other’, correcting our history is tonic for our future.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.