Mabel Pollitzer

Mabel Louise Pollitzer (January 11, 1885 – April 27, 1979) was an American educator and suffragist from South Carolina. She was the South Carolina state chair of the National Woman's Party for almost forty years, and led the creation of the free public library system in Charleston County.

Early life and education Pollitzer was born in Charleston, South Carolina, the daughter of Gustave Moritz Pollitzer and Clara Guinzburg Pollitzer. Her younger sister was photographer and suffragist Anita Pollitzer; their father was a cotton broker. The Pollitzer family were members of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim in Charleston. She trained for teaching at Memminger Normal School, and earned a bachelor's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1906. Career Pollitzer taught science classes at Memminger High School for over forty years. She organized the Natural Science department, and designed the department's laboratories. She worked with students in the school's gardens. In 1920 she was elected president of the Charleston County Teachers' Association. She led efforts to open a free public library system in Charleston County in the 1930s; it served both Black and white residents, though in separate facilities, under the racial segregation laws of the Jim Crow South. and the National Council of Jewish Women. In 1973 and 1974, she gave interviews for the Oral Histories of the American South project. Personal life and legacy Pollitzer died in 1979, at the age of 94. A documentary about the Pollitzer sisters, emphasizing their suffrage work, aired on PBS stations in 2021.