Mary Stone McDowell

Mary Stone McDowell (22 March 1876 – 6 December 1955) was a Quaker teacher who, in a celebrated case, was fired from her job for refusing to ask her students to purchase war bonds.

Early life

McDowell was a birthright member of the New York Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends, or Quakers. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College in 1896 and was the class commencement speaker. She later earned a master's degree in classical languages and education, and began teaching in 1900.

Pacifism controversy

On 13 March 1918, McDowell was dismissed as a Latin teacher at Manual Training High School in Brooklyn, New York. She was charged with "conduct unbecoming a teacher", or, more specifically, that "she repeatedly refused to sign loyalty pledges circulated among the teachers and refused to take part in Red Cross work and Liberty Bond sales". Before the war, McDowell had gotten high praise (e.g. "In every way the best", "could not be better") in her evaluations from the school administrators.

In July 1923 the school board that had dismissed McDowell apologized for its action and officially reinstated her, saying:

After full consideration of the case, the committee has decided that the punishment meted out to Miss McDowell was too severe. She was tried at a time of great public hysteria. She also later worked with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and War Resisters League. In the years leading up to World War II she helped found the Pacifist Teachers League, believing that such an organization would have been helpful to her in her struggle. The I.R.S. would respond by seizing the resisted amount from her teacher's pension.

Legacy

The Mary McDowell Friends School in Brooklyn is named in her honor.