Sarah Towles Reed

Sarah Towles Reed (March 8, 1882 – May 8, 1978) was an American teacher and labor activist. Reed founded the first teachers union in New Orleans and organized her colleagues to fight for equitable pay for women teachers and for Black teachers. She taught in New Orleans public schools from 1910 to 1951 and lobbied the Louisiana State Legislature to advocate for the interests of the teachers' union for fifty-two years. In 2020 the USA Today "Women of the Century" project recognized Reed as one of the most significant women in Louisiana history.

Early life and education

Sarah Butler Towles was born on March 8, 1882, on her family's estate, Ouida Plantation, near St. Francisville, Louisiana. Her parents were Sarah Butler Ker and Daniel Towles. As of 1895 the family could no longer afford to live on the property and moved to New Orleans, where Daniel Towles took a patronage job at the United States Custom House. She suffered from homesickness as well as debilitating headaches and returned to Louisiana after two years. Throughout her career, she practiced innovative methods of progressive teaching, including encouraging discussion and debate as well as leading field trips to attend court proceedings, to better prepare students to participate in a democratic society.

Organizing efforts and later life

Male teachers in the Orleans Parish district were paid more than women, and in the early 1920s, Reed organized teachers to demand pay equity.

Because of Reed's advocacy of progressive change, she was targeted by conservative leaders.

A biography of Reed, A Will of Her Own: Sarah Towles Reed and the Pursuit of Democracy in Southern Public Education by Leslie Gale Parr, was published in 2010.

In 2020, USA Today named Reed one of the ten most influential women in Louisiana history as part of its "Women of the Century" series.