Minnie Steckel

{{short description|American educator, psychologist and activist}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Minnie Steckel

| image = Minnie L. Steckel.jpg

| alt = Portrait of a woman with bobbed hair in a dark dress wearing a long strand of pearls

| caption = Steckel in 1928

| birth_name = Minnie Louise Steckel

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1890|03|19}}

| birth_place = Woodbine, Kansas

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1952|12|1|1890|03|19}}

| death_place = Montevallo, Alabama

| nationality = American

| other_names =

| occupation = educator, psychologist, women's rights activist

| years_active = 1911–1952

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

Minnie Steckel (March 19, 1890 – December 1, 1952) was an American teacher, psychologist, clubwoman, and an activist involved in the women's poll tax repeal movement. Steckel began her career as a school teacher and worked her way up to school principal, superintendent and school psychologist, earning her bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees. From 1932 until her death in 1952, she was the dean of women and counselor at Alabama College. She served as president of the local Montevallo chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) from 1937 to 1939, as president of the state chapter of the Business and Professional Women's Foundation and treasurer of the state chapter of the AAUW in 1951.

Early life and education

Minnie Louise Steckel was born on March 19, 1890, in Woodbine, Kansas to Caroline (née Haske) and William Steckel.{{sfn|U.S. Census|1900|p=6A}}{{sfn|Alabama Deaths|1952}}{{sfn|The Birmingham News|1952|p=17}} Her parents were immigrants from Germany and her father worked as a blacksmith.{{sfn|U.S. Census|1900|p=6A}} In 1906, she enrolled in the Kansas Normal School in Emporia, Kansas.{{sfn|The Junction City Weekly Union|1906|p=6}} She took her first teaching post in Overbrook, Kansas in 1911, and remained until 1913,{{sfn|The Junction City Weekly Union|1911|p=5}}{{sfn|The Junction City Republic|1913|p=3}} when she graduated from normal school.{{sfn|The Emporia Weekly Gazette|1913|p=3}}

Career

In 1914, Steckel taught in Burlingame, Kansas through the end of the May term in 1915.{{sfn|The Junction City Republic|1914|p=6}}{{sfn|The Burlingame Enterprise|1915|p=5}} That summer, she enrolled at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and earned her bachelor's degree in 1917.{{sfn|The Burlingame Enterprise|1915|p=5}}{{sfn|The Osage County Chronicle|1916|p=4}}{{sfn|The University Daily Kansan|1917|p=3}} Following her graduation, she taught at Leavenworth High School for a year{{sfn|The Herington Times|1918|p=7}} and in 1918 taught at the high school in Shenandoah, Iowa.{{sfn|The Junction City Republic|1918|p=8}} In 1919, she became the superintendent of schools in Blanchard, Iowa.{{sfn|The Junction City Weekly Union|1919|p=3}} She moved to the high school in Atlantic, Iowa in 1921{{sfn|The Herington Times|1921|p=5}} and served as its principal until 1924.{{sfn|The Herington Sun|1924|p=2}} Steckel returned to school at the University of Chicago and completed her master's degree in psychology in 1926. She was hired that year to supervise the counseling department of the Sioux City, Iowa public schools.{{sfn|The Sioux City Journal|1926|p=16}}{{sfn|The Shelby County Reporter-Democrat|1952|p=1}} While continuing to work in Sioux City, she completed her research on birth order and intelligence,{{sfn|The Sioux City Journal|1928a|p=9}}{{sfn|The Sioux City Journal|1928b|p=20}} earning her PhD with the thesis Intelligence and Birth Order in Family from the University of Chicago in 1929.{{sfn|The Shelby County Reporter-Democrat|1952|p=1}}{{sfn|Moshinksky|1942|p=60}}

In 1930, Steckel was hired as the school counselor and dean of women for Alabama College, the state college for women.{{sfn|Surles|1930|p=1}} She published numerous educational and psychological books and articles and was active in numerous women's clubs including the Alabama Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Alabama Mental Hygiene Society, the American Association of University Women, the American Psychological Association, the Business and Professional Women's Foundation and the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, among others.{{sfn|The Shelby County Reporter-Democrat|1952|p=1}} In 1936, the faculty of the college launched a project to research the impact of paying to vote on women.{{sfn|Wilkerson-Freeman|2002|p=352}} Steckel, who authored the report, found that women's low electoral participation was primarily a result of the poll tax requirement, instead of a lack of interest in politics.{{sfn|Wilkerson-Freeman|2002|p=353}}

Steckel saw her involvement in clubwork as vital for her aim to encourage and further women's achievements and help her students have more opportunities and options of employment. Among issues she prioritized were women's right to vote and to serve on juries. She also pushed for adoption of a merit based system for employment in the civil service and removal of policies which did not allow married women to work or which paid women less than men.{{sfn|Dalrymple|1937|p=10, Magazine Section}}

Between 1937 and 1939, she served as president of the Montevallo chapter of the American Association of University Women{{sfn|AAUW|2016}} and in 1940 and 1941, she was elected as president of the Alabama chapter of the Business and Professional Women's Foundation.{{sfn|The Huntsville Times|1941|p=8}} In 1951, she served as treasurer of the state chapter of the American Association of University Women.{{sfn|The Birmingham News|1952|p=17}}

Death and legacy

Steckel died at her home in Montevallo on December 1, 1952. A women's scholarship was named in her honor by the Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs.{{sfn|The Shelby County Reporter-Democrat|1952|p=1}}

References

=Citations=

=Bibliography=

{{cite news |last1=Dalrymple |first1=Dolly |title=What Is Woman's Status in Alabama? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63236851/the-birmingham-news/ |access-date=November 19, 2020 |date=February 7, 1937 |newspaper=The Birmingham News |location=Birminghama, Alabama |page=10, Magazine Section |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite journal |last1=Moshinksky |first1=Pearl |title=Social Environment as a Modifying Factor in the Correlation between Maternal Age and Intelligence of Offspring |journal=Milbank Quarterly |date=January 1942 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=47–60 |url=https://www.milbank.org/wp-content/uploads/mq/volume-20/issue-01/20-1-Social-Environment-as-a-Modifying-Factor-in-the-Correlation-Between-Maternal-Age-and-Intelligence-of-Offpsring.pdf |access-date=November 20, 2020 |publisher=The Milbank Memorial Fund |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927132741/https://www.milbank.org/wp-content/uploads/mq/volume-20/issue-01/20-1-Social-Environment-as-a-Modifying-Factor-in-the-Correlation-Between-Maternal-Age-and-Intelligence-of-Offpsring.pdf |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |location=New York, New York |doi=10.2307/3347690 |jstor=3347690 |issn=0026-3745 |oclc=5544375905}}
{{cite news |last1=Surles |first1=Flora B. |title=News From Montevallo: Ala. College Ready to Start Year's Work |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63657675/shelby-county-reporter/ |access-date=November 19, 2020 |date=August 28, 1930 |newspaper=The Shelby County Reporter |location=Columbiana, Alabama |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite journal |last1=Wilkerson-Freeman |first1=Sarah |title=The Second Battle for Woman Suffrage: Alabama White Women, the Poll Tax, and V. O. Key's Master Narrative of Southern Politics |journal=The Journal of Southern History |date=May 2002 |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=333–374 |doi=10.2307/3069935 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3069935 |access-date=November 19, 2020 |publisher=Southern Historical Association |location=Athens, Georgia |jstor=3069935 |issn=0022-4642}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|U.S. Census|1900}}|author= |title=1900 U. S. Cenus, Liberty Township, Dickinson County, Kansas |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6PC5-TP?i=10&cc=1325221&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMMTX-X15 |website=FamilySearch |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=November 20, 2020 |location=Washington, D.C. |date=June 11, 1900 |page=6A |id=NARA publication T623, Roll #478, lines 2–11}}{{subscription required}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Sioux City Journal|1928a}}|author= |title=5 Features on Parent-Teacher Radio Program |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63657914/sioux-city-journal/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=January 28, 1928 |newspaper=The Sioux City Journal |location=Sioux City, Iowa |page=9 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|AAUW|2016}}|author= |title=AAUW: Montevallo (AL) Branch Skip to content |url=https://montevallo-al.aauw.net/branch-history/ |website=AAUW Montevallo |publisher=American Association of University Women |access-date=November 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806073233/https://montevallo-al.aauw.net/branch-history/ |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |location=Montevallo, Alabama |date=2016 |url-status=live}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Alabama Deaths|1952}}|author= |title=Alabama Deaths, 1908–1974: Minnie L. Steckel |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J68X-L45 |website=FamilySearch |publisher=Department of Health |access-date=November 20, 2020 |location=Montgomery, Alabama |date=1952}}{{subscription required}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Huntsville Times|1941}}|author= |title=Business Women Name Same Head |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63237100/the-huntsville-times/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=May 18, 1941 |newspaper=The Huntsville Times |location=Huntsville, Alabama |page=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Shelby County Reporter-Democrat|1952}}|author= |title=Dr. Minnie Steckel Dies at Montevallo |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63236716/obituary-for-minnie-l-steckel/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=December 4, 1952 |newspaper=The Shelby County Reporter-Democrat |location=Columbiana, Alabama |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Birmingham News|1952}}|author= |title=Dr. Minnie L. Steckel, Student Counselor at Montevallo, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63236914/the-birmingham-news/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=December 2, 1952 |newspaper=The Birmingham News |location=Birmingham, Alabama |page=17 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Sioux City Journal|1926}}|author= |title=Psychologist of City Schools on Leave to Study |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63657121/sioux-city-journal/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=September 16, 1926 |newspaper=The Sioux City Journal |location=Sioux City, Iowa |page=16 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Sioux City Journal|1928b}}|author= |title=Smartest Kiddies in S.C. Families |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63657432/sioux-city-journal/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=December 19, 1928 |newspaper=The Sioux City Journal |location=Sioux City, Iowa |page=20 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Emporia Weekly Gazette|1913}}|author= |title=Summer School Grads |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-aug-07-1913-2077564/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=August 7, 1913 |newspaper=The Emporia Weekly Gazette |location=Emporia, Kansas |page=3 |via=Newspaperarchive.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The University Daily Kansan|1917}}|author= |title=University Graduates Record Senior Class |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25185663/kansas-university-graduate/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=May 22, 1917 |newspaper=The University Daily Kansan |location=Lawrence, Kansas |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Burlingame Enterprise|1915}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63663264/the-burlingame-enterprise/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=May 27, 1915 |newspaper=The Burlingame Enterprise |location=Burlingame, Kansas |page=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Herington Sun|1924}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63656902/the-herington-sun/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=January 10, 1924 |newspaper=The Herington Sun |location=Herington, Kansas |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Herington Times|1918}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63652146/the-herington-times/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=May 30, 1918 |newspaper=The Herington Times |location=Herington, Kansas |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Herington Times|1921}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63238371/the-herington-times/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=June 16, 1921 |newspaper=The Herington Times |location=Herington, Kansas |page=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Junction City Republic|1913}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63652471/the-junction-city-republic/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=June 5, 1913 |newspaper=The Junction City Republic |location=Junction City, Kansas |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Junction City Republic|1914}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63652415/the-junction-city-republic/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=April 16, 1914 |newspaper=The Junction City Republic |location=Junction City, Kansas |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Junction City Republic|1918}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63652094/the-junction-city-republic/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=September 12, 1918 |newspaper=The Junction City Republic |location=Junction City, Kansas |page=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Junction City Weekly Union|1906}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63651509/the-junction-city-weekly-union/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=September 7, 1906 |newspaper=The Junction City Weekly Union |location=Junction City, Kansas |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Junction City Weekly Union|1919}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63238407/the-junction-city-weekly-union/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=August 28, 1919 |newspaper=The Junction City Weekly Union |location=Junction City, Kansas |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Osage County Chronicle|1916}}|author= |title=(untitled) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63663330/the-osage-county-chronicle/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=December 7, 1916 |newspaper=The Osage County Chronicle |location=Burlingame, Kansas |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Junction City Weekly Union|1911}}|author= |title=Woodbine |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63652174/the-junction-city-weekly-union/ |access-date=November 20, 2020 |date=September 7, 1911 |newspaper=The Junction City Weekly Union |location=Junction City, Kansas |page=5 |via=Newspapers.com}}