Educator. She was the first female public school principal in the United States, the first female school superintendent in the United States, the first female president of the Iowa School Teachers' Association, and the first female professor at the University of Iowa. She accomplished all of this despite her lack of official academic credits. She was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree by Grinnell College in 1878, the only college degree she held. She also assisted in the funding and organization of the free public library in Davenport, Iowa, which was the largest Carnegie library west of the Mississippi when it opened on Main Street in 1904. On June 14, 1921, three days after her ninetieth birthday, the Davenport board of education changed the name of East Intermediate School to Phebe W. Sudlow Intermediate School. This honor was deemed a "memorial befitting her superior character, her ennobling influence, and her dignified example."
Educator. She was the first female public school principal in the United States, the first female school superintendent in the United States, the first female president of the Iowa School Teachers' Association, and the first female professor at the University of Iowa. She accomplished all of this despite her lack of official academic credits. She was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree by Grinnell College in 1878, the only college degree she held. She also assisted in the funding and organization of the free public library in Davenport, Iowa, which was the largest Carnegie library west of the Mississippi when it opened on Main Street in 1904. On June 14, 1921, three days after her ninetieth birthday, the Davenport board of education changed the name of East Intermediate School to Phebe W. Sudlow Intermediate School. This honor was deemed a "memorial befitting her superior character, her ennobling influence, and her dignified example."
Bio by: Dustin Oliver
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