Louisiana Leaders: Notable Women in History
SOPHIE BELL WRIGHT, 1886 - 1912
EDUCATOR and SOCIAL REFORMER
Sophie B. Wright is another woman from the turn of the century honored with a statue. Located at the intersection of Sophie Wright Place and Magazine Street, it is a tribute to a woman educator who, despite a painful physical handicap, greatly furthered the education of women and the poor.
Born into a poor family, Miss Wright suffered a fall as a toddler, and spent her life in a steel harness, walking painfully with crutches. With incredible strength and determination she began her life as an educator in 1881 by opening her own "Day School for Girls" when just fifteen years old; within four years the she was able to add boarding facilities and the school had established a reputation as one of New Orleans' best private schools. When she was 18 years old, a circus performer asked if she could teach classes for poor men which led within the year to the establishment of a free night school for men and boys. The only requirement was that the students had to be employed during the day and be too poor to pay for classes.
In addition to serving on the Prison Reform Association and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, she served as president of the New Orleans Woman's Club and worked to secure public playgrounds, baths, and summer vacations for children and needy women. The Daily Picayune honored her in 1903 with the prestigious award, the Loving Cup, for outstanding social activism and philanthropy. Sophie Wright was the first of twenty one New Orleans women to receive this award.
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