1. Ella Flagg Young
Educational Giant

2. Biography
• Born in Buffalo, New York in
1845
• Graduated Chicago normal
school in 1862
• Married William Young in 1868
• Earned her PhD in 1900 from
Chicago University at age 55
• Became superintendant of
schools in Chicago 1887
• Professor of education in the
University of Chicago in 1899
• Principal of the Chicago
Normal School in 1905
• Superintendent of schools of
Chicago from 1909 until her
resignation in 1915.
• She died in the 1918 flu
pandemic, on October 26,
1918, at age 72 .

3. Major Contribution
• She devoted 53 years of her life to
teaching
• She was the first woman in America to
head a large city school system.
• She became superintendent of schools in
Chicago in 1887
• In 1910-1911, the membership of the
National Education Association elected
her its first woman president.

4. Contribution cont.
• Didn’t attend school until
she was 10, and received
a teaching degree at 15.
Most people told her she
would never make it as a
teacher, including her
parents who were not
supportive but she
persevered.
• Felt she was apart of
Women’s suffrage
movement.

5. Personal Impact
• It was interesting to me that Ella was one of the
first women teachers to have a great impact…
considering the ratio of women to men teachers
now days. She had an impact on the women’s
suffrage movement. Some were wary of the idea
of a woman teacher but she proved them
different. Also her family was unsupportive, even
her mother said she wouldn’t make it as a
teacher but she persevered.
• With 53 years of teaching in her life I can see
how much she was dedicated to it. Teaching
isn’t just a career, it should be a passion.

6. Upon her death in 1919, Jane Addams
wrote of Young, "She had more general
intelligence and character than any other
woman I knew."

7. Upon her death in 1919, Jane Addams
wrote of Young, "She had more general
intelligence and character than any other
woman I knew."