July -- Kate and Jean Gordon, Social reformers and suffragists

Jean Gordon (1865-1932) focused her life and energies on social service while remaining involved in suffrage. Working tirelessly for over ten years to better the labor conditions of working children, her efforts were finally successful with the legislature's passage of the Child Labor Act of 1906 which also amended the state constitution to allow women to serve as factory inspectors. Jean Gordon was the first woman factory inspector in New Orleans, serving from 1907-1911. Her continued work drew her national recognition and led to the establishment of annual meetings of southern governors to discuss this issue and the passage of uniform child labor laws in southern states.

While working with children, she became aware of the plight of the mentally challenged. As the president of the Milne Asylum for Destitute Orphan Girls, she established a model home-school for the care and vocational education of the mentally handicapped. The Milne Home was a pioneer institution in Louisiana, for even though a state law had been passed in 1918 to establish an institution for the mentally handicapped, no funds were appropriated. The first Louisiana state institution did not open until 1921. Her service to society continued in many other areas including establishing day care for working mothers, directing the Louisiana State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and legislative reform.

Source: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/soc/women/lawomen/gordons.html

The "Arena Club" of New Orleans is doing good work. It has prepared a
bill against the "white slave traffic" in Louisiana, which was submitted
to the legislature by Hon. J. D. Wall, Representative for East
Feliciana, La. This bill is now a law, and the next step is
enforcement. This calls for activity on the part of the "City Mothers."