The Viewpoints piece by Mary Ann Porucznik on Grace Wilbur Trout to honor the centennial of women’s right to vote [Remembering Grace Wilbur Trout, Aug. 19] prompted me to recall a noteworthy judicial decision in the 1920s that I read about in law school.
Hannah Beye Fyfe was the daughter of William Beye, a U.S. Steel magnate after whom the Oak Park elementary school on Cuyler is named. Hannah filed a Mandamus action against the Cook County Board to force the inclusion of registered women voters on jury summonses. The government opposed her. Her position was simply that jurors were selected from voting lists and women now appeared on those lists.
She prevailed and women were henceforth summoned for jury duty. As a law student proud of a fellow Oak Parker, I always wondered about her background, besides the eponymous connection to the school. It turns out she was a highly regarded artist after graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago.
https://www.askart.com/artist/Hannah_Christabel_Beye_Fyfe/11313219/Hannah_Christabel_Beye_Fyfe.aspx
Randy Kadlec
Oak Park
