Fursman, Mrs. Ida L. M.

Mrs. L. M. Fursman ran on the Labor Ticket in Chicago's 27th Ward for the Board of Alderman. She recieved a good number of women's vote. While she did not win the campaign, Fursman faired well considering the conservative prejudice against the newly formed Labor Party. Fursman was an educator and head assistant at the Linne School. In 1913, she was elected a trustee of the Public School Teachers' Pension and Retirement Association on the ticket of the Chicago Teachers' Federation. In 1910, the Chicago School Board passed the Loeb Rule, named after the President of School Board, that forbade teachers from joining union. In 1915 there was a proposal to break up the Teacher's Federation and to dismiss Fursman from service in the public education system for "subordination." In 1916 the School Board carried out its threat and Fursman, acting vice president of the Chicago Teacher's Federation, was one of 68 teachers literally locked out of their classrooms for their membership to the CTF. The CTF subsequently retracted its membership from the Chicago Federation of Labor and fought for the reinstatement of its members. Fursman had become President of the Chicago Teacher's Association sometime before 1918.