From collection Candidates
Gertrude Sherman graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1900. She was first elected to the Milwaukee school board in 1919 and served until 1937, running for reelection in 1925 and 1931. At the time that Sherman ran, there were four socialists on the school board and five additional candidates for the 15-member board. For the past decade, the Socialist Party of Milwaukee had up to five members on the board, and saw the school board as a cite of strategic significance. Sherman, along with several others, including Ida Schell, was one of the "non-partisans" on the board who was opposed to the socialist policies. The Milwaukee Journal endorsed her candidacy because they believed she would most further Americanization in schools.
