Charles W. Chesnutt to Mayo Fesler, 16 October 1931
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October 16, 1931
The Citizens League of Cleveland,1
Mr. Mayo Fesler, Director.
My dear Mr. Fesler:
I have before me your letter with reference to Louise J. Pridgeon, who is a candidate for the office of councilman.2
I know Mrs. Pridgeon in a casual way from meeting her in public occasionally. She is an amiable woman of good character, so far as I know. I think she is a college graduate. She is a member of the bar in good standing and of some experience.
As to her fitness for office I should say offhand that she would measure up to the average Cleveland councilman -- whatever that amounts to -- and in some respects a little better. I do not think the city government would suffer unduly from her election to the council, and personally I should like to see her elected.
Yours very truly, CWC:LKCorrespondent: Mayo Fesler (1871–1945) was a White politician, civil servant, and urban reformer who came to Cleveland in 1910 as the secretary of the organization that later became the Citizens League. Working under Democratic mayor Newton D. Baker (1871–1937, mayor 1912–1916), he advocated for independent city government in Ohio in 1912. He then helped draft Cleveland's first city charter, streamlined its civil service, and advocated for municipal reform. In 1912 he also helped found the City Club of Cleveland, a forum for public debate of which Chesnutt was a member. After working for municipal reforms elsewhere (1917–1923), Fesler returned to Cleveland and was the director of the Citizens League from 1923 until the year of his death.
1. The Citizens League of Greater Cleveland, first called the Municipal Association and the Civic League, was a nonpartisan organization founded in the 1890s to evaluate electoral candidates and voting issues, and to promote good government. Under Mayo Fesler (1871–1945) as its secretary (1910–1917) and later its director when it became the Citizens League (1923–1945), the service the organization provided to the voting public was expanded to assist public officials in Cleveland. [back]
2. Louise Johnson Pridgeon (1891–1932) was one of the first Black lawyers in Cleveland. Originally from central Ohio, she came to Cleveland in 1912 and initially worked as a bookkeeper and volunteer social worker. She graduated from Cleveland Law School in 1922 and practiced law until her death. She was an activist and supported the Karamu House and the Phillis Wheatley Association, like Chesnutt. She was not elected to the City Council in 1931. [back]
