Doris Fleischman

Doris Fleischman was born to a Jewish family in New York City, New York, on July 18, 1891, the daughter of attorney Samuel Fleischman and Harriet Rosenthal Fleischman. Education Fleischman attended Hunter Normal School before graduating from Horace Mann School in 1909. She went on to study philosophy, psychology, and English at Barnard College and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1913. While attending Barnard, Fleischman enjoyed painting and singing and earned varsity letters in a multitude of activities, including softball, basketball, and tennis. She also studied music and psychiatry and considered each as a career path. In 1917, Fleischman marched in the first Women's Peace Parade in New York City, New York. They married at New York City Hall in 1922. Immediately after the wedding, she signed into the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel using her maiden name. This was considered extremely unusual and the story made headlines the next morning. She also traveled to Europe, and before doing so, had a passport issued to her under her maiden name. She was the first American woman to do so. Fleischman later became an active member in the Lucy Stone League, which empowered women and urged them to keep their maiden names after marriage. == Career and publications ==

After graduating from Barnard, Fleischman briefly worked for a New York charity. She wrote press releases on a freelance basis) Fleischman helped Bernays set up the firm's new office and hire its next few employees. This convention in particular was extremely important, as it was the first to ever be held below the Mason-Dixon line. At the conference, Fleischman experienced discrimination and threats of violence based on her gender, but continued to work to have southern press agencies cover the conference, a difficult feat at the time. She also proved herself by going on to work with important clients like Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sigmund Freud, Jane Addams, Irene Castle, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas A. Edison. In 1950, Fleischman was contacted by Ruth Hale, founder of the Lucy Stone League, to help revive her organization which had been inactive for almost two decades following its founding in 1921. Upon the revival of the League, Fleischman served as its vice president and worked with other women who were pioneers in their fields such as Jane Grant, Doris Stevens, Anna M. Kross, and Fannie Hurst. Together, they worked to conduct research about women's pay and women's position in the American economy. In 1952, Fleischman was invited by the director of the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor to attend a conference on pay equity and women in the workplace. Later that year, she resigned from her position in the Lucy Stone League. Fleischman moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband in 1962 so that he could finish writing his book and they could retire together. However, these retirement plans did not last, and Fleischman and Bernays continued to work after they sold their New York office to establish a new public relations business in Cambridge. Upon the establishment of their new "public relations counsel," as Bernays called it, they gained many new clients including the U.S. Department of Commerce; the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; the West Valley Community College; and the Massachusetts Law Association. Fleischman worked with her husband's agency and Women in Communications, Inc. to develop two competitions that took place in 1974 and 1977. These competitions consisted of submissions by organizations and individuals and sought out the best plans for solutions in pay equity and justice for women in the workplace and the home. Winners received scholarship money to continue research in hopes of making these plans become reality. The Chicago Chapter of Public Relations Society of America recognized Fleischman's work and presented her with a leadership award in 1976. Towards the end of her career, Fleischman wrote many book reviews for the Worcester Sunday Telegram in Cambridge. With the help of her husband, she also self-published 22 of her own poems in a book called Progression in 1977. == References ==