Pollitzer House

Front: This was the home of sisters Carrie (1881-1974), Mabel (1885-1979), and Anita Pollitzer (1894-1975), longtime activists for women’s rights. Anita, an artist and wife of press agent Elie C. Edson, played a pivotal role in the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment, which allowed women to vote. She was national secretary, then chair of the National Woman’s Party (the forerunner of the National Organization for Women) from 1921 to 1949. Reverse: In 1918 Carrie Pollitzer, co-founder and assistant principal of the S.C. Kindergarten Training School, led a successful effort to enroll women in the College of Charleston. Mabel, a science teacher at Memminger High School, organized an early school lunch program there. She also served as chair and publicity director of the state National Woman’s Party and helped found the first free public library in Charleston County, which opened in 1931.