THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Helen Ramirez Odell
July 22, 1942 – March 22, 2022
“The ERA Must Be in Our U.S. Constitution Before I Die.”
Author. Activist. ERA Advocate. Coalition of Labor Union Women. Chicago Teachers Union, Nurse Representative. Women’s Rights Committee. Chicago Chapter NOW. Cassandra, Radical Feminist Nurses Network. Founding Member of the Women’s Labor History Project. AAUW. ERA Illinois. Chicago Teachers Union Delegate.


Photo 1. Helen Ramirez Odell at Weiss Hospital in 1963. Photo 2. Helen at the Chicago Teachers Union rally, July 2012 [Photo by Sharon Schmidt].

More About Helen:
- Chicago Women’s History Center oral history interview
- Helen’s remarks from “Labor & the Women’s Movement: The untold story and why it matters” was a VFA event held at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in St. Louis, MO, on September 27, 2014.
- Interview with Helen by Mary Ann Johnson, Chicago Women’s History Center – June 27, 2014
- Substance News – Veteran activists discuss militant history of Chicago Teachers Union
- CLUW Conference – remarks by Helen
- Working Without Uniforms: School Nursing In Chicago 1951 – 2001 by Helen Ramirez-Odell
- An inventory of papers at the Midwest Nursing History Research Center, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago.
- Coalition of Labor Union Women
- Working Women’s History Project
- Chicago Women’s History Center
- Women and Leadership Archives at Loyola University
- Helen’s Papers – Chicago Teachers Union Women’s Rights Committee, 1984 – 2001 and 2004 – 2011
- Helen’s Papers – Cassandra, the Radical Feminist Nurses Network
- Interviews from Helen’s book, Working Without Uniforms: School Nursing in Chicago 1951 – 2001