Walnut Hills residents Catherine and Harriett Beecher and Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell were all teachers in private schools during the 1830’s. Catherine Beecher especially advocated for the education of women, and for the effectiveness of women as teachers. Not everyone sympathized with her.
The Cincinnati Public Schools, both white and “Colored,” made extensive use of women as teachers. When Walnut Hills joined the city in 1870, and school boards built fine new schoolhouses, women did most of the teaching. The white school listed nine women and only four men as teachers; the Colored school employed four women and two men. This did not represent a complete victory for gender equity; one argument offered in favor of women on faculties was that they would work for lower salaries. Men’s salaries in the white school ranged from $1000 – $1800, while the women’s salaries ranged from $500-$800. In the Colored School, salaries showed more gender equity, with both male and female compensation beginning at $540. The male principal earned $1500, while women’s pay ranged up to $720. It is significant that the African American women on average earned as much as their white counterparts.
In keeping with Walnut Hills’ reputation as a well-educated part of the city, six of the white women teachers and one of the African American women lived in Walnut Hills.