Susie Monroe (March 4, 1885 - November 7, 1968) was a teacher, dressmaker and beauty salon owner who was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1948.
A native of Jacksonville, Florida and Democrat who had relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the 1930s, she represented her constituents for ten consecutive terms, from January 1949 until November 7, 1968.
Formative years
Born in Jacksonville, Florida on March 4, 1885, Monroe graduated from St. Athanasius High School.
Sometime during the 1930s, she relocated from Florida to Pennsylvania. A resident of Philadelphia, she was employed as a dressmaker and beauty salon operator.
Political and public service career
Chair of the Democratic Party's 32nd Ward Democratic Executive Committee, Monroe was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1948 and was sworn into office in 1949. Repeatedly reelected by large margins, she served for nine additional, consecutive terms and was still a sitting representative at the time of her death in 1968.
During her tenure in the Pennsylvania House, Monroe became known for her work on legislation designed to ensure fair and equal employment treatment for Pennsylvania workers, improvements in public healthcare, and improved access to safe, affordable housing.
1940s
In March 1949, Monroe joined with two of her fellow House members, Rep. Marion L. Munley (Democrat, Lackawanna County) and Rep. Mary Varallo (Democrat, Philadelphia), to co-sponsor legislation to provide thirty additional dollars per month, per person, to aging Pennsylvanians who were eligible for retirement pensions. The proposed funds were slated to supplement existing financial assistance to senior citizens that was being provided by the federal government.
1950s
In May 1951, she collaborated with Rep. Herman Toll and Rep. John Welsh to push for new legislation to prohibit "the working of women for more than six consecutive days without at least one day of rest."
In July 1953, she collaborated again with Varallo to push for passage of legislation to establish a three-member commission within Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry "to initiate, receive, investigate and pass upon complaints charging unlawful employment practices" in order "to halt job discrimination because of race, creed or ancestry." Earlier that same year, she had worked with Varallo, Munley, Rep. Josephine C. Coyle (Democrat, Philadelphia), and Rep. Marian E. Markley (Republican, Lehigh County) to press their colleagues to appropriate $50,000 in funding to support the hiring and training of teachers for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in public schools across Pennsylvania.
In February 1955, Monroe and multiple colleagues pushed for an investigation by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives of the Pennsylvania Public Assistance Department in order to improve the processing of public assistance funding requests by elderly residents of the state and families with children. In May, Monroe collaborated with multiple colleagues to create legislation that would authorize Pennsylvania State University to launch an extension program in industrial and labor relations. During the summer and fall of that same year, Monroe continued to advocate for children and families by co-sponsoring legislation with Representatives Louis Sherman (Democrat, Philadelphia) and Jeanette Reibman (Democrat, Northampton) to improve educational programs and other forms of assistance for children with disabilities. Those latter advocacy efforts bore fruit in March 1956 when Pennsylvania Governor George M. Leader signed legislation that authorized the commonwealth to provide funding for school districts statewide to create and maintain facilities for the education of students with disabilities, including financial compensation for districts to address the differences in costs between the education of students with and without disabilities. The total amount of funding authorized by this legislative act was "$8.1 million a biennium."
In February 1957, Monroe and Varallo introduced House Bill 136 to "amend the Pennsylvania firearms law to require a permit or license for the carrying of any firearm." In April, they collaborated again, this time proposing legislation to create and fund a city college in Philadelphia. Later that same year, they both joined forces with Republican representatives Markley and Rep. Evelyn Glazier Henzel to co-sponsor the bipartisan Equal Pay Act (HB545) that was supported by the governor.