Women's Educational and Industrial Union

Category: Friends of Labor

The WEIU was organized in 1893 by Susan B. Anthony and other Rochester women after a woman who had fainted on the street was jailed overnight because there was no other shelter. The organization's programs served working women by advocating for their legal rights, providing a place where they could safely rest, eat, and socialize, and working closely with other
institutions to improve opportunities for women and children. From 1917 until the 1980s the WEIU operated a thrift store at this site known as the Opportunity Shop.