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Veteran Feminists of America web-zine
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| MARCH 2011 -SALUTE TO FEMINIST ARTISTS, with Dialogue between Pioneers and Current
Feminists and a memorable art show, in collaboration with the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the
Brooklyn Museum. More information to come. |
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DON'T FORGET WE
ARE
THE SECOND WAVE!
Betty Friedan had been central to
the reshaping of American attitudes toward women's lives and rights. Through decades of social activism, strategic
thinking and powerful writing, Friedan was one of contemporary society's most effective leaders. Friedan's l963
book, The Feminine Mystique, detailed the frustrating lives of countless
American women -- expected to find fulfillment through the achievements of husbands and children.
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Enthusiastic and resolute women in
large parade down Fifth Avenue on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Ammendment, which granted the
women the right to vote, as they march for further women's rights. Location: New York, NY, US Date taken: September
1970 Photographer: John Olson
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Women supporting the Equal Rights
Amendment demonstrate in front of the Statue of Liberty on August 10, 1970. Nearly 100 women from various women's
liberation groups participated in the demonstration. Shortly after noon, park rangers made the women remove the
banner from the base of the statue. (© AP Images)
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Title VII prohibits discrimination
due to race, color, religion, sex (gender), and national origin in hiring, employment (all terms, conditions and
benefits), and termination. Prohibits discrimination due to pregnancy and requires that pregnancy be treated the
same as any other non-work-related disability. Also bars retaliation against the person who made a complaint or
assisted the complaining party.
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During the l960’s federal law and
executive orders mandated employers to give equal opportunity in employment to women. In sports, which have drawn
the most attention to Title IX, the picture was equally dismal. Girls largely supported the boys’ teams through
cheer leading, cheering blocks, and raising money for the boys. In the event that girls and women persevered and
actually competed athletically, the support given their teams was far less than that given to boys’ and men’s teams.
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VFA
HONORED BY THE NATIONAL WOMEN’S HALL OF FAME AND PRESENTED WITH "KEEPER OF THE FLAME" STATUETTE
On August 21, 2010, one hundred and sixty-two years after Elizabeth Cady Stanton convened the first Women’s Convention,
the descendents of Elizabeth’s legacy -- the Veteran Feminists of America -- were honored by the National Women’s
Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY. Planned by the young Executive Director Chris Moulton and her assistant Amanda
Bishop, the unique and joyous celebration took place only a block from the 1848 convention site and is certain
to go down in VFA history.
In May 1851, there was a chance
encounter on the streets of Seneca Falls which forever altered the struggle for women's rights. Amelia Jenkins
Bloomer introduced Susan B. Anthony to Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The friendship that was forged between Stanton and
Anthony gave direction and momentum to the seventy-two year struggle for women's suffrage which culminated on August
26, 1920 in the passage of the 19th Ammendment to the United States Constitution. Neither woman lived to see this
happen.
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Until the birth of the Second Wave the lovely little village of Seneca Falls was better known as the setting for
the Xmas classic It’s a Wonderful
Life, rather than the home of Elizabeth
Cady Stanton and the birth site of the feminist movement. Great historic figures such as Cady Stanton, Lucretia
Mott, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, who had attended the first convention, seemed to have been forgotten,
as were the gains they had achieved for women.
In 1971 Karen DeCrow, then president of Syracuse NOW, convened a political conference in Seneca Falls. I attended
with Connie Comer and Tina Santi from New York NOW. Nowhere were there signs of the town’s historic background.
Our group was photographed in front of the laundromat that replaced the church where the historic convention was
held. “What else would replace a women’s historical site but a laundromat!” someone remarked.
But with the new feminist movement, interest in the 19th century movement was renewed. The National Women's Hall
of Fame was established in 1969. Later, the late Senator Patrick Moynihan helped revive the town as a national
historic site. The laundromat was torn down and a nice plaque now graces the spot where the church once was. Cady
Stanton’s house and other historic spots were cleaned and the Women’s Rights Park and the National Women’s Hall
of Fame were established.
The Hall of Fame honors women from all professions,
but Seneca Falls is famous because Elizabeth Cady Stanton held the first feminist conference in the local Methodist
Church, so some of us feel that special attention should be given to Second Wave feminists who made all this possible.
Yes, Betty Friedan, Catherine East, Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, Charlotte Bunch, Karen DeCrow and a few others
have been initiated into the Hall, but every pioneer feminist who worked so hard to achieve equal rights for our
sex deserves to be honored. Many have been nominated but not selected, though they very much deserved to be. Without
the new feminist movement, there would be no Hall of Fame. So one day I was inspired to call the Hall.
“I’m Jacqui Ceballos,” I said, “president of Veteran Feminists of America.”
Amanda Bishop, the Hall’s deputy director, knew who I am and excitedly called Chris Moulton, the executive director,
to the phone. Both sounded very happy to hear from me.
I dove right in. “Almost every pioneer feminist deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,” I said. “It is impossible
to honor them separately, but why not honor them as a group?” Then I added, “Many are in their 80’s and 90’s so
it should be soon.” Both thought it a great idea and promised to get back to me.
A few weeks later Chris called. “We have a date for an event and we‘d love to honor VFA. There are places for 100
guests, with 10 complimentary tickets for you and other pioneer feminists.”
I immediately sent the word out and the responses poured in. Most couldn’t go at this late date. Our Chair and
Co-President had plans for that day so it was very important that I, and Barbara Love, author of Feminists Who Changed America, be there.
Along with Barbara, other board members who attended were VFA VP Gracia Molina Pick of San Diego, cofounders Dell
Williams and Sandy Zwerling of NY and Carole De Saram, Ann Jawin also of NY; Jean King of Detroit and Mavra Stark
of Pennsylvania. Cindy Judd Hill, who’d suffered a stroke a few weeks before, came from Pittsburgh with handwritten
notes–as she so wanted to share that she’d attended the first NOW meeting with Betty Friedan in Washington DC in
1967. Judy Pickering, whom I'd not seen in 40 years, came from Connecticut. Other pioneer feminist attendees are
listed below.
It is not easy to get to Seneca Falls. Gracia and I had to fly into Syracuse the day before in order to arrive
in time. We were met by Chris and driven the hour or so to Seneca Falls and treated to dinner. The next morning
they took us to the site of the first convention, where a nice building replaced the ugly laundromat, and we were
photographed beneath the sign which announced that this was the site of the first feminist convention. We then
visited the statue of Stanton, Amelia Bloomer and Anthony and were photographed alongside these great women.
THE EVENT: Women were pouring in for the reception at 5:30. There
was much animated greeting, as many had not seen one another in years. The room at the Hotel Clarence held only
100, and every seat was taken. The place was abuzz, cameras flashing--but there was no videotaping, no filming.
I ran around asking if anyone had a camera. “Yes,” said Katherine Pffieffer Pross, her husband had one in their
car. And Jack Pross ran out for the camera, set it up and began filming.
A band was playing in the background making
it hard to hear anyone talk. “Could we not have the band?” I asked Chris.
“I can’t do that, Jacqui,” she said. I have to say that Chris was a warm, most gracious host, who obviously appreciated
the pioneer feminists, as were Amanda and the young intern, Marrisa Garcia. We couldn't have been treated better.
But I later heard our event was underwritten by a business, and they hired the band.
Myra Kovary, a classical harpist, regretted that she hadn’t offered to play the harp, which would have been perfect
background music. She is offering her artistry for future events.
The plan was that Chris would introduce me, I would talk for a half hour and that was it.
“I must introduce the feminist guests,” I said, “and each one should be allowed to speak.” And I proposed that
we begin during dinner.
That wasn’t possible, I was told. You may introduce them, but there is no time for them to speak.
After dinner Chris gave a lovely introduction and presented me (for VFA of course) with an elegant glass statuette
dedicated “To the Veteran Feminists of America, Keepers of the Flame.”
I accepted, I hope graciously. I’d had a bit
too much wine and was a little high on all the excitement. I told the story of VFA’s founding, how we decided “If
no one would honor us, we’d honor ourselves,” which got a few laughs, and mentioned that the renewal of Seneca
Falls was because of the new feminist movement. This may have embarrassed Chris and upset the board women, but
I was on a roll. I’d meant not to do more than introduce VFA members, but what the hell… this would never happen
again!
First I called Barbara, who came up with Feminists Who Changed America; then Cindy Judd Hill, who trembled as she
told about the first meeting of NOW. Betty Friedan had heard that she’d been fired because she was pregnant and
invited her there to tell her story. Said Cindy, "I signed in as Mrs. Robert Hill, and Betty Friedan told
me that’s not your name!”
Judy Pickering told how she and NOW president
Wilma Scott Heide had run around the country dressed as Susan and Elizabeth, talking to women about the importance
of suffrage. Dell Williams, founder of Eve’s Garden, amused the audience with stories of helping women achieve
sexual liberation. She brought down the house with her ending: “I have a pin that says, “An orgasm a day keeps
the doctor away.”
WHO'S IN THE PHOTO? SEE BELOW!
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Jean King, who’d fought hard for Title VII with Bunny Sandler, spoke of handling legal cases for women. Carole
DeSaram reported on the joy of leading the Fifth Avenue March of 1970, helping carry the WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE
banner.
I was getting signals from Chris, so it was time to wrap it up. Before doing so I called Sally Roesch Wagner, head
of the nearby Matilda Gage Foundation, who had to be introduced!
The place was closing, so the other pioneer feminists guests weren’t able to talk! Before leaving, we gathered
for group photos. I led the singing of Ruth Hershberger’s The Battle Hymn of Freedom
to the tune of The Battle Hymn of
The Republic.
Our eyes have seen the future
and rejoice at what’s to be,
Every woman in position to achieve equality
We will vote ourselves in power by our own majority
For it’s liberation time.
WHO'S IN THE GROUP PHOTO?
First Row: Skip drum is the first person standing on
the left (blue dress holding papers on right hand). I, Anita Marcos, am the third person on the back (left to right)
looking up. Gracia Molina Pick, VFA VP, Jacqui Ceballos, Helen Pearl of CT, Sandy Zwerling on NYC, Ann Jawin of
Queens, NY. 2nd Row: Sandy Silverman Souder standing right behind Jacqui in beige suit with
white trim and sunglasses on jer head. Dell Williams is 3rd from left, Cindy Judd Hill of Pittsburg is in black
w/red pin, next to her is Mavra Stark in green from Philadelphia, then Judy Pickering of CT, Barbara Love of CT,
Jean King of Ann Arbor and Sybil Shainwald is talking to Maureen Nappi (her face is turned) 3rd Row: From left in background is Trudy Mason of NY and somewhere Carole DeSaram of NY
Next morning we were driven to Syracuse for the
train to New York by Trudy Mason, who had graciously risen very early to accommodate us, so early that we had no
opportunity to say goodbye to our friends. And after two days in New York Gracia and I left together and took our
flights to Phoenix and San Diego.
Thus ended what I know was a historic event: the initiation of all pioneer feminists into the National Women’s
Hall of Fame, though I don’t think the board and women who run the Hall of Fame realize this. I feel it left VFA
with another goal--to hopefully get the National Women’s Hall of Fame to realize the importance of the feminist
movement--and to initiate a special section of honorees in the Hall of Fame: Feminists Who Changed and are Changing America and the World or, simply, THE FEMINIST HALL
OF FAME.
Comments:
jcvfa@aol.com
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Patricia Hill as Miss Michigan
1942. She was first runner-up in the Miss America pageant that year.
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Patricia H. Burnett at the First
International Feminist Conference in Mexico 1975
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Saks Fifth Avenue and the Crohn’s
& Colitis Foundation of America presented a luncheon and fashion show on April 29, 2008
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VFA CELEBRATES BOARD MEMBER PATRICIA HILL BURNETT ON HER 90TH BIRTHDAY!
In 1969 Patricia Hill Burnett, an accomplished
portrait painter, was asked by the man she was painting to please sign her initials to his portrait rather than
her name, so no one would know a woman was the artist! Patricia said she glared at him and scrawled in huge letters
at bottom of the painting PATRICIA HILL BURNETT. Then she picked up the phone and called Betty Friedan, whose book,
The Feminine Mystique, had moved her greatly.
She told her story to Betty, who congratulated
her and immediately named her chair of the non-existant Michigan NOW. Patricia went on to organize Detroit NOW
and was president from 1969 to 1972.
A member of NOW’s national board, she chaired International NOW, convening affiliates from 21 countries. In 1972,
she was appointed to the Michigan Women’s Commission and served four terms, two as its chair. She also chaired
the National Association of Commissions for Women, and is the cofounder of the International Women’s Forum in Michigan.
She additionally served as co-convener of the Michigan Republican Women’s Task Force.
Patricia's colorful background includes the title of Miss Michigan and runner-up to Miss America 1942, where she
earned the title “Miss Congeniality,” which she most certainly deserves, as her feminist cohorts all agree. Noted
for her art, her work appears in galleries in the United States and London, Paris, and Rome. She has painted not
only her mentor, Betty Friedan, but Indira Gandhi, Joyce Carol Oates, Martha Griffiths, Valentina Tarashkova, Betty
Ford, Margaret Thatcher, Corazon Aquino, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her 20-painting series of living women of achievement
is exhibited at the Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls.
Patricia was chosen to occupy a studio in the Scarab Club in Detroit, the first woman to be recognized by that
all-male artists' club. She then served on its board of directors for two terms. She is a lecturer for the U.S.
State Department and also serves on the board of the Detroit International Institute. She has been honored by many
organizations. Northwood University recognized her in 1977 as one of the world’s Ten Distinguished Women. She was
presented the Silver Salute Award for outstanding achievement in community leadership by Michigan State University
in 1976; NOW Women chose her as Feminist of the Year in 1974.
Patricia Hill was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1920. Her parents separated when she was a baby, and until a teenager
she grew up without many luxuries in a single-parent home in Toledo, Ohio. Later, a rich grandparent made their
lives easier. When her mother married a well-to-do physician on the staff of Henry Ford Hospital, they moved to
Detroit.
At the age of fourteen, she launched her artistic career by selling portraits for $25 in her home town. She graduated
with a degree in Fine Arts from Baltimore's Goucher College and continued her graduate study at the Instituto d'
Allende in Mexico and Detroit's Wayne State University.
After a brief unsatisfactory marriage to a surgeon, she wed businessman Harry Burnett. "Everyone thought I
was blissfully happy. I had a nice husband, beautiful house, four children," she said. "A perfect Stepford
wife, and then one day I realized how angry I was with the way society treated women." While her husband indulged
her, he treated her in many respects like a child. She decided she'd had enough.
Still full of life and enthusiasism. Patricia is active in the community and busy painting portraits. At the moment
she is painting a young woman from Lisa Ederley from Kelly services. VFA joins her children, Bill, Barry, Terrill
and Hillary, her eight grandchildren and the 130 friends who will be with her on September 5th in celebrating her
remarkable life, and wishes her many more wonderful years.
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Some words bedevil
me.
Audre Lorde (1962)
Beware how you
contradict prejudices, even knowing them to be such, for the generality of people are much more tenacious of their
prejudices than of anything belonging to them.
Susan Ferrier (1824))
Language, as symbol,
determines much of the nature and quality of our experience. Sonia Johnson (1991)
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CREATING
A FEMINIST LANGUAGE
FLUSHING THE SNEAKY
SEXISM OUT OF LANGUAGE AND TALKING FEMINIST
WHAT'S IN A SURNAME?
A lot.
Surname is a synonym of family name, also commonly known as a last name, which may be a patronymic or matronymic
or a combination, and some mononymous cultures do not use surnames at all. In Western cultures such as ours, foremothers’
identities disappear into the great beyond as upon marriage after marriage after marriage the father’s surname
is passed down the line, and hyphenated family names eventually lead to utter confusion.
Reflecting on Rosalie’s recommendations, Jean Ambrose voices her concern about this, and although it is not strictly
a language problem, she’s looking for answers. So this month Rosalie tackles the issue.--- Joan Michel
MAIDEN NAME
Please use birth/given/birth family/family/former/original/premarital name, family of origin name, original surname.
"Birth name" is the most commonly used term. A Rhode Island probate court judge surprised a woman who
 thought her birth name was hers by
ruling that a wife could not use her birth name without her husband's permission; the American Civil Liberties
Union challenged the ruling. Keeping one's birth name is not as widespread as it is perceived to be: only 10% of
U.S. married women do not use their husband's last name. Since 1979, women in Quebec legally retain their surname
upon marriage unless they make a special application to change it (Ruth King, Talking Gender). In Sicily, many
women have two names--their own "public" name and their married "private" name.
Keeping one's own name is fairly simple except when a couple has children. Do they take her name? his name? a hyphenated
name (the next generation will really have some issues)? a new, commonly held name? A progressive couple who had
twin daughters gave one her name, one his name, and this has not appeared to have caused any social, emotional,
or practical problems for any of the four of them. But it's not always so easy. I've been thinking about this for years and still don't see a tidy solution.
Personally, I use my birth name (hey, this is ME!), but I will, on rare occasions, use my husband's name if I need
to demonstrate a connection to him or to our children. I have credit cards and letterhead stationery in both my
own name and my married name but it's been about 20 years since I've used the latter stationery.
When using surnames, be sure you treat men's and women's name in a parallel fashion: if you use his surname alone
(Tascher), don't add a social title to hers (Ms. Demeter); if you call her Magnolia, don't call him Mr. Bartleby.
With reference to married couples, too often he is the main Primrose while she is Mrs. Primrose, Deborah, or Deborah
Primrose; they should be referred to as Charles Primrose and Deborah Primrose, Mr. Primrose and Ms. Primrose, or
Deborah and Charles. Some 90% of married women in the United States take their husband's last name, according to
a poll conducted for American Demographics magazine; those breaking with tradition are more likely to be young,
affluent achievers. Only six states recognize a statutory right for men to take their wives' last name. A man who
wants to take his wife's name must petition the court, advertise in a newspaper, and pay hundreds of dollars in
fees; a woman needs only to fill out a marriage license application (Ms.).
 Of Sicilian heritage, ROSALIE MAGGIO
was born in Texas, grew up in Fort Dodge, IA, and today lives in Pine Mountain, CA. With her seven fratelli e sorella,
her best friends, she has recently co-authored "Pieces of Eight," a memoir of anecdotes from their past
and e-mail exchanges from their collective present. A graduate of The College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, MN, Rosalie
is married to David Koskenmaki and the proud mother of three. She reads hundreds of books every year and her hobbies
include a daily walk in the woods and collecting inkwells. Among her 20 books of particular interest to feminists
are the "Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage: A Guide to Nondiscriminatory Language," "The New Beacon
Book of Quotations by Women," "An Impulse to Soar: Quotations by Women on Leadership," "Talking
About People: A Guide to Fair and Accurate Language," "Quotations from Women on Life", "How
to Say It," "Nonsexist Wordfinder: A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage." Coming soon is "Unspinning
the Spin."
More about Rosalie at www.rosaliemaggio.com.
Got opinions? Send them to maggio1@juno.com or to womansvoice123@gmail.com
.
Check out the Comments from our Readers on Rosalie's first article "Lion/Lioness" just click here: Feminist Language ...
Your Comments are Welcome! Just Send them to maggio1@juno.com
or to
womansvoice123@gmail.com.
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Collbran Colorado - the site of the American
Service Woman's Memorial - From Sheila Tobias.
I was traveling in the mountains just outside
of Grand Junction, Colorado last week with a group when I noticed a small green directional sign on the road ---The
American Service Woman's Memorial. So we drove the 5 or 6 miles out of the way to have a look. We enquired of a
gas station manager in the town as to its origins and learned that the impetus came from a local man who thought
"the time had come to honor service women." A list of founder/donors on one of the pictures includes
Gayle Norton,former attorney General of the State of Colorado who served as Secretary of the Interior from 2001
to 2006 under President George W. Bush. This is possibly one of a kind. It's not listed in the guidebooks.
Would anyone know if there are other comparable Memorials specifically to women in the U.S. armed services around
the country?
If you do, please let us know. Thanks!
Sheila
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SPECIAL
KNOW YOUR VFA OFFICERS
AND BOARD MEMBERS
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A NEW VFA SERIES TO COMPLEMENT FEMINIST OF THE MONTH!
Responses to our Feminist of the Month
series have been so enthusiastic that we’re going to introduce you to VFA’s board members, who are also very special
feminists. We've already featured Barbara Love (October, 2009) and Muriel Fox, our Chair (July, 2010), as a feminist
icon. You'll soon be reading about our co-president, Sheila Tobias, and other officers, including me.
You too are special. We’re urging each and every pioneer feminist to write her bio, using VFA's as a model. Write
something personal and warm that shows the real you. Write about your childhood influences, who or what had an
impact on your life, how you came to devote so much of your life to feminism. Tell what you’ve done. We’re not
as interested in the awards you’ve received as why you got those awards… and what made you YOU!
Try to keep it under 2,000 words. Our web manager, finds photos and illustrations to dramatize the bios and sets
them up on our webpage. Editing is done by Jacqui, Joan Michel and the author - you. Hoping to hear from you soon.
Jacqui
Contact: jcvfa@aol.com
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Meeting the VFA Board!
Sheila Tobias
Co-President, Exec VP
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Forty years,12 books,
myriad memberships, scores of good feminist friends, later, I have no regrets. It was great to be alive in the
1960s and 1970s (to paraphrase Wordsworth) and to be a young feminist was very heaven!
Sheila Tobias August 2010
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SHEILA TOBIAS - AUTHOR,
CONSULTANT, SPEAKER ON MATHEMATICS, CO PRESIDENT OF VETERAN FEMINISTS OF AMERICA
 I never write about my childhood,
or my family. As far as I am concerned nothing significant happened to a well-adjusted and school-successful little
girl until I went to college with two exceptions but they were only important in retrospect.
1) my mother dragged me to hear Eleanor Roosevelt making a train stop in our home town during the 1944 reelection
campaign for FDR. 2) a volunteer Christmas children's present wrapping project brought me to an historic "Women's
Institute" in my home town, no longer much used, but harboring smells, and secrets of an earlier time. "Who
worked here? What did they do? Why is there no remnant of what was here?" I wondered and never did find out
but the time in the Women's Institute (I was about 12) set me up to study women's history much later.
As a teenager, I was blessed by late physical (sexual) development, so I could be a child longer and enjoy a bunch
of likeminded nerdy males in my classes with whom I could interact without dating or "going steady."
I was a serious student of pretty much all subjects, a lover of languages, and dreamed of living abroad. (Much
influenced by WW II movies and novels and even more the memoirs of the expats of the WW I generation.)
I had a great time in college; and much adventure
during 4 and half years in low level journalism jobs in Europe. Home to a graduate program I didn't like in European
history, and which I left in 1965, never to return to get a PhD.
I liked women, but I liked the company of intellectually
stimulating men, too, a lot. I just didn't want to limit myself to one partner, one life style, one career, or
one country. Having children seemed to me like doing childhood all over again.
A big part of my emotional life (what engages other women when they have home and hearth) was taken up with men
- lots of them and great relationships bringing no regrets even when they ended. That's certainly not "meat"
for a feminist biography. Having decided early on NOT to marry and be a HouseWife/Mother, I was freer than most
of the women of my generation (b. 1935) to explore myself, try out different men and different lives and avoid
commitment of either kind: personal or professional. I married when I was 35 to someone who agreed to my conditions:
no children. (That marriage lasted 10 years; my subsequent marriage is still going on after 23.)
Now, if I wasn't a freak, I was certainly an outlier.
But remember: all those WWII movies placed family off stage.
I did flounder in my 20s but only partly I thought
then (and still think now) because of discrimination though I have observed (since then) that the women mentors
who might have guided me (women 15 years my senior, born in 1920) were just not there. They had lost their professional
jobs during the Depression and never really recovered the momentum one needs in one's twenties to succeed in one's
forties. Needless to say, there were NO women professors at Harvard-Radcliffe where I went to school.
Frances Fitzgerald
photo by David Shankbone
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But I never blamed anyone or any misogynist system
for my not getting ahead. I figured it was because I was not able to commit: I shuttled between journalism and
academe: too journalistic for my graduate program, too academic (and too scared to go to a war zone) to be a journalist.
Of course there were barriers, but Frances Fitzgerald - 7 years my junior - got herself to Vietnam in the mid sixties
from which she wrote a great book  "Fire
in the Lake." And my classmate, David Halberstam, made himself a lifelong career in the same era with "The
Best and the Brightest." So I couldn't blame anyone but myself.
What made me ripe for feminism as the 1960s wound to an end was a growing respect for other women especially those
I met in the course of civil rights summers in the South and anti-Vietnam war work in New York and Ithaca. I was
most impressed with Southern white women whom (I wrote at the time) couldn't be part-time civil rights activists.
Once they crossed the line, their churches and their families turned them out. Inspired by southern women of the
recent past, like Lilian Smith ("Killers of the Dream") and other southern women writers, they seemed
braver and more authentic than the women and girls I had grown up with; even than the WWII survivors I had met
in Germany.
Lucille Whipper
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In the South I worked for a Black woman who exuded
a comfort with authority my women age mates were not even aiming for. She was Lucille Whipper, the wife of a Black
minister in my Upward Bound project. In selecting me to be her assistant director, Mrs. Whipper gave me my first
experience working for a woman and I was nearly 30 at the time.
As my age mates and younger women emerged from anti-war
and civil rights to form women's liberation cells in 1968-1970, I connected - even though I had not the litany
of complaints that drove the others. The IDEAS drew me, especially the analysis of Kate Millett, whom I met and
got to come to Cornell, early on, and the (I thought) interesting and contrasting leadership styles of Gloria Steinem
and Betty Friedan. (I got to know both.)
I joined them not because I needed the Movement, but because they drew me in. And once in, I discovered what I
had been prevented from learning how to do and to be at Harvard and beyond, namely something of a leader, and altogether
committed to something other than my career. And of course, once I stopped trying to figure out what I wanted to
do, there it was waiting for me to take up.
At the time I joined the feminist movement (1968-69)
I had given up my PhD but not yet Academe where I felt much at home. I was a junior Administrator at Cornell where
the most recent boyfriend (later husband) was pursuing a cutting-edge PhD in environmental policy (1968!! before
Earth Day). My boss, the vice president, was a physicist (I would be drawn to physicists ever after) and he gave
me wide berth to do and invent programs. One of these was a "Conference on Women" in 1969, encouraged
by Kate Millett and the New York radical women. The Conference (which I audiotaped and wrote up in a short book,
still in the Cornell archives) changed my life and that of scores of Cornell/Ithaca women. A Women's Studies course
(one of the first) and a Women's Studies Program (definitely one of the first) followed in the next two years and
I was suddenly on the right side of history! Being a writer, I was notating all that happened, collecting syllabi
of new "feminist" course materials, and meeting dozens of like minded academic and not so academic women
around the country.
I collected the first women's studies syllabi into a booklet I wrongly named "Female Studies" but anticipating
a continuing series of volumes, denoted it "No. I." I attended meetings of various women's groups in
the East and began to be invited to talk about "sex role socialization" "women's studies" and
eventually "Math Anxiety",
"Know your Weapons" and
the many other subject areas I found myself and others opening up. I made tremendous friends, far fewer enemies
than one would have anticipated. I had "arrived" at a place I felt was going to be mine for a very long
time.
Forty years, 12 books, myriad memberships, scores of good feminist friends, later, I have no regrets. It was great
to be alive in the 1960s and 1970s (to paraphrase Wordsworth) and to be a young feminist was very heaven! Sheila Tobias August 2010
For the past 25 years, Sheila Tobias has been studying, writing, and lecturing on "neglected issues in science
and mathematics education," supported by the Ford, Rockefeller, and Sloan Foundations and by the Research
Corporation of Tucson, Arizona. Among her best known books are Overcoming Math Anxiety; Succeed with Math; Breaking the Science Barrier; They're not Dumb,
They're Different; Revitalizing Undergraduate Science: Why Some Things Work and Most Don't; and Rethinking Science
as a Career. 
In adddition to her books on science/math anxiety and avoidance, Sheila published her own political retrospective
on the Second Wave entitled Faces
of Feminism: An Activist's Reflections on the Women's Movement (1997) reviewed in the N.Y. Times by Wendy Kaminer, and with Jean Bethke Elstain Women, Militarism, and War: Essays in History and Social
Theory (1990). Her demystification
of weapons, war policy, and defense spending, What
Kinds of Guns are they Buying for Your Butter?
brought her to Tucson Arizona to collaborate with defense specialist Peter Goudinoff in 1981. The book was published
in 1982. But Sheila stayed on in Tucson for the rest of her career. Other co-authors of that book were Bella Abzug's
one-time assistant, Shelah Leader, and Shelah's husband Stefan. That is the only one of Sheila's books out of print.
For more information on Sheila Tobias visit her Web site: http://sheilatobias.com
E-Mail: sheilat@sheilatobias.com
For more information, contact:
Sheila Tobias
Post Office Box 43758
Tucson AZ 85733-3758
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AUGUST 2010
FEMINIST of the MONTH
DR. BARBARA J. BERG
As a child I'd heard the stories
of my Great Aunt Rose's twelve year old passage across the Atlantic Ocean with her younger sister, (my Grandmother
Gertrude), their faces turned away from Odessa and memories of the Easter Pogrom which killed their parents and
every last vestige of childhood.
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Thick plumes of smoke were billowing
out of the eighth floor window of the Triangle Shirt Waist Company, the floor in the same factory where until that
very morning they'd sat at sewing machines. People were yelling to the girls hanging out the windows,
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But all the doors had been locked
to prevent the workers from taking breaks. That day when my Great Aunt and Grandma stood in horror as 146 of their
friends and co-workers perished hideously formed the master narrative of my family.
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Aunt Rose became a factory inspector,
focusing on the terrible conditions of female operatives, and later an officer of the International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union
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I started graduate school at
the City University of New York in 1971. The Vietnam War was raging and I joined the CUNY anti- war group. Working
on my doctorate was the fulfillment of a long time dream, but it was a tough time personally. My marriage was unhappy
and I experienced a hefty dose of gender discrimination at school.
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I started teaching women's history
at Sarah Lawrence College with Gerda Lerner, a pioneer in the field. Sarah Lawrence was the first school to offer
an MA in Women's History.
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Gerda Lerner with landmark sign
designating Sarah Lawrence College the home of the first graduate program in women's history.
Photo: Courtesy Gerda Lerner
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I took a fulltime job at The Horace
Mann School in Riverdale New York, in 1991 and started a women's history program. The school had been coed for
twenty years but in many ways it retained the feel of an all boys' school.
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DR. BARBARA
J. BERG, HISTORIAN, WRITER, SPEAKER, ADVOCATE FOR LANGUAGE EQUALITY, ABUSED WOMEN AND CHILDREN, WOMEN PRISONERS.
 My life was shaped by the women of
my family who struggled against the privations of their sex. As a child I'd heard the stories of my Great Aunt
Rose's twelve year old passage across the Atlantic Ocean with her younger sister, (my Grandmother Gertrude), their
faces turned away from Odessa and memories of the Easter Pogrom which killed their parents and every last vestige
of childhood.
The sisters were taken in by cousins on Bayard Street in New York. Within a week they were working in a factory
twelve hours a day, followed by night school to learn English. When classes became more demanding, they asked their
foreman if they could leave an hour earlier one evening. He refused, but they left anyway, thinking they could
make up the time. The next morning the factory door was shut in their faces.
They immediately began looking for jobs in the neighborhood. Later that afternoon they were swept up by a crowd
shoving them towards the intersection of Green and Washington Streets. Thick plumes of smoke were billowing out
of the eighth floor window of the Triangle Shirt Waist Company, the floor in the same factory where until that
very morning they'd sat at sewing machines. People were yelling to the girls hanging out the windows, "Get
to the stairs." "Go up on the roof." But all the doors had been locked to prevent the workers from
taking breaks. That day when my Great Aunt and Grandma stood in horror as 146 of their friends and co-workers perished
hideously formed the master narrative of my family.
Aunt Rose became a factory inspector, focusing on the terrible conditions of female operatives, and later an officer
of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. She trained as a social worker and joined the Jewish Board
of Guardians helping young women acclimatize themselves to America. Gertrude married a young union rep, a fiery
The International Ladies' Garment
Workers Union (ILGWU Local 25) began a strike against the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Most of the workers were
young Jewish and Italian women.
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orator, who ran for Alderman on the Socialist Party ticket. His proudest memory was carrying Eugene V. Debs' suitcase.
While other children learned Itsy-Bitsy Spider, I learned Union Maid and other songs of my mother's youth. And
I understood why to look for the union label and why we needed Solidarity Forever.
My parents met in the library of Columbia University. My mom, a history major at Barnard College, worked nights
at Macy's to supplement her scholarship, and my dad was getting his doctorate in psychology at Columbia. Their
relationship was forged in the fiery caldron of progressive policies of the 1930s.
From my earliest days, I received the traditional 1950s- white-male-power-kind of education at public schools in
Brooklyn, and the untraditional all-inclusive-struggles of the powerless-kind from my own family. Did my grandparents
and parents use the term feminist? Probably not, but the injustices against women were an ongoing theme of my informal
lessons.
Every summer, with twelve other families, we vacationed in Vermont on the shores of Lake Champlain. College professors,
school principals, teachers, created an idyllic equalitarian community. Families lived in small cabins with ice-chest-
refrigerators, kerosene stoves, no telephones-and shared chores and much of the childcare. During those years I
experienced a gender-blind world and saw first hand the artificiality of sex-linked roles.
Then illness upended our summer vacations and all else in our lives. I came home from school one day to dreadful
news. My 46 year old father had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. "I wish it were me, I wish it were
me," my mother kept sobbing.
I didn't understand. Why in the world did she want to be the sick one?"
"Because Daddy would be able to take care of you and Lucy (my older sister)," she explained. "What
will I be able to do? I have no job, no income. How will I get him the best treatment? How will I support us?'
Then she looked at me gravely and said, "You must always be able to work? Do you understand what I'm telling
you?"
And I did.
My mom became a history teacher, then school librarian, taking care of my sister and me and getting my father into
the first clinical trials in the country for L-Dopa, the then new miracle drug which kept him mobile until his
death at age 73.
Like my mother, I studied history in college and worked. I found a job as a waitress; most of my co-workers were
older than I and their stories dramatized the cultural noose ghettoizing women into the low-level positions. I
knew then that my future would be dedicated to trying to improve women's lives in any and everyway that I could.
Before I'd graduated from the University of Rochester, I decided to go on for a doctorate in history, but I needed
to save money first. Married to my college boyfriend, who was in dental school, I taught for two years at a junior
high school in Brooklyn while doing my first 30 credits part time. What sad lives my students had! Not having enough
food to eat on a routine basis, girls 15 years old and younger were taking care of 3 or 4 siblings and frequent
"catting out " (riding the New York City subways all night). I set up small mentoring groups to help
them and met my students during free periods several times a week.
When the girls told me that riding the subways was a way to avoid physical and sexual abuse at home I sprung into
action, notifying the school administration, the Board of Education, social services. The only way I could protect
some of my students from abuse was to have them sleep on the pull-out in my living room for weeks at a time. Domestic
violence wasn't acknowledged as a problem then, and only later, when I became involved in the Women's Movement,
did I learn that there were others who had also set up shelters for the abused women.
I started graduate school at the City University of New York in 1971. The Vietnam War was raging and I joined the
CUNY anti- war group. Working on my doctorate was the fulfillment of a long time dream, but it was a tough time
personally. My marriage was unhappy and I experienced a hefty dose of gender discrimination at school. My contributions
weren't taken as seriously in seminars and I had to put up with comments from male colleagues who'd say things
like:" What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" It was the same attitude in the Anti-War Movement;
no matter how much women contributed, no matter what risks women endured, we were still "chicks and babes."
In 1970 a woman I'd worked with asked me to join a Consciousness Raising Group, Supported by other women, I finally
had the courage to leave my husband and although it meant taking on more teaching assignments, I had greater emotional
energy to devote to my studies.
 Researching and writing my doctoral
dissertation in those heady first years of the Women's Movement joyfully directed my attention to the lives of
nineteenth century women. My dissertation and first book, The Remembered Gate: Origins of American Feminism established a nascent, but vibrant feminism in the earliest years of the New Republic
among urban women who banded together to help the downtrodden of their sex. Signing their letters, "Thine
in the Bonds of Sisterhood," they advocated for female prisoners and prostitutes at a time when these women
were considered barely human. . My book documented a feminist consciousness in America years before it was thought
to have originated, among groups of women who didn't yet have any connection to abolitionism. It stirred controversy,
but became a standard text of women's history courses.
In 1971, I married Arnold Schlanger, an attorney and a wonderful man, who shared my passion for social justice
and women's rights, and had a delightful 3 year old daughter. I started teaching women's history at Sarah Lawrence
College with Gerda Lerner, a pioneer in the field. Sarah Lawrence was the first school to offer an MA in Women's
History. Our days were filled with teaching, conferences, mentoring students, working on policy papers. I threw
myself headlong into the Women's Movement, joining just about every women's organization I could find.
Then a personal loss.
Before I'd started at SLC I'd suffered a miscarriage (a baby girl) in my fifth month of pregnancy. I became pregnant
again, but learned in the seventh month I'd have to stay in bed until I delivered. The school bused my students
to my house twice a week until the end of the year. My husband carried me from the bed to the sofa (I felt like
a nineteenth century invalid); the experience bonded me even closer with my students who made the baby a patchwork
quilt of women's history.
Then, without warning I went into labor at the end of my eighth month and delivered a baby girl, stillborn. I was
devastated and disturbed by the callous treatment of the male-medical establishment. As for the hospitals, they
were in the Dark Ages in dealing with women who lost babies. I took a leave from SLC and began to research medical
textbooks to see if I could understand what had gone wrong, but also to get a sense of what doctors were learning.
And I got it, all right. The books contained egregious sexist language and sentiment, mortifying and dismissive
to women about what went on in our own bodies.
 Now I had two projects: Having a family
and trying to change the medical culture. My approach to the latter was through writing, speaking and teaching:
My second book Nothing to Cry About, (the title taken from the insensitive comment my doctor
made when I burst into tears during my miscarriage at the news it was a girl and she was perfectly normal) was
an indictment of the medical profession's treatment of women. I was invited to talk about the subject on television
talk shows, radio, and at perinatal bereavement conferences. We adopted an infant girl when I was pregnant again
(seven months in bed, the last three in a hospital this time), and with the birth of a healthy baby boy we now
had two children less than seven months apart!
When my children were babies I wrote about health, women's in particular, for The New York Times' Magazine; M.;
Parents, and many other publications. I started the course Medicine and Literature at Mount Sinai Hospital to teach
medical students to become more sensitive to their patients. A large part of the curriculum focused on women. I
ultimately taught the course at Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, Yale Medical School and The Academy
of Medicine. One of my most enduring connections-going on now for thirty years- was to become a member of the Mount
Sinai Community Board whose mission is to bring quality health care to the East Harlem community. We've held conferences
on domestic violence and parenting skills, sponsored women's health days, and raised awareness about breast cancer,
diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
 As a working mother with two young children
at home, I was experiencing some of the difficulties confronting other women: lack of affordable quality childcare,
bosses (in my case editors and department chairs) who made no allowance for sick children, workplace harassment
and lower pay than my male colleagues. Still I was one of the fortunate ones. What about women across the nation?
What were their difficulties and struggles? I sent out a questionnaire, received nearly 1,000 responses, then interviewed
several hundred more women. The results formed the basis of my book, The Crisis of the Working Mother. I traveled across the country speaking and holding workshops on the difficulties women,
especially mothers, faced in the workplace and how to tackle them, and I began to push for reformed government
and corporate policies. I used my writing as a platform for my views, my articles appearing in magazines like Working
Mother, Working Woman and Savvy-in one piece (1986) I called for an end to the "Mommy Wars."
In the late 80s, my husband lost his position as General Counsel to a corporation, and, like many Americans then
was having difficulty getting a new one. I took a fulltime job at The Horace Mann School in Riverdale New York,
in 1991 and started a women's history program. The school had been coed for twenty years but in many ways it retained
the feel of an all boys' school. My second year there I became a dean of students in addition to my teaching. The
first thing I did was have male language "as we men go forth etc…" in the school Alma Mater changed,
then I took on sexual harassment which had been going on unchecked for years. Convincing the rest of the administration
that we needed a policy was no easy matter; but finally I prevailed as long as I was willing to write it. I did
and served as a point person for eight years, successfully overseeing several complicated cases.
At many high schools, young women suffer from lack of self-esteem, eating disorders, risky behaviors, and subtle
forms of discrimination. Horace Mann was no different. I started a Women's Issues Club where we could address these
issues and founded periodical Folio 51 (which has won several national awards) to remedy the male bias of the school
newspaper. Every year the Women's Issue Club sponsored a Christmas Party for Sanctuary for Families' domestic violence
shelter.
My revelations of discrimination at HM led to my appointment as Director of Co-Education K - 12 for three years.
I looked at everything from the kindergarten play area to elementary school readers to the songs at commencement
to the number of times girls were called on in classrooms compared to boys; my report was used as a model by other
high schools. During that time I was the recipient of numerous grants to make high school curricula more gender
neutral and wrote The Women's Movement
and Young Women Today to remedy
the lack of books on this topic for middle schoolers. In 1995 I received The Distinguished Teacher Award (one of
50 nationwide) from President Bill Clinton.
I left HM , with regret, to spend more time with my mom who was becoming physically frail and to dedicate myself
to writing, but I was asked by the school to devise Leader Training Seminars for young women, so I had an opportunity
to continue some of my work with the female students.
 In 2009 I wrote Sexism in America: Alive, Well and Ruining Our Future to debunk the myth that we are a post-feminist society.
Starting a with an account of the second wave women's movement, the book draws on medical research, legislation,
movies, television shows, advertisements, and hundreds of interviews to reveal the extent to which misogyny is
the new Come-Back-Kid, even considered cool and camp in many quarters. It tells the stories of women who faced
discrimination in school and at work, thinking they were the only ones. The success of a few women seduce us into
thinking that all the battles have been won. In reality, sexism insidiously, but pervasively has short-circuited
the legacy of the women's movement in every aspect of our lives. My book also provides a blueprint of what we can
do to secure our rights.
In addition to my work at Mount Sinai as co-chair of the program committee, I'm a vice president of the New York
Correctional Association, the oldest prisoner-rights organization in the nation and one of two with a mission of
prison-oversight. My work is largely around issues concerning incarcerated women, visiting them, holding focus
groups to ascertain their needs and advocating for policy change. For example, when it became apparent that the
healthcare books in the prison libraries were woefully out of date, we organized a book drive and added to the
collections of all seven female correctional institutions in New York. I am also on the board of the National Women's
History Project which is responsible, not only for Women's History Month, but for keeping women's history a vital
part of the curriculum at schools across the nation.
 I wrote Sexism in America as a wake up call. We all can envision a more equitable world for our daughters and sons
than the one we are living in. Now we have to make it happen!
(pictured left: Barbara and Family enjoying a day at the beach)
Barbara J. Berg's website is www.barbarajberg.com
Comments: Jaccqui Ceballos: jcvfa@aol.com
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...where would you
be if it weren't for them?
Visit Edie Hand's
and
Tina Savas's websites
www.ediehand.com
www.ediehandfoundation.org
www.womenoftruegrit.com
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Women of
True Grit
By Edie Hand and Tina Savas
ISBN: 978-0-9825396-0-6, Hard Cover, $24.95
Finally… the stories and secrets from the women who did it: work, succeed, pave the way for others to triumph.
What did it take? What did they conquer? And where would you be if it weren't for them? Many of these women were
the first in their fields and are now ready to share their past, their secrets, and their personal stories. They
have decided it is time to speak out…to candidly share what happened to them because they were women. It is important
not to forget. But most people have.
What makes this book unique? They tell it like it really was and is today, stunning real-life stories. Pillars
of their communities…with various ethnic backgrounds…from all across America…with careers ranging from airline
operator to advertising executive to horse jockey to Brigadier General. They are extraordinary women of vision
and determination.
Women of True Grit are the "WOW" women for the history books. They
are the infamous and the famous who have touched our lives for the better.
Edie Hand's philosophy for living life with gusto can be seen in everything she does as an acclaimed celebrity
chef, author, philanthropist, speaker, and business woman. She has been the CEO of Hand N' Hand Advertising, Inc.
since 1976. Edie is actively involved with American Women in Radio and Television and the National Speakers Association.
The Edie Hand Foundation works with special needs children. For more information go to these websites:
Tina Savas is among the first wave of women entrepreneurs in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1983, she founded the Birmingham
Business Journal newspaper, followed by Alabama Health News, Alabama Construction News, and Birmingham Weekly,
the area's only weekly alternative newspaper and continual winner of national editorial awards. Savas continues
her entrepreneurial spirit through real estate investment and other business ventures
Jacqui Ceballos Comments on True Grit
Three pioneer feminists are included in True
Grit, which features stories about
extraordinary women -- Roxcy Bolton, Florida activist famed for, among other things, getting Weather Bureau to
stop naming hurricanes after women only; Joan Hull, early NYNOW head of Employment Committee, who worked to see
that Title VII was enforced, and Anne Tolstoi Wallach, the first woman to break the “glass ceiling” in the advertising
industry. Jacqui Ceballos
Excerpts from a review by Kim Luu
, June 6, 2010
A self-help book that really tells it like it is. A rare find. True Grit
stands out because it is the actual words of the women who lived their lives, and not second-hand stories filtered
through the view point of a writer.
Each chapter features a woman’s essay about her own experiences. The women are diverse in age and ethnicity. What
I enjoyed about the book was the raw honesty in some of the stories.
One writer discussed an issue rarely acknowledged; how some women are biased against other women simply because
of their gender. They will actually go as far as sabotaging another woman’s career simply out of jealousy. Another
issue brought up was the danger of depending upon a husband for financial security, and then dealing with the aftermath
of divorce or death of the family’s breadwinner.
The book also includes stories from pioneering women, often unknown to the general public; women such as June Morris,
the first woman to own an airline and Delores Kesler, the first woman to take a company public on Wall Street.
This collection of stories of women in business is inspiring. At it’s core is the belief that anyone can achieve
their goals if they are focused, hard working and determined to move forward with their career, and their life.
Women of True Grit can be purchased through Amazon
or your local bookstore.
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Dorothy Sucher, Reporter in Press-Freedom Case,
NOW LEADER, Dies at 77
 Dorothy Sucher, whose $5-a-week reporting for a small-town newspaper 45 years ago led to
a United States Supreme Court decision that bolstered freedom of the press, died Aug. 22 at her home in Silver
Spring, Md. She was 77. The cause was thyroid cancer, her husband, Joseph, said.
Ms. Sucher was reporting for the nonprofit Greenbelt News Review in Greenbelt, Md., in 1965 (population 13,000
then, 21,000 now) when she covered City Council meetings where several residents railed against a real estate developer’s
position on a land deal.
The developer, Charles Bresler, refused to
sell the city a tract for a school unless it agreed to zoning variances on two of his other properties. Ms. Sucher’s
article quoted the residents as saying that that amounted to “blackmail.” Mr. Bresler sued for libel and, in a
decision later upheld by Maryland’s highest court, was awarded $17,500 in damages.
But in 1970 the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the press could not be held liable for reporting exaggerated
charges leveled against public figures when it was clear that the accusations were “hyperbole.” The decision, in
Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Assn. v. Bresler, restricted the traditional legal assumption that someone falsely
accused of a crime can recover damages for defamation, even without proof of having suffered monetary loss because
of the libel.
The opinion concluded that when accusations that technically amount to a criminal charge are made during heated
public debate, they cannot constitutionally be the basis of a libel or slander judgment if it is clear that there
was no intention to accuse anyone of criminal conduct.
Written by Justice Potter Stewart, the opinion held that “even the most careless reader must have perceived that
the word” — blackmail — “was no more than rhetorical hyperbole, a vigorous epithet used by those who considered
Bresler’s negotiating position extremely unreasonable.” To rule otherwise, the opinion said, “would subvert the
most fundamental meaning of the free press.”
Ms. Sucher, who was a largely volunteer reporter, columnist and associate editor of The News Review from 1959 to
1970, worked at the newspaper again from 1993 to 2004, including two years as editor in chief. In the interim she
had been in private practice as a psychotherapist, started writing books and was a leader of the women’s movement
in Maryland. In 1978, she became a coordinator in the state for the National Organization for Women.
She wrote three books: two mysteries, “Dead Men Don’t Give Seminars” (1988) and “Dead Men Don’t Marry” (1989),
and a collection of essays, “The Invisible Garden” (1999).
Born Dorothy Glassman in Brooklyn on May 18,
1933, she was the only child of Henry and Shirley Hankin Glassman. Her father was an accountant; her mother was
a medical secretary. She graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1954 with a degree in English and,
in 1975, received a master’s degree in mental health from Johns Hopkins.
Besides her husband of 58 years, an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Maryland, she is survived
by two sons and a granddaughter.
Ms. Sucher wrote “half a book” about the libel case, her husband said, but never found a publisher. “She was furious
about the whole thing,” he said. “This was an energy-sapping, four-year fight against Goliath, and she felt she
was a warrior for freedom of the press.”
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SECOND
CHANCE FOR SECOND-WAVE FEMINISTS
If you are not included in the much-praised Feminists
Who Changed America,1963-1975
(University of Illinois Press), you can still be included if you active quickly. Barbara Love, the editor, is taking
questionnaires for a second edition/supplement.
The second opportunity will only be open for a short time. You deserve to be included in this reference work documenting
our contributions. So CLICK
HERE for the questionnaire,
You can Print it, fill
it out and send it to Barbara at Pioneer Feminists Project, c/o Barbara Love 82 Deer Hill Ave., Danbury, CT 06810. or
fax to: 203-826-9701
The first edition included biographies of over 2,200 second-wave feminists and has sold more than 3,000 copies,
many to libraries and universities. This is a project in partnership with Veteran Feminists of America and VFA
receives royalties. So do it now and send the questionnaire to your friends and and other activists who improved
the lives of women and girls in America.
Contact Barbara Love: bjlove@msn.com
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VFA OFFICERS
Jacqui Ceballos, President
Sheila Tobias - Co-President
Muriel Fox - Board Chair
Joan Michel, VP/Public Relations
Judith Kaplan - Vice-Pres
Gracia Molina-Pick -VP
Virginia Watkins - Secretary
Amy Hackett, Treasurer
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FINDING LOVE ON THE INTERNET
HAS JUST GOTTEN EASIER!
BARBARA LOVE ANNOUNCES THAT FEMINISTS WHO CHANGED AMERICA IS ON GOOGLE'S BOOK SEARCH.
 Millions
of people will now have access to biographies OF PIONEER FEMINISTS.
GOOGLE''S Book Search is used by librarians, scholars, booksellers, and readers worldwide. Book Search gives browsers
a taste of the book, much like browsing in a bookstore or library. In Limited Preview mode users can search the
full text for relevant terms, but they can see only 10% or so of the book's content.
*Feminists Who Changed America ~ 1963 - 1975 edited by Barbara J. Love of the Pioneer Feminists Project in partnership
with Veteran Feminists of America, a tax-exempt organization created to document feminist history, inspire younger
generations, and rekindle the spirit of the feminist revolution. The book that documents the contributions of more
than 2,250 feminist women and men is now a reality after a decade of effort. Feminists Who Changed America, 1963
-- 1975 has been published by the University of Illinois Press, a press with "a good feminist consciousness."
Here is the Google Book Search record for Feminists
Who Changed America:
Feminists Who Changed America Google Book Search
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Contact: jcvfa@aol.com
Veteran Feminists of America
Jacqui Ceballos
VFA
PO Box 44551,
Phoenix, AZ 85016
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KNOW YOUR HEROES....
GREAT FEMINISTS OF A GREAT GENERATION 1963 to 1983
Introducing PIONEER FEMINIST OF THE
MONTH
Each month we're featuring one or two of the great feminists featured in FEMINISTS WHO CHANGED AMERICA... We hope to get to everyone, but there are over 2000 in the book, and it would take
100 years and none of us will be here! So we're hoping that this rakes up so much interest that each one of you
will get your local newspapers to write about you and everyone from your state. This way you'll not only be honoring
local heroes of our great ongoing revolution, but it will call attention to VFA's work at documenting and preserving
the history of the Second Wave, and encourage younger women to continue where we left off.
CONTACT JACQUI CEBALLOS: jcvfa@aol.com
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Betrayal
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Are
You On The Cover of Feminists Who Changed America?
 This cover photo was taken at
the Houston Conference in 1977 by famed photographer of the early movement, Bettye Lane.
Many of us have wondered just who are these women and men? If they recognized themselves, why don't they tell us
who they are, where are they today, and what are they doing? At the March 19th celebration in Dallas - Bonnie Wheeler, who organized the event, announced that she is the passionate, young woman in glasses, waving her fist at the bottom of the page. Today she is Associate Professor of English, Director
of Medieval Studies at Southern Methodist University and editor of Arthuriana. She is still a passionate feminist
and a member of VFA's board.
If you are on this cover, or know who others are, please
get in touch with VFA at jcvfa@aol.com. |
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Veteran
Feminists of America
 VFA
is a nonprofit organization for veterans of the Second Wave of the feminist movement. The goals are to enjoy the camaraderie forged during those years of intense
commitment, to honor ourselves and our heroes, to document our history, to rekindle the spark and spirit of the
feminist revolution and act as keeper of the flame so that the ideals of feminism continue to reverberate and influence
others.
Contact VFA: jcvfa@aol.com
Veteran Feminists
of America
PO Box 44551,
Phoenix, AZ 85064
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VFA is a nonprofit organization for veterans of the Second Wave of the feminist movement. The goals are to enjoy
the camaraderie forged during those years of intense commitment, to honor ourselves and our heroes, to document
our history, to rekindle the spark and spirit of the feminist revolution and act as keeper of the flame so that
the ideals of feminism continue to reverberate and influence others.
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