Re: NOW in the 1960's and the 1990's [2 responses]

Jo Freeman (JFRBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU)
Mon, 8 Apr 1996 11:29:10 -0400

[1]
There is probably more written on NOW in the 1960s than in the 1990s. Read the
early books on the movement, including mine (The Poltics of Women's Liberation,
chapter 3) and Hole and Levine's Rebirth of Feminism) and the cites in those
to the periodical literature. Also see my two chapters on early feminism in my
anthology Social Moements of the 60s and 70s. Add Friedan's It Changed My Life
and the biography of Wilma Scott Heide (can't remember the title), NOW's third
President. Unfortunately, NOW'ssecond president hasn't written anything. Also
see: Sappho Was a Right On Woman by Abbott andLove for stuff on conflict withi
n early NOW over lesbianism, and Ti-Grace Atkinson, Amazon Odessy, on emergence
of The Feminists from New York NOW. Also, Carden's The New Feminist Movement
is based heavily on interviews with NOW members.

Jo Freeman
JFRBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

[2]

Cara:

There's a lot on the founding of NOW in the 60s. A few examples
include:

Betty Friedan has an essay on the founding of NOW in her _It
Changed My Life_, I believe.

Cynthia Harrison, _On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's
Issues 1945-1968_ has a full chapter on the founding of NOW.

For NOW in the 70s, see Winifred Wandersee, _On the Move: American
Women in the 1970s._

You might also want to look at the relevant chapters in two broader
histories of women in the United States; they both early treat women's
liberation, including NOW: Sara Evans _Personal Politics_ and Rosalind
Rosenberg _Divided Lives: American Women in the Twentieth Century._

The footnotes in the above 4 books can also lead you to more sources

Gail

Gail_Bederman@Brown.edu