Roberta Malavenda oral history interview, November 22, 1998

Item — othertype: Oral History

Staff Only

Scope and Contents note

Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Roberta Malavenda begins by describing her childhood, parents and youthful aspirations. She says that she was always interested in politics and her political ambitions led her to become the vice-president of Hillel during her tenure at Indiana University. She talks about her trip to Santiago, Chile, during her sophomore year of college, and then about attending graduate school at Columbia University. In Gainesville, Florida, Malavenda helped to organize the United Farm Workers movement, with Cesar Chavez and his wife, and she states that it was during her time in Gainesville that she became interested in joining the Women’s Movement. Malavenda and her husband moved to Georgia in 1977, and she quickly began working for the ERA campaign as a field coordinator. Malavenda accounts the incredible political battles that were fought in Georgia, the leadership of the Women’s Movement, as well as how other major issues, including civil rights and gay rights affected the Women’s Movement.

Dates

Creation: November 22, 1998

Creator

Malavenda, Roberta (Interviewee, Person)

Restriction on Access

Oral history available for research. Please contact Special Collections and Archives about accessing this oral history.

Biographical Note

Roberta Malavenda was born in 1944 in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in a Jewish community, and a very politically-oriented household. Malavenda attended Columbia University and, as a sophomore, she spent four months in Santiago, Chile during the 1964 Chilean presidential election. Politically active during her college years, Malavenda was involved in SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), while also pursuing degrees in political science and Latin American studies. After leaving Columbia, she began working as a community organizer in New York with the Puerto Rican Family Institute. After moving to Atlanta in the early 1970s, Malavenda joined the Georgia Women's Political Caucus, and went on to become involved with the ERA campaign in Georgia. Malavenda has worked as an educator, community consultant, social worker and community organizer advocating for child care and for the rights of people with developmental disabilities. She is currently the Deputy Director of Programs for the Save the Children Child Care Support Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and serves as the president of Parent Services Project, Inc. and as the co-chair of the National Family Support/Child Care Project, PSP, Inc. She was involved with both the National Women's Political Caucus and the Georgia Women's Political Caucus, serving as the ERA state coordinator and president, 1979-1980.