Box 3

Scope and Contents note Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Parker begins by recounting her childhood in rural South Georgia. She describes life in a poor black family, without consistent access to education. Parker states that the Methodist Church was a very powerful influence in her life, and that it was in fact the Methodist Church which led her to her work in the ERA: Supportive of the Equal Rights Amendment, the church sent her to a number of ERA-related workshops. Parker speaks about her interests in the Civil Rights...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Parsons describes her childhood as being happy, even after her parents divorced when she was eleven years old. She says that her mother was a very strong and active woman, belonging to DAR, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Women’s Temperance Union. Parsons was married at 21, and quickly had children. She says that it was through her work with her church, and with the PTA, that she became involved with the League of Women Voters, and that that...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Joyce Durand: A minister’s daughter, Paulk describes her childhood in Grafton, West Virginia as very happy. She states that she was able to pursue all of her interests, including chemistry, education and music. Paulk describes her early unsuccessful marriage to the son of the Chilean Secretary of Transportation, which resulted in her living and traveling to South America. She states that it was during this period in her life that she developed a growing awareness that she was...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Joyce Durand. Pratt talks about her working class childhood and youth in Lancashire, England. An only child, born late in her parents’ marriage, she remembers post-WWII rationing and bomb damage. She attended the London School of Economics which she says was considered “England’s Berkeley,” because of its radical reputation. She chose to study law because “nobody had -- in my little world -- had ever heard of a woman doing that…It was an act of rebellion, really.” After...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Richardson begins by recounting her childhood in Medford, Massachusetts. She states that her earliest foray into activism was prior to the development of the Women’s Movement, when she joined the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She went on to join the League of Women Voters, and to become president of DeKalb and then Georgia’s League. She states that it was during her tenure of the DeKalb League of Women Voters that she was urged by a friend to...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Riddle recounts a childhood in which she and her family moved around a great deal. She says that her earliest feminist activity was to run for a high school office, with the slogan, “Not the best man for the job, the best candidate.” She remembers becoming very interested in feminism in the early 1970s, at which time, while working and studying in Atlanta, she read Betty Freidan’s Feminine Mystique, and the newly circulating Ms magazine. Riddle states that her...

Scope and Contents note Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Rooks describes her childhood during WWII. The daughter of a doctor and a nurse, she believed that aside from teaching, nursing was the only occupation a woman could pursue. Graduating from the University of Washington in 1963, Rooks married in 1964, and went on to earn a graduate degree in nursing at Catholic University of America. She describes her early professional experiences, and says that her interest in reproductive rights began when, teaching at San Jose...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Dana Von Tilborg. Schapiro begins by recounting her childhood and youth in Richmond, Virginia. She believes that she inherited her activism from her parents who were very involved in various Jewish organizations. After the rape of a family member in 1973, Schapiro states that she became aware of the need for action to protect women's rights, and she joined the Georgia Women’s Political Caucus, and then the Feminist Action Alliance. Schapiro discusses the differences between...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Dana Van Tilborg. Simpson talks about her childhood around Georgia, and recounts that her grandmother, a “classic steel magnolia,” was a very important influence in her later work with the Women’s Movement. Simpson believes that her active involvement in the Women’s Movement began through her experiences at the Unitarian Church, which strongly emphasized the importance of human rights and “human potential.” She states that it was through one of her church’s women’s groups...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Steinberg begins by describing her childhood in rural Pennsylvania and her relationship with her family. She goes on to describe her transition from Northern Jewish girl to a married woman living in the South. Steinberg explains how she became involved in Georgia politics, specifically how her campaign for the Georgia House of Representatives in 1977 was very much a grass-roots effort, and because she was a woman in this predominantly male field, how she became...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Describing her childhood, Sutton says she acquired from her family a Depression-era mentality at an early age. In the mid-1960s, she became involved in political issues -- particularly the Vietnam War. She then became interested in women's issues -- in particular reproductive freedom, domestic violence, and equal pay, all of which, she describes as being interrelated. She talks about her fundraising work in the 1960s in an effort to assist women who had to go to...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Mary Jo Duncanson. Tibbets begins by discussing her family, her education, and the events that led her to Atlanta. She explains that her degree in journalism helped to guide her into a life of political activism. When Tibbets accepted a position in the communications department of the Georgia Association of Educators, part of her job entailed writing and educating Georgia’s teachers about legislators, lobbyists and political action. In 1978, Tibbets moved to Tifton, Georgia,...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Dana Von Tilborg. Tracy discusses her childhood and education in Pittsburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and recounts that her “mother was very intent on women’s rights, that women were just as capable as men.” She goes on to talk about her courtship, marriage and early married life with her husband Jack Tracy. During this period, she joined the League of Women Voters, and became politically active. Tracy recounts that when her husband died (in 1963), she became particularly...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Joyce Durand. The daughter of a college professor (and later, musician), Walker describes her childhood spent in college towns. She says that although she was highly intelligent, her parents “had in mind that I would be a teacher, or a librarian or a nurse. It just didn’t occur to them [for me] to be anything else." Majoring in speech therapy, Walker describes her experiences in beauty contests while at Louisiana State University. After getting engaged to the president of the...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Charlene Ball and Diane Fowlkes. A native of Texas, Sarah Weddington was the youngest women to successfully argue a case in the Supreme Court, and her oral history provides a unique insight into that historic case, Roe v Wade. Weddington begins by describing her education, and her decision to study law at a time when women were often told, "women don't, women can't, women shouldn't." She goes on to discuss her attempt to get a credit card in her own name, but, as a married...