Othertype Oral History

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Diane Fowlkes. Kurtz describes her childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as being heavily influenced by her parents’ commitment to their Jewish community. She recounts her experiences at Brandeis University where she became involved in campus politics: A participant in the ant-war movement, she was photographed in Life Magazine protesting the Vietnam War. After graduating from Brandeis in 1969, Kurtz went on to pursue her MA at the University of Pittsburgh in women’s studies...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Long begins by discussing some of the issues that brought her into the Women’s Movement, such as the Civil Rights Movement, the economic disparity between men and women, and a women’s right to choose. She describes how her experiences as a nurse at Grady hospital also led her to the Movement. A member of the Nurses’ Association as well as the ERA Georgia Campaign and the Women’s Political Caucus, she discusses the leadership of the Women’s Movement in Georgia,...

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...

Scope and Contents note Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Growing up one of 14 children in a traditional Catholic household, Millen describes herself as a very responsible child, who knew from an early age exactly what she wanted for herself in terms of her education and career. She recounts that after graduating in three years from Southern Illinois University with a degree in journalism, she took a job as the women’s assistant editor at the Wilmington Star News, in Wilmington, North Carolina. She describes how, in the...

Scope and Contents Interviewed by Joyce Durand. Miller discusses her childhood as a member of a traditional, but intellectually liberal family in conservative Macon, Georgia and says that she feels very fortunate to have been encouraged to attend Antioch College in Yellow Springs Ohio. She talks extensively about her experiences at Antioch, and particular, her growing involvement with the Civil Rights Movement and her feelings about her home -- the South, viewed from a liberal college in the North. She goes on...

Scope and Contents note Interviewed by Janet Paulk. Carrie Nell Moye describes her childhood on a farm close to Barnesville, South Georgia. An insecure student, she excelled in school and was named valedictorian. She says that she disappointed her father by attending Emory University, an institution he considered to be a hotbed of communism. She recalls being nominated for a graduate scholarship, but turned it down, as she felt that graduate work was not appropriate for women -- especially married women. After Moye...

Scope and Contents note Interviewed by Amanda Brown. Olson cites one of her earliest influential events as being the time she “…got a bicycle. I must have been 10 or so. I then had access to the public library. That’s when I started reading and becoming a really avid reader.” One of only three women of her University of Oklahoma pledge class who graduated instead of leaving to marry, she describes being frustrated with her work in dietetics, and so went on to get a graduate degree in Dietary Administration. Soon...

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 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...