Feminism in the Heartland

by Judith Ezekiel

Book Overview

Book by Judith Ezekiel This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814209033
• ISBN13: 9780814209035
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Ohio State University Press
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Community building

_Feminism in the Heartland_ will give young women a feel for the joys and sorrows of second wave feminism. As a community activist, I learned a lot from this readable study on how people, with little political clout, came together and built a movement that changed the fabric of American society.

Women's studies must read with fascinating personal stories

In the fall of 1969, some 20 women from all walks of life gathered in the living room of a middle class family home in Dayton, Ohio, to learn about the birth of a new idea: women's liberation. They ranged in age from 20 to 40. Among them were a minister, a journalist, several stay-at-home moms, a college student, a clerical union organizer, a social worker and a retail clerk. Like the women who initiated the "first wave" of the women's movement when they met in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, many of the Dayton women were first awakened to their own oppression while working for the liberation of others. The Dayton feminists were as inspired by the civil rights and black liberation movements of the 1960s as the 19th century feminists were by abolitionism. Within a year, the women in that room inspired hundreds of others throughout the city and suburbs of that quintessential Middle American town to reexamine their own lives and communities in small consciousness raising groups. By the end of the 1970s, close to a dozen women's organizations ranging from a socialist feminist collective to a pro-choice coalition had brought profound changes to the lives of thousands of their sisters in Dayton and beyond. This is the story Judith Ezekiel tells in Feminism in the Heartland. An impeccably researched scholarly work that is must reading for serious students of women's studies, this book also offers a fascinating collection of personal stories told by 58 of the women who were involved. As one of those women, I can attest to the author's fairness, thoroughness and accuracy. The stories are as fresh and inspirational today as they were when they first unfolded.