CRATER'S RAIDERS FLORA CRATER: 1999 Human Rights Award Winner TO CONTACT ERA ACTIVISTS -- jsmacleod@aol.com Flora Crater, fighter for school integration, minority rights, and especially for the advancement of women and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, received the 1999 Human Rights Award from the Fairfax County Human Rights Commission in Fairfax, Va., May 2, 1999. Flora has also been a lifelong Democrat and activist in community and political affairs at all levels. She ran for the statewide office of Lt. Governor in 1973, and the U.S. Senate in 1978. She was the first president of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the National Organization for Women. She convened the Virginia Equal Rights Amendment Ratification Council and presently serves as its Vice Chair. She convened and became the first coordinator of the Virginia Women's Political Caucus. (picture left:Flora Crater holds aloft a flower symbolic of ERA support U.S. Senate Candidate, Virginia Democratic Convention, June 10, 1978) In 1977, she launched two publications: The Woman Activist, a monthly nationally circulated women's rights bulletin, which she continues to edit, write, and publish; and a manual about the political process in Virginia, The Almanac of Virginia Politics, which she co-authors and publishes every year. In 1972, she led a group of women known as CRATER'S RAIDERS to relentlessly lobby Congress, resulting in the passage of the Equal Rights Resolution, launching ERA!s ongoing quest for passage in 38 state legislatures (only three more to go to achieve constitutional status). In 1994, Flora was a strategist and is presently co-chair of the ERA Summit,a national coalition of organizations for ERA ratification. She is presently a member and adviser for the FCDC Women's Rights Committee, Action Coordinator of the Virginia Women's Network, and Vice Chair of the Virginia ERA Ratification Council. She continues to ride the metro downtown to lobby Congress for passage of a new ERA Resolution, and is still actively involved in NOW, the Feminist Majority, and other women's rights organizations. Flora may be 86, but her amazing record of activism and accomplishment challenges us all to step up our involvement and win the human rights battles Flora has been waging for so long. Thanks, Flora, for your inspiring example! More on Flora Crater, Contact here: Hildachild@aol.com Contact Jacqui Ceballos for further info.at: jcvfa@aol.com Back to the Fabulous VFA Feminists Table of Contents