THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Alma Graham
November 1936 – April 24, 2020
“Language excludes women. The noun is man, and the pronoun is he, but man is not the entire human race. Language affects the way we are treated, and only when people understand the way it limits perception can we truly have equal opportunities.” – Alma Graham, December 1974
Non-sexist language expert. Lexicographer for Funk and Wagnalls. Managing Editor of the American Heritage Dictionary. Created The School Dictionary, a nationally adopted grade school textbook, for McGraw Hill. The first lexicographer to put the title “Ms.” into a dictionary, 1972. Head of NYC NOW’s Textbook Liberation Committee.
Photo. Alma Graham, associate editor of the American Heritage Dictionary, 1973.
More About Alma:
- Obituary
- “Meet Alma Graham, the liberated woman,” by Ellen Cohn, Daily News, October 1973
- All About “Ms.” – An Interview with Alma Graham, by Dure Jo Gillikin, 2004
- Veteran Feminists of America
- “The Making of a Nonsexist Dictionary,” by Alma Graham
- Cited in Barbara Love’s book, Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, page 183
