THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Bella “Battling Bella” Abzug

July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998

“Sometimes I’m asked when I became a feminist, and I usually answer, the day I was born.”

Attorney, anti war activist, leader in women’s movement, politician. Founder of Women Strike for Peace, national legislative coordinator, 1961 –1970; led thousands of women to Congress and the White House on behalf of a nuclear test ban. First campaign slogan, “This woman’s place is in the House—the House of Representatives,” 1970. Served three terms in U.S. Congress, 1971–1977. Co-founder of National Women’s Political Caucus, co-chair, 1971. Co-chair, National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year. Founder of Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues. Introduced first gay rights bill (known as the Equality Act) in Congress, 1974. Presided over National Women’s Conference, 1977. Led National Advisory Commission for Women. Worked with the U.N. on women’s issues and environmental issues. Participated in U.N. Women’s Conferences in 1975, 1980, 1985, 1995. Co-founded Women USA Fund Inc., 1980, and its program Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), 1990. Founder of Commission for Women’s Equality of the American Jewish Congress. Inducted into National Women’s Hall of Fame, Seneca Falls, NY, 1994. Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year honoree, 1996. 50 Women Who Made American Political History, Time magazine, 2017.  Jewish Theological Seminary of America and Hunter College, 1942. Columbia University Law School, 1944.

Photo 1. Dolores Huerta, Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem at the United Farm Workers Rally, New York City, May 1975 [Photo by Bettye Lane]. Photo 2. (Left to right) Blanche Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Pam, Betty Shabazz, Bella Abzug, 1997.