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VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT: BETTY FRIEDANadmin2021-11-29T16:25:17-05:00

THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Betty Friedan

February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006

“With her own voice, she inspired, she trailblazed, and she bulldozed through history. And with all of you, she changed the world.”  Emily Friedan

Author, Journalist, Educator, Activist. A visible, ardent, and important advocate for women’s rights, dubbed the “mother” of the modern women’s movement. Author of The Feminine Mystique, 1963. A founder and first president of NOW. She organized the Women’s Strike for Equality on August 26, 1970 on the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage, to raise awareness about gender discrimination. A co-founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus with Congresswoman Bella Abzug, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and Gloria Steinem in 1971. She published six books, taught at New York University and the University of Southern California, and lectured widely at women’s conferences around the world.

Photo by Gilles Tapie for Esquire Magazine, December 1983

More About Betty:

  • WEBINAR: Betty Friedan’s 100th Birthday: Moving the Legacy Forward, February 4, 2021
  • “Hope for Labor at the End of History,” by Steve Fraser and Joshua Freeman, 2021
  • Amy Goodman speaks with Judith Hennessee, Marlene Sanders, Barbara Seaman on the day of Betty’s funeral, February 6, 2006. Courtesy of democracynow.org.
  • Veteran Feminist of America Events
    • Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan introduces Betty Friedan, Salute to Pioneer Feminists, Sewall Belmont House Washington, DC, May 1994
    • Betty Friedan presents Delores Alexander, NOW’s first executive director and Kate Millet with the VFA medal of honor. NOW’s 30th Anniversary, Barnard College, NYC, November 1996
    • Muriel Fox introduces Betty Friedan, Celebrating Kate Millet, November 7, 1998
    • Betty’s remarks, Salute to ERA Activists, Sewall Belmont House, Washington DC, May 6, 1999
    • Salute to Betty Friedan – “Betty Friedan’s Impact on the 21st Century,” November 12, 1999
      • Muriel Fox introduces the panel, Catherine Stimpson, early NOW activist, Dean of Arts and Humanities at NYU; Emma Coleman Jordan, feminist scholar and Anita Hill’s lawyer, and Dr. Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, sociologist and early NOW activist.
      • Activists pay tribute and Betty’s remarks 
    • Betty’s remarks, Barnard College, NYC, April 26, 2002
    • Honoring Those Who Made Title IX Happen, Baltimore MD, November 2002
    • Honoring the Legacy of Betty Friedan including opening remarks from Betty’s daughter Emily Friedan and granddaughter Nataya Friedan, National Arts Building NYC, June 7, 2011
  • Betty Friedan Tribute Bradley University Peoria, IL
  • C-SPAN Library 34 videos that include Betty Friedan
  • Select interviews, lectures and films
    • Betty Friedan’s Action – Women’s Strike for Equality, August 26, 1970, Equality I Am Woman, Producer/Director Al Sutton, 2011 
      • Muriel Fox on How It Began: Betty Friedan and the Modern Women’s Movement, March 25, 2011
      • A Conversation with Betty Friedan, Library of Congress, March 10 2005
      • Mary S. Hartman and, Ruth B. Mandel interview Betty Friedan, Institute for Women’s Leadership Consortium / Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University, July 2002
      • The Power of Questions
        • Betty Friedan reflects on her personal life, how it informed The Feminine Mystique, and her role in the women’s movement. May 19, 2000
        • Betty Friedan introduces her latest book, The Fountain of Age, October 14, 1993
      • Public Affairs Roundtable discussion program hosted by Larry Lough and produced by John Rouse for WIPB-TV, 1985
      • Betty Friedan delivers Powerful Commencement Speech at Smith College, 1981
      • Betty Friedan interview with Mary Parkinson, 1977
      • Betty Friedan explains how men have benefited from women’s liberation, 1964
  • The Betty Friedan Collection at the Schlesinger Library
  • The Emancipation of Betty Friedan by Marilyn French December, 1983
  • Select books by and about Betty Friedan
    • Betty Friedan, Author
      • The Feminine Mystique (1963)
      • It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women’s Movement (1976)
      • The Second Stage (1981)
      • The Fountain of Age (1993)
      • Beyond Gender (1997)
      • Life So Far (2000)
    • Sheila Tobias on Betty Friedan from her book Faces Of Feminism: An Activist’s Reflections On The Women’s Movement, chapter 5
    • Betty Friedan: Her Life, Judith Hennessee, 1999
    • Cited in Barbara Love’s book, Feminists Who Changed America, page 161

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