THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Dr. Margarida (Guida) West
November 9, 1927 – May 25, 2023
“I’m 91 and I’m Not Giving Up Now. I’ll Rust Away, Not Wear Away!”
Political Sociologist, Professor, Activist, Author. League of Women Voters. National Organization of Women, and the National Women’s Legal Defense Fund. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Developed and implemented the Rutgers University Continuing Education for Women, The Women’s Center, and established the Rutgers Institute for Sex Desegregation of the Public Schools. Montclair Welfare Rights and Friends of Welfare Rights, National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), New Jersey Friends of Welfare Rights, United Church of Christ’s Welfare Priority Team, the United Presbyterian Church, Synod of New Jersey, Committee on Church and Society and Commission on Religion and Race (SynCORR), the Women’s Committee of One Hundred, Welfare Made a Difference National Campaign (WMAD). Co-founder and Co-chair of Concerned Citizens at Crane’s Mill.
Interviewed by Rebecca Lubetkin, VFA Board, February 2019
Photo 1. Dr. Margarida West. Photo 2. Margarida in 1966.
More About Guida:
- Obituary, New York Times
- Guida West Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
- Clip from an interview with National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) member Dr. Guida West. Courtesy of the Henry Hampton Collection, Washington University Libraries
- The Paley Center for Media – America’s War on Poverty Summary
- America’s War on Poverty interview with Dr. West can be found at Washington University Film and Media Archive
- Newspaper clippings 1966 – 1970