THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Frances “Poppy” Northcutt
Engineer, attorney and president of the Houston and Texas chapters of the National Organization for Women (NOW). City of Houston’s first Women’s Advocate in 1974-75. Initiated legislative and executive proposals to eliminate sex discrimination in the police and fire departments and elsewhere in city government. Founding chair in 1974 of the Harris County Women’s Political Caucus. On-site coordinator for the historic National Women’s Conference, sponsored by the U.S. State Department and held in Houston in November 1977, drawing 20,000 participants. Gained national attention during the Apollo missions in the mid-sixties when, as a mathematician and engineer, she was the first woman to work in flight support at NASA’s Mission Control. Won a number of awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom Team Award for work in the rescue of the Apollo 13 crew.
Photo 1. Poppy Northcutt and Helen Cassidy reminisce about the 1977 International Women’s Year Conference, 1986 (photo, Houston Chronicle). Photo 2. Poppy Northcutt and Helen Cassidy, 1991.
More About Poppy:
- From Mission Control to Feminist Icon: Poppy Northcutt’s Legacy, February 2023
- Poppy Northcutt: Return to Earth Specialist, 2019 https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/chasing-moon-poppy-northcutt-return-earth-specialist/
- Poppy Northcutt: The only woman in the Apollo control room, by Korey Haynes May 31, 2019
- Southern Feminism: An interview with Frances “Poppy” Northcutt, November 30, 2015.
- Thorne Dreyer’s guest is Frances “Poppy” Northcutt, October 2013.
- Panel discussion led by Barbara Karkabi, in which Houston area feminist leaders from the 1970s (Helen Cassidy, Nikki Van Hightower, Barbara Farrar Karkabi, Frances M. Northcutt, and Celia Teresa) discuss how they became involved with the feminist movement. Other topics include: the early years of NOW in Houston and the complex history, struggles, and changes that have characterized women’s lives during the intervening years. University of Houston Libraries Special Collections, 1995.
- The History of the Women’s Movement in Houston – 1991. Interviews with Margaurite Johnston, Sissy Farenthold, Helen Cassidy, Poppy Northcutt and JoAnn Evansgardner. Including footage from the League of Women Voters and the International Women’s Conference in Houston in 1977. Video produced by Yolanda Alvarado and hosted by Ramona Floyd.
- Wikipedia page