THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Jan Goodman

“I Was Always an Activist in Search of a Movement.”

Attorney, educator, advocate for women and minorities in employment discrimination matters. New York Radical Feminists. Co-founded the first Women and the Law Committee at NYU Law School, 1968. Led the fight to open the Root Tilden Scholarship to women, 1969. Founded the National Women and the Law Conference, 1970. Co-founder of the first feminist law firm, Bellamy, Blank, Goodman, Kelly, Ross & Stanley, 1972.  Lead attorney in a number of class actions claiming sex discrimination in employment, including NOW v. WABC, 1972; Women’s Committee v. NBC, 1974–1978; Wire Service Guild v. Associated Press; and Scotti v. NYC Police Dept. 1985. Appointed to Governor Cuomo’s task force on sexual harassment. Co-chaired the NY conference, Women Tell the Truth, featuring Anita Hill, 1991. 

Interviewed by Judy Waxman, Oral Historian, November 2022

Photo 1. Janice with Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Leader Victoria Gray Adams, 1988. Photo 2. Left to right – Peggy Simpson, Shirley Christian, Janice Goodman, Justice Ginsburg, Ginny Sherlock, Maureen Connolly, and Rachelle Cohen, October 2019.