THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Kate Millett

September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017

“A little bit of ingenuity after a great deal of injustice, did actually move the mountain.”

Writer, educator, artist, filmmaker and activist. One of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century. Described as “a seminal influence on second-wave feminism,” best known for her book Sexual Politics (1970) based on her doctoral dissertation at Columbia University. Taught English and exhibited her works of art at Waseda University (Tokyo), Bryn Mawr College, Barnard College and the University of California, Berkeley, 1960s–70s. NYC NOW, 1966, chair of education committee, 1966–1970. New York Radical Women, Radical Lesbians, and Downtown Radical Women. Founder, Columbia Women’s Liberation. Founder, Women’s Art Colony at Millett Tree Farm in Poughkeepsie, NY (1979), where several hundred artists and writers in summer residence learned new skills, worked the tree farm and shared feminist thoughts. Became Millett Center for the Arts in 2012. Bachelor of Arts degree, English literature, magna cum laude, University of Minnesota, 1956. Studied at Oxford University (England), English literature first-class honors degree, 1958. Ph.D., with distinction, English and comparative literature, Columbia University, 1970.

Photo 1. Kate Millett, Time Magazine Cover, 1970. Photo 2. Kate Millett and Eleanor Pam at the “Farm”.