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| Veteran Feminists of America
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WE'RE GOING TO STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA!
WITH THE JOAQUIN COUNTY STATUS OF WOMEN COMMISSION, VETERAN FEMINISTS OF AMERICA WILL HONOR EARLY ACTIVISTS AUGUST 27, 2009  The event will take place at a luncheon at the Stockton Golf and Country Club the day after Women's Equality Day. Lead planner is Beverly Fitch McCarthy (left), a pioneer feminist and local icon who is. among other things, founder and chair for 14 years of the San Joaquin County Status of Women Commission and founder of the Susan B Anthony Awards given annually to women of achievement.
Honorees will include biographees featured in Barbara Love's historic Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, and also several local pioneers who have been unsung far too long. Barbara and I will be there to present the honorees with VFA's medal of honor. Merikay McLeod, of nearby Angels Camp in Calaveras County will be one of the honorees and helping as she can with the event.
The price of the luncheon is $25, and checks made out to San Joaquin Commission on the Status of Women should be mailed to the Commission at 215 West Stadium Dr, Stockton 95204.
An amazing thing about the Second Wave was how quickly it took root. We could say it officially started with NOW chapters in Washington, DC, New York ; and Chicago women's liberation groups -- and quickly spread like wild fire to all big cities. But little known is that almost every city and town in the country was inspired to form its own movement, and made dramatic changes ifor women's rights in their "back yard" so to speak. Like my hometown of Lafayette, LA, they all had an active feminist movement tackling the issues.
Since 1992 VFA has held more than 30 national, local and regional gatherings in cities from coast to coast honoring early feminists. Because of lack of womanpower and staff, we haven't been able to go into smaller areas to seek out and honor these heroes. Yet prompted by the recent event in Pompano Beach, change seems to be in the air, as feminists such as Eleanor Pam in Florida and now Beverly McCarthy in California are inspired to organize in their home towns.
This is a call for others around the country to do the same.
Jacqui Ceballos
Further Info: Beverly McCarthy linley17@comcast.net Jacqui Ceballos jcvfa@aol.com |
| VFA AND FWCA CELEBRATION IN POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA APRIL 20 A SMASHING SUCCESS
Yes, we did it! Again! What was to be a small event to honor pioneer and contemporary activists in Florida showed early signs that the café reserved for 35 would not be adequate. It turned out that 170 showed up! We owe this sensational success to Eleanor Pam and to her friend and co-chair Barbara Love, editor of the fabulous "Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975."
Eleanor, a snowbird from Long Island , emceed the event and from the first welcome established an air of celebration. And indeed, the guests acted as though they were at a joyous reunion -- proving once more how important VFA events are to keep feminists together and actively involved in our great cause.
 The room was decorated with feminist memories. Two slide shows flashed pictures of early feminist actions and heroes on the wall next to the podium in a continuous loop; the famed Women's Quilt made of T-shirts from early demonstrations hung near the stage; memorabilia from the 1960s and 1970s was arrayed on tables. And Elizabeth Cady Stanton (played by well known actor, Elizabeth Perry, pictured left) recited the Women's Bill of Rights.
OUR WORK ISN'T OVER, said Pat Ireland, the longest term president of NOW, 1991 to 2001, inspiring all with her exciting talk. "Two out of nine is not half," she'd told President Clinton at a White House reception in reference to the sorry makeup of the Supreme Court. "Clinton got it," she said.
VFA'S MEDAL OF HONOR for exceptional contributions to improving the lives of women and girls was given to 40 women and one man. The man, Barry Silver, a lawyer and rabbi, served in the Florida Legislature and had successfully sued Jerry Falwell and his Operation Rescue to stop the blockading of health and abortion clinics.
 THE JOYCE WARSHOW AWARD, given by her partner, Dorothy Sander in memory of the late psychologist, author and filmmaker was given to Barbara Love for her work in feminism and feminist history, and especially for her monumental Feminists Who Changed America.
A very emotional moment was experienced when Ryan Cox stepped forward to accept an award for her late mother, Linda Cox, founder of Broward County NOW and member of the Florida House of Representatives. Among guests were former state representatives who'd remembered that Ryan was the first baby born to a Florida Legislator. They'd not seen Ryan, now a lawyer, since her very early years. (right: T-Shirt Quilt)
CALLS TO ACTION-- A petition was circulated to save the Women's Studies program at Florida Atlantic University. Josephine Beoku-Betts, Interim Director, was one of the honorees.
A "PASS THE TORCH" CEREMONY was emotional as Eleanor called for the oldest and youngest woman in the room to speak on behalf of her respective generation. To great applause, a 90 year-old transferred a blazing candle to her 26 year -old counterpart, along with the symbolic responsibility for carrying forward the feminist agenda.
WELL KNOWN GUESTS included Rep. Elaine Bloom, former Speaker, Pro-tempore, Florida State Legislature; Janet Canterbury, three times President of Dade County NOW and Florida state NOW; Sally Heyman, County Commissioner, Miami-Dade; and Gwen Margolis, former Florida State Senator; Ann Fonfa, Co-president, North Palm Beach County NOW; and Pam O'Brien, Executive Director of Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse, Palm Beach County.
 This was VFA's second successful showing in Florida. In 2002 we co-sponsored a conference at Florida Atlantic University with South Palm Beach NOW and FAU's Women's Studies Department.
VFA's primary goal is to document the history of the Second Wave and to honor all who made it happen, which we've been doing for the past 19 years, mostly in major cities. This was one of the few events given in "the interior", Why? This is the first time anyone has come forward to handle the event. This may be a good sign. Two coming events are being planned in Stockton, CA with Beverly McCarthy at the helm; and another in Dallas (certainly a major city!) spearheaded by Bonnie Wheeler. (left: Barbara Love and Eleanor Pam)
VFA made a nice little profit from this event, in spite of the low cost of the luncheon, thanks to Eleanor's planning. And again we thank her and Barbara Love, and the inspirational book, Feminists Who Changed America for keeping VFA alive and lively!
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| VFA'S FUTURE EVENTS
Bonnie Wheeler of Dallas is organizing a huge event to take place at the Dallas Women's Museum for next April. She and VFA's Co president and Events Chair, Sheila Tobias announce that Gloria Steinem will be main speaker. They hope to have a 2 or 3 day event with special art exhibits, panel discussions and perhaps a reassessment and celebration of the 1977 Houston conference.
Though Texas women will be honored, Bonnie is inviting feminists from all over to come to help plan an agenda for the future.
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HONORING BETTY
A major goal is being achieved in Veteran Feminists of America's mission of honoring pioneers of the modern feminist movement. In collaboration with NOW, we are honoring the foremost pioneer of all - BETTY FRIEDAN! 
A bronze plaque is being created for installation outside the distinctive Victorian house where Friedan wrote "The Feminine Mystique," now the home of Charles and Mary Callan and their two young daughters on River Road in Grandview, Rockland County, NY. The plaque, to be installed by the Historical Society of Rockland County, will read:
In this house Betty Friedan resided and wrote "The Feminine Mystique." Its publication in 1963 led to the modern feminist movement. This book and the National Organization for Women (NOW), which Friedan co-founded and headed in 1966, helped reduce gender discrimination for many millions of women and girls worldwide.
The president of Rockland County NOW, Phyllis Frank, has helped to spearhead this plaque project through a committee of Rockland residents that includes VFA chair Muriel Fox, Historical Society executive Marianne Leese, Chuck Callan and Rockland County Legislature Chair Harriet Cornell. They're planning a festive event in the fall of 2009 when the plaque will be installed.
Phyllis received an enthusiastic ovation when she reported these plans to the National Conference of NOW. Members immediately donated cash and checks - ranging from $5 to $50 from delegates young and old - for a total of $500 toward the $1500 cost of the plaque. Rockland NOW and New York State NOW (led by president Marcia Pappas) have volunteered to contribute $500 each.
A special VFA committee, chaired by Virginia Watkins of Minnetonka, Minnesota, is moving ahead with other plans to perpetuate the memory of Betty Friedan. Ginny's committee is working toward a future Betty Friedan postage stamp, streets named after Betty Friedan in key cities, installation of Betty Friedan statues and/or busts, and other tributes. VFA president Jacqui Ceballos salutes their work: "By honoring Betty Friedan we are honoring our movement, our cause, and ourselves. VFA will do everything it can to tell the world about Betty's historic achievements." Muriel Fox
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YOUR PRESIDENT IS INVITED TO THE CAPITOL, APRIL 28, 2009
Addressed to Jacqueline Michot Ceballos, the invitation from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi arrived with no mention of Veteran Feminists of America.
 I've sat on the steps of the capitol for the ERA, lobbied Senators and the Congress, taken part in demonstrations and marches over the years, but I'd never been invited to any government event, not even one honoring women. So why this one? But at this stage in my life I'd be foolish to wait for another such invitation. My daughter Michele insisted on treating me to the trip for Mother's Day, so I r.s.v.p.'d my delight and off I went.
Mary Jean Collins, a founder of Chicago NOW and an early head of the national office, who for the past few years has lived and worked in D.C., met me at Dulles airport. We'd not visited in years, so we talked until the wee hours. I learned Mary Jean had worked closely with my dear friend, the late Pat McQuillan, who among other things founded Catholics for Choice, which had grown from a small group to a national office in D.C. and which Mary Jean had directed for several years. Mary Jean spoke about the hundreds of feminist organizations started by NOW members or stemmed from NOW's influence, and we made an offhand list of about 25, including Catholics for Choice and Veteran Feminists of America.
The next morning Mary Jean drove me to the Capitol in plenty of time to get a seat, but a demonstration was in progress and police had cordoned off the street. So I trudged uphill on foot to Emancipation Hall and arrived to find the place packed and there was no seat for this woman with a special invitation! Tired and upset, I pulled the age card and explained I'd come all the way from Phoenix. But the best they could do was allow me to stand up front, where I stood through the whole event.
Seated on stage were Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, all enjoying the magnificent program that included Cecily Tyson's rendition of *Sojourner's famous "Ain't I A Woman" speech, which she delivered at the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls in 1848.
Nancy opened the program followed by Lee, Senator Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton, who had helped get the bust of Sojourner Truth moved from the basement to inaugurate this new Emancipation Hall. The majority of guests were prominent leaders of the African American women's community. It was an exciting day for them, as most had worked for years to make this happen. They were dressed elegantly, most were wearing today's super spiked high heeled shoes, reminding me (still standing in my flat heels) how high heels had ruined the feet of women of my generation.
Then Michelle Obama walked on stage.... in flats! She spoke with warmth and joy that Sojourner, not merely a hero who'd saved hundreds of slaves' lives, but a great feminist.
There was an explosion of jubilation from the audience when all four women pulled the string that unveiled the lovely bust of the great Sojourner. I gave my silent thanks to the Anti Slavery and Black Civil Rights movements, both which helped the feminist movement. I'm sure Pauli Murray joined Sojourner, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady, Susan B, Alice Paul, Betty and many others in celebrating this great day on the other side!
Kim Gandy, NOW's president, was the only person there I recognized, and I was happy to hear her being acknowledged by Pelosi. No, my name wasn't called, nor was VFA acknowledged. In fact, I wonder if anyone knew I was there, and am still wondering why was I invited. But concluded that somehow, having given 5 events in DC honoring DC feminists, someone in Pelosi's office was aware of VFA. Jacqui
*In 1851 Sojourner Truth attended the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio where she delivered her famous speech Ain't I a Woman, a slogan she adopted from one of the most famous abolitionist images, that of a kneeling female slave with the caption "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?"
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"SCIENCE TEACHING AS A PROFESSION:
WHY IT ISN'T AND HOW IT COULD BE"
by Sheila Tobias and Anne Baffert
Reviewed by Joan Michel
If the students aren't learning, the teacher must be doing something wrong. Right?
Wrong! And that assumption is what education writer/VFA VP Sheila Tobias and high-school science chair Anne Baffert, backed by data from hundreds of teacher interviews and website postings, address in the clear, concise, jargon-free Science Teaching as a Profession: Why It Isn't How It Could Be.
High-quality science education is an essential component of America's long-term prosperity and security. No one knows this better than the men and women who teach high-school science. But until now no one has asked them to describe the challenges that diminish their professional status: their loss of autonomy in the classroom; having little say in school and school-district policies; inflexible government-mandated tests, which increasingly are being used to judge not just their pupils' but their own competence; lack of support staff, and too much time-wasting "administrivia." "I am constantly amazed when I talk to teachers from my old district and tell them I am working at Starbucks, their response is, 'Good for you,'" relates one former high-school science teacher, adding that she feels much more valued by Starbucks than she ever felt as a high-school science teacher. It is not simply whether teachers are well paid or how well schools are doing on state tests. This insightful book shows that there are ways for science teachers, in collaboration with scientists and willing school administrators, to reverse this distrust of the teachers' judgment by allowing them a voice in decisions critical to classroom effectiveness, by providing sufficient support and ignoring inequities in power, the district and its teachers working together. The more important thrust is whether teachers' working conditions support excellent teaching and teacher retention. Science Teaching as a Profession is an important read for not only science education professionals, but for anyone who cares about where we're headed educationally and how we're going to get there. |
PASSING THE TORCH?
Well, the torch is being passed and VFA is starting a monthly feature devoted to Younger Women by Younger Women. We've received enthusiastic letters from younger women of all ages in fields of great interest--television, movies, books, theater, dance, music, art, medicine, law, academia, research, politics, gender issues, science, business--right down the line!--expressing their feelings on the world changes since we got here and what they see in and for the future.
We expect the response to this VFA outreach to be super-size so we're looking to put  together a committee to contact, solicit, vet the applicants. If you'd like to join the committee, please contact me at womansvoice123@gmail.com and we'll get started.
And if you have a daughter in the forties/fifties age group or a granddaughter in her twenties or thirties who's been an active feminist and wants to share her feelings and/or experiences, just tell her to get in touch with us for details at womansvoice123@gmail.com.
Their thoughts will be read by our members and the many visitors to our website--and P.S.: they'd get mileage for their projects as we'd include a link to their websites.
Warmest thanks! Joan Michel, VP PR, VFA
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Elizabeth Chittick passes away at 100
April 20, 2009
The National Woman's Party is saddened to report the loss of the former president of the NWP, Elizabeth Chittick [1908-2009]. She was 100 years old.
Elizabeth Chittick was the first woman civilian administrator of the U.S. Naval Air Station in Seattle, Washington and in Banana River, Florida; the first woman registered representative of the New York Stock Exchange; and the first woman revenue collections officer with the Internal Revenue Service. An unwavering advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment, she was the NWP Chairman from 1971 to 1975 and the President from 1975 to 1989. Under her leadership, the Sewall-Belmont House was declared a National Historic Landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
 In addition to her many great accomplishments, Chittick was the author of "Answers to Questions About the Equal Rights Amendment" and was a radio and television commentator on the ERA. In 1977, she planned and led a parade of 5,000 people down Pennsylvania Avenue in honor of Alice Paul. In 1978, she became the first woman invited to speak to the House of Representatives in Oklahoma. In 1975, she was a delegate to the International Woman's Year conference in Mexico and, in 1985, the U.S. representative to the Commission on the Status of Women at the World Woman's Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
Chittick was a great woman and an outstanding advocate for women's equality. The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum is honored to have, as part of their collection, a portrait on display to help us honor her memory.
( (1977 The Alice Paul Memorial March, Washington, D.C. Leading the march, from L to R: Bella Abzug, Elizabeth Chittick, Hazel Hunkins Hallinan, Midge Costanza. photo: Jo Freeman)
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| IOWA PASSES LAW BRINGING GENDER BALANCE TO LOCAL BOARDS, COMMISSIONS, COUNCILS AND COMMITTEES.
Kappie Spencer (right) of Iowa and Sarasota, Florida emails this news. Iowa is the first in the nation to have done so---as they were in 1986 when they passed a policy statement (strengthened in 1987 to mandatory) law.
Kappie and others worked to get this project passed and taken seriously in every state.
She says:
 "I took a MS Magazine cruise several years ago and talked to cruise friends about this. Many were still excited about the Project and wanted to bring those laws nationwide. So, I sent history and background information to Katherine Spillar (exec dir. of Ms Foundation) re Iowa and their successes. MS does not accept outside manuscripts, but it picked up on it and has interviewed several from Iowa, including me. An article should be in the Summer (June) issue of MS Magazine.
I'm hopeful that people all over the country will be dusting off my "how to" packet and trying anew to get Gender Balance laws in their states. Color me EXCITED!
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Quick Links |
Visit the VFA Website for the latest news
HELP SPREAD THE NEWS ABOUT VFA
AND THE WORK OF VETERAN FEMINISTS:
INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO VISIT VFA'S WEBSITE AND INCLUDE THE ADDRESS....ASK THEM TO CHECK OUT WHATEVER ARTICLE YOU WANT THEM TO READ.
My sister sent this address to our huge family, and this was one of the responses:
Dear Aunt Mary, Thanks for sending the VFA address. I went to the website, and now I can see why mom is working all the time! The website is interesting, informative, easy to read. And it has a lot of interesting history (or herstory) ...like the story of Merikay from Angel's Camp, the Sojourner Truth sculpture, the Susan B. Anthony sculpture, and Jacqui with Muriel Fox and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I'm impressed!
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VFA IS SENDING OUT THE YEARLY FUND LETTERS. The economy is very bad, and everyone has to limit spending, so will cut down on donations, but we hope our members will continue to keep VFA in their shortened list. "Charity Begins at Home", as they say.
VFA is a feminist's home, and only feminists will help keep it going.
And thank you for your support in the past! VFA's board.
If you haven't received VFA's fund letter and want to contribute. Fill this form and send with check to VFA , PO Box 44551, Phoenix, AZ 85064.
Yes! I'm proud to send this Tax-Deductible Check to support VFA's continuing work for feminism.
_____ Far-Seeing Philanthropist $5,000
_____Activist Angel $1,000
_____ Big Time Benefactor $500
_____Super Supporter $250
_____Devoted Donor $100
_____Other $________
NAME_________________________________________ Email__________________
ADDRESS________________________________________Telephone_____________
Please send check to VFA, PO Box 44551, Phoenix AZ 85064
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