Groundswell Grassroots Feminist Activism in Postwar America [Hardcover]

Groundswell: Grassroots Feminist Activism in Postwar Americaoffers an essential perspective on the post-1960 movement for womens equality and liberation. Tracing the histories of feminist activism, through the National Organization of Women (NOW) chapters in three different locations: Memphis, Tennessee, Columbus, Ohio, and San Francisco, California, Gilmore explores how feminist identity, strategies, and goals were shaped by geographic location.

Departing from the usual conversation about the national icons and events of second wave feminism, this book concentrates on local histories, and asks the questions that must be answered on the micro level: Who joined? Who did not? What did they do? Why did they do it? Together with its analysis of feminist political history, these individual case studies from the Midwest, South, and West coast shed light on the national womens movement in which they played a part.

In its coverage of womens activism outside the traditional East Coast centers of New York and Boston, Groundswellprovides a more diverse history of feminism, showing how social and political change was made from the ground up.

1. Beyond the Friedan Mystique: The Importance of Grassroots Feminism
2. In the Midst of the world-wide revolution of human rights : Creating the National Organization for Women
3. Feminist Activism in Memphis: Beyond the Liberal/Radical Divide
4. Feminist Theorizing, Feminist Activisms in Columbus
5. A Liberal Feminist Front of Progressive Activism in San Francisco
6. Learning from Grassroots Activisms in the Past

Groundswell is an important contribution to the growing body of scholarship that focusel#/