Feminism's Public History

My interest in the connections between history and political activism dates back at least to my graduate studies at Duke University.  As a Ph.D. student, I focused these interests on the history of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, seeking to understand why the feminist movement I was introduced to in Women’s Studies classes – a movement broad enough to encompass noisy conflicts over the intersections of race, economics, gender and sexuality in theory and in lived experiences – contrasted so sharply with the historical narratives penned by historians who emphasized the racial splits among activists in the 1960s that led to a white women’s movement by the end of that decade.  Twenty years later, I continue to be interested in these questions, now looking more directly at ways feminists in the 1970s used history to advance their movement.  For this paper, I propose to share some observations about the ways feminists in the so-called second wave turned to public – or popular – history.  Responding to arguments made in History Matters, I will talk about the incorporation of history and memory as organizing tools featured in the establishment of Women’s History Month and Take Back the Night events.  Although seemingly disparate in their forms and intended audiences and goals, both initiatives use a conscious exploration of women’s history for political ends. They also differ in ways they define who, and what, should be included as part of the project of recovering and retelling women’s history.