Los Angeles Women's Liberation Movement Collection, 1970-1976

Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Creators:
Smith, Barbara
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection is divided into three series: L.A. WOMEN'S LIBERATION CENTER, NOW, and FEW.

The following local periodicals associated with the Women's Liberation Center are separated from the collection:

  • Everywoman - May, 1970 - May, 1972
  • Women's Center Newsletter - June, 1972 - December 1972.
  • Sister - January, 1973 - March, 1976

The L. A. WOMEN'S LIBERATION CENTER series contains numerous issues of the Center's newsletter as well as various other documents related to the Center. Folder 3 includes early papers describing a proposed women's center for L.A. and the original working structure of the Center as of January 5, 1970. It includes a list of the original board of directors, member organizations, and contact persons. Folder 8 contains documents relating to the Feminist Women's Health Center's legal battles over its advocacy of menstrual extraction as a method of abortion. Folder 4 contains articles on the Feminist Theater.

The center's monthly newsletters are particularly useful in identifying key individuals and activities of the early L.A. women's liberation movement. Vol. 1, No. 3 contains an account of the participation of the Women's Center Labor Committee in a 1970 strike of the International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE), Local 854, at the Van Nuys RCA plant. Vol. 1, No. 5 has an account by a participant from the Center in the August 29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium, a large demonstration in East L.A. to protest the draft and the Vietnam War. Vol. 2, No. 10 notes the campaign of Margaret Wright, a Center activist and representative of Women Against Repression (a black women's liberation group) to run for the L.A. Board of Education. Vol. 2, No. 5 includes the call for a meeting to plan the founding of a westside women's center as well as the newsletters of the newly-formed Westside Center.

Folder 11 of the NOW series contains a report on the 1973 National NOW conference held in Los Angeles.

Biographical / historical:

The collection was donated by Barbara Smith, a local activist in the women's movement in the 1970s. She was very active in the L.A. Women's Liberation Center (also known as the Los Angeles Women's Center) where she played a key role in organizing the Liberation School. Later she was active in the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and with Federally Employed Women (FEW).

The Los Angeles Women's Liberation Center was founded in 1970. Among its activities were consciousness raising and campaigns regarding issues affecting women, issues such as abortion rights, prisoner rights, gay and lesbian rights, and labor conditions.

Physical description:
1 record storage box 1 cubic feet

Access and use

Location of this collection:
6120 S. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90044, US
Contact:
(323) 759-6063
web@socallib.org
Website