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MURIEL
ARCENEAUX FROM CAJUNLAND IN THE DEEP SOUTH - SOCIAL WORKER, TEACHER, FEMINIST ACTIVIST
I was born in Wainwright, Alabama to Muriel Swanson and Dennis Daniel Dees on February 18,1926, the eldest of five
children. My mother was a community activist and my father a farmer.
Times were good until the great depression of 1929. Our white neighbors were in great stress due to the unreliable
market for agricultural products, and our black friends were more or less dependent on my father for their sustenance.
My mother taught women mattress-making, so many of her neighbors slept on beds rather than cornhusk mattresses.
She also taught them how to pressure-cook and can home grown vegetables to relieve some of the malnutrition rampant
among the children.
Some of my earliest memories were of two “spinster” aunts--one a seamstress, the other a schoolteacher--who were
always sought out to solve problems. I remember my mother and aunts discussing issues at meals and gatherings.
They were glad to get the vote in 1920, yet they were firmly grounded in what everybody’s place was or should be
in the family and society.
In 1931, I was enrolled in grade school, but the following February the school closed because of lack of funding.
My mother placed me in the Monroeville Elementary School, and I moved in to live with my aunts.
In the following months, their brother and his family moved in. My father, who had been hospitalized for tuberculosis,
moved in so the aunts could care for him. Scenes of the overcrowding, the conflicts, and make-do solutions still
flash through my mind. Several months later my father, who had been misdiagnosed, returned home and the brother
and family moved out .
In fifth grade, I returned to my family in Wainwright, and with my two sisters rode the unheated school bus twenty–five
miles each way to elementary school.
In my senior year in high school, I experienced grand mal epileptic seizures. Still, I gave my senior piano recital
and graduated with honors, earned a music scholarship to the Alabama College for Women at Montevallo. The seizures
escalated and it seemed best for me to focus on studies requiring less strenuous preparation. In 1944, I attended
Union Theological Seminary in New York City where my outlook was greatly influenced, and my father was apprehensive
that I would become a socialist or, God-forbid, a communist.
In 1947, I earned a degree in sociology and psychology, took education certification courses from Florence State
Teacher’s College, and received my Master’s Degree in Education from Nicholls State University in 1972. I then
completed postgraduate work in the humanities and special education for the gifted.
My father, who’d thought my education a waste of money as I would just get married, said toward the end of his
life that it had been the best investment he‘d ever made.
After college, I was a caseworker with the Alabama Welfare Department and quickly added to my father’s misgivings
by marrying a law student. Three years and two children later, I returned to work as a social worker and later,
because the school schedule lent itself better to raising children, I became a schoolteacher.
The marriage was troubled. Subject to emotional and physical abuse I warned my husband to not sleep with both eyes
closed if he ever hit me again. Three-and-a-half years later I divorced and moved four hundred miles away. I did
not ask for alimony but requested child support. It was never forthcoming, but I didn’t have the time or money
to fight for it. In those pre-feminist days, redress for injuries to a woman’s emotional and physical wellbeing
was unheard of and besides, no woman wanted to air her marital problems!
Despite these stresses I traveled around the county demonstrating self-exams for breast cancer prevention, helped
organize and was president of a women’s study group and, as most of the young married women of my set did then,
I played a lot of bridge.
As I looked for more professional opportunities I saw that women were at a distinct disadvantage. I was refused
a job as an editor for the U. S. Government even though my test scores were at the top of the list.
In 1959, I got a job with the Federal Government in Tyler, Texas and was later transferred me to Houma, Louisiana,
a Cajun town on the Gulf of Mexico. There I married Louis Arceneaux and we had a daughter. For ten years I worked,
reared my children and directed a church choir, while my husband held and lost ten jobs. I developed a severe anxiety
neurosis and took residential treatment for six months, coming home only on weekends. By now I realized I had to
take control of my life, so I decided to get a divorce. But Louisiana’s Head and Master laws, which gave a husband
final say on all decisions about jointly owned property without his wife’s knowledge or consent, were hardly congenial.
This time I pressed for child support. Fighting anxiety on every front I learned how to drive again, to answer
the phone and sit through a meeting. I bought a small house, and now was “head and master.” I got a job as a substitute
teacher and took courses to upgrade my Master’s Degree to increase my salary. Then my son was assigned to Vietnam,
my elder daughter enrolled at LSU and I was alone with my ten-year-old daughter who was hurting over the family
disintegration and frightened to be alone with a mother who was not always on an even keel.
In the late 1960’s women were meeting to discuss the new women's movement, and I had to get involved. It seemed
best to go through respected organizations in Houma rather than join the radical NOW, so I became involved with
the Terrebonne Business and Professional Women’s Organization.
The BPW women had very little information about the laws that governed their second-class citizenship, so I published
a newsletter to make the members aware of what was going on in Louisiana and in the movement countrywide. I invited
Baton Rouge activists Karlene Tierney and the late Marcella Matthews to talk to about ERA United, and Roberta Madden
of the Women’s Political Caucus to conduct a political action workshop.
With a few BPW and other local women I organized a branch of ERA United, serving as a board member for the state
ERA United and as the first president of Terrebonne ERA Coalition.
Members of these organizations formed writing groups, made lobbying trips to Baton Rouge, attended meetings of
women around the country, and raised money for representatives to go to wherever demonstrations were taking place.
I participated in the 1980 Chicago parade to ratify ERA, organized and served as moderator of forums in Terrebonne
Parish during elections and addressed groups to promote the advancement of women.
In attempting to get women in other organizations involved in the Equal Rights movement I encountered outright
opposition among many to the idea of women’s equal rights. A great deal was made about going braless and other
such nonsense.
I served on the Louisiana conference-planning committee and the Houston Conference for International Women's Year
as a Louisiana representative. From 1973 to 1985, serving in various capacities at the local and state level of
BPW, I published a bulletin to inform women of political and other issues, pressured Congress for federal laws
to remedy injustices toward women and assisted in drawing up a proposed legislative platform to ratify the Equal
Rights Amendment. (pictured: 1978 Houston Conference)
I organized workshops to teach women how to work through government processes, to lobby, to assess the effects
of legislation, and contributed articles to the media and made speeches on issues affecting women.
I was a board member of the YWCA for eight years, during which the Y developed a counseling program for battered
women and trained the police in handling domestic disputes. A women's shelter was established, but after ten years
lack of funding and internal dissention closed all the Y programs, some of which were taken over by other groups.
A major contribution was developing a workshop dealing with parenting. The Junior Auxiliary was attracted to this
idea and paid for a consultant to establish and run a parenting center.
There were many bright moments during these extremely active years. I met Bella Abzug and other feminist icons
at the Houston Conference. I have a special memory of an evening spent with Gloria Steinem and others in a black
church, where she gave an inspirational talk. There wasn't a question she didn't answer brilliantly.
Elected to the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee, for four years I assisted in the election of Louisiana
women, among them Senator Mary Landrieu and Governor Kathleen Blanco.
As a member of the library board I founded Friends of the Library and may have been the only board member who actually
read. Always called down for my "radical" statements, I eventually was kicked off by a man on the board.
In Louisiana I was always in trouble for my "radical" views.
I was a docent of the Terrebonne Historical and Cultural Society for many years and served on the Arts and Humanities
Board of Directors and on the Parish Literacy Council. All this after a full day's work and fulfilling my responsibilities
to my home and children.
After the last vote in the Louisiana legislature on an Equal Rights bill, the work seemed to be at an end. In 1990,
I retired after 40 years in social work and teaching and moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to be near my daughter
Denise. In 2000 I donated my papers to the Newcomb Archives at the Center for Research on Women at Tulane in New
Orleans.
After years of activism there is joy in reading about what is happening and not running around making it happen.
I am proud of my children. My son is an Appellate court judge in Tennessee, my elder daughter a lawyer in Jackson,
MS. My younger daughter has an M.S. in statistics and is manager of the computer division of a Canadian Bank.
People comment that the South has changed since the Civil Rights Movement, but I say it hasn't changed enough!
This goes for every state in our great union. There is still much to do. My message to young feminists: It is now
up to you.
Recognition
Muriel has received many awards, among them the Veteran Feminists of America's MEDAL OF HONOR in 2002 at Newcomb
College in New Orleans.
*Karline Tierney, and Robbi Madden are well known feminist activists and members of VFA.
Comments to VFA jcvfa@aol.com and to Muriel, 502 Warren St, Vicksburg, MS 39180-6045,
Ph. 601-638-6030, or by email to her daughter, Denise billanddenise@gmail.com
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Mary Daly, author of
"The Second Sex" died January 3, 2010 in Massachusetts.
Mary's contributions to feminist
theology, philosophy, and theory were many, unique, and, some say, world-changing.
Friends remember Mary Daly
 Mary created intellectual space; she
set the bar high. Even those who disagreed with her are in her debt for the challenges she offered. She always
advised us women to throw our lives as far as they would go. I can say without fear of  exaggeration that she lived that way herself. May her spirit
soar and her ideas endure. Mary E.
Hunt - Hoechenschwand, Germany
Her books, "The Church and the Second Sex" and "Beyond God the Father" were powerful works
that changed lives as well as thought. She had a gift for wordplay and a wicked wit--one of the funniest women
I've ever met (she also had two Ph.D.'s). Her Wickadery and her book Gyn/ecology are wonderful, as are her later
books. She was kind--made herself part of the group she was in, not a star. She was insistent on defining and demanding
women's space, something that did not endear her to the priests at Boston College, where she taught until she was
70 and where she drew students internationally who wanted to study with her. Google her name and enjoy. And say
a prayer of thanks for her life. Nancy
Whitt
Photograph by Gail Bryan © 2006
Comments: jcvfa@aol.com
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MARY RUTHSDOTTER October 14, 1944 - January 8, 2010
A FOUNDER OF THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY PROJECT
died January 8, 2010 at age 65 in Sebastopol, California. Born in Fairfield, Iowa on October 14,1944, she traveled
extensively in her youth as part of a military family.
Mary was dedicated to women’s history and feminism, changing her last name in 1981 to Ruthsdotter, a name she created
in honor of her mother Ruth Moyer. She infused her political work with infectious enthusiasm, organizing an annual
women’s history parade in Santa Rosa in 1979 which grew to include school marching bands and hundreds of participants.
While active on the Commission on the Status of Women, Ruthsdotter organized the Women’s Support Network, which
sponsored the women’s history parades, as well as Brown Bag Readers’ Theatre, Women’s Voices News Journal and,
for several years, the National Women’s History Project.
During her 15+ years on the staff of the NWHP, she traveled around the country making presentations, training teachers
and lobbying for the inclusion of women’s accomplishments into our nation’s history. The Project designated National
Women’s History Week in March, 1980, and prevailed on President Ronald Reagan to place March as National Women’s
History Month on the US calendar.
Following her retirement in 2004, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. She successfully fought and contained
this disease, but developed congestive heart failure in late 2009 and died suddenly.
Mary is survived by her husband of 46 years, Dave Crawford, her mother Ruth Moyer, her daughter Alice, son in law
Geoff and grandsons Marcus and Ian, all of Sydney Australia.
A memorial service and celebration
of her life is being planned for a future date. Donations in her memory can be sent to the new National Women’s
History Museum in Washington, DC. National Women’s History Museum, Administrative Offices, 205 S. Whiting Street
Suite 254?Alexandria, VA 22304
http://www.nwhm.org/
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Mariwyn
Heath, FOUNDER OF ERAMERICA died January 8, 2010
Born Mariwyn Dwyer in Chicago in1935 to politically
active parents, Mariwyn attended Webster College in St. Louis and graduated from the University of Missouri, the
first woman to receive a degree in Journalism.
After college, she married Eugene Heath and the couple lived in Elmira, New York, where she was the managing editor
of the Chemung Valley Reporter and a free-lance speech writer which led to a lifelong involvement in political
campaigns and issues. She also worked with the Business and Professional Women (BPW) Club and in Theta Sigma Phi,
the national journalism honorary society that later became the Association for Women in Communications (WIC).
In 1960 Mariwyn and Eugene moved to Dayton, Ohio where, for the next 20 years she held regional and national appointments
with WIC; was president of BPW/Dayton and BPW’s state president; held local and state positions with the American
Association of University Women (AAUW) and was a leader with the Dayton Area YWCA.
By 1974 Mariwyn’s activism was focused nationally on women’s issues and the participation of women in the political
process. She was named Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) coordinator, and later PAC Chair, for BPW/USA, covering Congressional
races in all 50 states; served on the National Council on the Future of Women in the Workplace; chaired the Number
One Imperative Committee (to eliminate institutional racism by any means possible) for the national YWCA. As founder
and managing partner for ERAmerica, Mariwyn was the speaker and lobbyist of BPW for the ERA in the Ohio Statehouse,
in Congress and in fifteen states that had not ratified the ERA between 1968 and 1982. She was the lead consultant
for the ERA to both the Ford and Carter Administrations, commuting weekly between Dayton and offices in Washington,
DC.
She was entered into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 1983, named one of the “10 Outstanding Women of the World”
by Soroptimist International and was given the “Keeper of the Flame” award by Ohio’s Secretary of State. To honor
her lifetime of volunteer work, BPW named it’s top annual award for Mariwyn D. Heath.
Mariwyn is survived by her sons Philip Clayton and Jeffrey Thomas; sister Donna (Robert) Lauck and brother Richard
Dwyer and granddaughters Shea Nicole Heath and Bryn Noel Heath
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SECOND
CHANCE FOR SECOND-WAVE FEMINISTS
If you are not included in the much-praised Feminists
Who Changed America,1963-1975
(University of Illinois Press), you can still be included if you active quickly. Barbara Love, the editor, is taking
questionnaires for a second edition/supplement.
The second opportunity will only be open for a short time. You deserve to be included in this reference work documenting
our contributions. So CLICK
HERE for the questionnaire,
You can Print it, fill
it out and send it to Barbara at Pioneer Feminists Project, c/o Barbara Love 82 Deer Hill Ave., Danbury, CT 06810. or
fax to: 203-826-9701
The first edition included biographies of over 2,200 second-wave feminists and has sold more than 3,000 copies,
many to libraries and universities. This is a project in partnership with Veteran Feminists of America and VFA
receives royalties. So do it now and send the questionnaire to your friends and and other activists who improved
the lives of women and girls in America.
Contact Barbara Love: bjlove@msn.com
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VFA BOARD MEMBERS
Jacqui Ceballos, President
Sheila Tobias - Co-President
Muriel Fox - Board Chair
Joan Michel, VP/Public Relations
Judith Kaplan - Vice-Pres
Sally Lunt - Ma
Gracia Molina-Pick -VP
Beverly McCarthy, CA
Zoe Nicholoson, CA
Eleanor Pam - NY/FL
Virginia Watkins - Secretary
Bonnie Wheeler - TX
Amy Hackett, Treasurer
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FINDING LOVE ON THE INTERNET
HAS JUST GOTTEN EASIER!
BARBARA LOVE ANNOUNCES THAT FEMINISTS WHO CHANGED AMERICA IS ON GOOGLE'S BOOK SEARCH.
 Millions
of people will now have access to biographies OF PIONEER FEMINISTS.
GOOGLE''S Book Search is used by librarians, scholars, booksellers, and readers worldwide. Book Search gives browsers
a taste of the book, much like browsing in a bookstore or library. In Limited Preview mode users can search the
full text for relevant terms, but they can see only 10% or so of the book's content.
*Feminists Who Changed America ~ 1963 - 1975 edited by Barbara J. Love of the Pioneer Feminists Project in partnership
with Veteran Feminists of America, a tax-exempt organization created to document feminist history, inspire younger
generations, and rekindle the spirit of the feminist revolution. The book that documents the contributions of more
than 2,250 feminist women and men is now a reality after a decade of effort. Feminists Who Changed America, 1963
-- 1975 has been published by the University of Illinois Press, a press with "a good feminist consciousness."
Here is the Google Book Search record for Feminists
Who Changed America:
Feminists Who Changed America Google Book Search
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Contact: jcvfa@aol.com
Veteran Feminists of America
Jacqui Ceballos
VFA
PO Box 44551,
Phoenix, AZ 85016
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KNOW YOUR HEROES....
GREAT FEMINISTS OF A GREAT GENERATION 1963 to 1983
Introducing PIONEER FEMINIST OF THE
MONTH
Each month we're featuring one or two of the great feminists featured in FEMINISTS WHO CHANGED AMERICA... We hope to get to everyone, but there are over 2000 in the book, and it would take
100 years and none of us will be here! So we're hoping that this rakes up so much interest that each one of you
will get your local newspapers to write about you and everyone from your state. This way you'll not only be honoring
local heroes of our great ongoing revolution, but it will call attention to VFA's work at documenting and preserving
the history of the Second Wave, and encourage younger women to continue where we left off.
CONTACT JACQUI CEBALLOS: jcvfa@aol.com
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Our Mission |
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Veteran
Feminists of America
 VFA
is a nonprofit organization for veterans of the Second Wave of the feminist movement. The goals are to enjoy the camaraderie forged during those years of intense
commitment, to honor ourselves and our heroes, to document our history, to rekindle the spark and spirit of the
feminist revolution and act as keeper of the flame so that the ideals of feminism continue to reverberate and influence
others.
Contact VFA: jcvfa@aol.com
Veteran Feminists
of America
PO Box 44551,
Phoenix, AZ 85064
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Betty Friedan Portrait:
Bettye Lanene
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