In-Person: The Women of NOW by Katherine Turk

Please join us for an in-person event celebrating the release of The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization that Transformed America by Katherine Turk! For this event, Katherine will be joined in conversation by Mary-Ann Lupa, who served as the Chicago NOW's chapter president from 1970-1973.

Please note: Pre-registration for this event is required. By pre-registering, you are verifying that you are fully vaccinated and will wear a mask throughout the entirety of the event.

The history of NOW—its organization, trials, and revolutionary mission—told through the work of three members.

In the summer of 1966, crammed into a D.C. hotel suite, twenty-eight women devised a revolutionary plan. Betty Friedan, the well-known author of The Feminine Mystique, and Pauli Murray, a lawyer at the front lines of the civil rights movement, had called this renegade meeting from attendees at the annual conference of state women’s commissions. Fed up with waiting for government action and trying to work with a broken system, they laid out a vision for an organization to unite all women and fight for their rights. Alternately skeptical and energized, they debated the idea late into the night. In less than twenty-four hours, the National Organization for Women was born.

In The Women of NOW, the historian Katherine Turk chronicles the growth and enduring influence of this foundational group through three lesser-known members who became leaders: Aileen Hernandez, a federal official of Jamaican American heritage; Mary Jean Collins, a working-class union organizer and Chicago Catholic; and Patricia Hill Burnett, a Michigan Republican, artist, and former beauty queen. From its bold inception through the tumultuous training ground of the 1970s, NOW’s feminism flooded the nation, permanently shifted American culture and politics, and clashed with conservative forces, presaging our fractured national landscape. These women built an organization that was radical in its time but flexible and expansive enough to become a mainstream fixture. This is the story of how they built it—and built it to last.

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Katherine Turk is the author of The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization that Transformed America and Equality on Trial: Gender and Rights in the Modern American Workplace. An award-winning scholar and teacher, she is Associate Professor of History and Adjunct Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives with her family in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Mary-Ann Lupa was born and spent her early years on Chicago’s North Side. In 1970 she became Chicago NOW’s chapter president, serving two terms until 1973. As Illinois ERA Coordinator in 1976, she rallied NOW chapters to attend the National Rally for Equal Rights in Springfield, IL. Throughout her life she has been an active designer for the women’s movement while pursuing a successful career as a graphic designer and business owner. In recent years she has served on the board and been an active participant in the Veteran Feminist of America organization.

Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Face masks are required to be worn during the event. For ASL Interpretation to be made available, please submit a request by emailing events@womenandchildrenfirst.com. For other questions or access needs, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com.