Funding Feminism
@ Newberry Library
60 W Walton St, Chicago, IL 60610
Opening Tuesday, October 23rd, from 6PM - 7PM
On view through Wednesday, December 31st
How did a group of affluent white women from the late-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries advance the status of all women through acts of philanthropy?
In her new book Funding Feminism: Monied Women, Philanthropy, and the Women’s Movement, 1870-1967, Joan Marie Johnson tells the story of a cadre of activists that included Phoebe Hearst, the mother of William Randolph Hearst; Grace Dodge, granddaughter of Wall Street “Merchant Prince” William Earle Dodge; and Ava Belmont, who married into the Vanderbilt family fortune. Motivated by their own experiences with sexism, and focusing on women’s need for economic independence, these benefactors sought to expand women’s access to higher education, promote suffrage, and champion reproductive rights, as well as to provide assistance to working-class women.
In a time when women still wielded limited political power, philanthropy was perhaps the most potent tool they had. But even as these wealthy women exercised considerable influence, their activism had significant limits. As Johnson argues, restrictions tied to their giving engendered resentment and jeopardized efforts to establish coalitions across racial and class lines.
At this Meet the Author, Dr. Johnson will discuss her new book and explain how tensions over wealth and power that persist in the modern movement have deep historical roots.
After the talk, Johnson will sign copies of her book, which will be available for purchase.
For more information, please visit: https://www.newberry.org/10232018-funding-feminism-monied-women-philanthropy-and-women-s-movement-1870-1967
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Tags: Chicago, Funding Feminism, Joan Marie Johnson, Near North, Newberry Library
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