|
Help |
Site Map
|
Jo Freeman
Jo Freeman is a political scientist and attorney. She is currently writing a book on her experiences in the Southern civil rights movement. Her experiences in the Bay Area civil rights movement are recounted in the book At Berkeley in the Sixties.
Jo's newest book,   We Will Be Heard: Women's Struggles for Political Power in the United States, has been published by Rowman and Littlefield. The previous book is At Berkeley in the Sixties: Education of an Activist (Indiana U. Press 2004) and before that, A Room at a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics, (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000) was reviewed by Emily Mitchell, a former Senior Women Web Culture Watch critic.
A Room at a Time has been awarded the Leon Epstein prize. This prize is given by the POP section of the APSA to a book that makes an "outstanding contribution to research and scholarship on political organizations and parties."
The History Book Club, a division of the Book-of-the-Month Club, selected At Berkeley in the Sixties for one of its paperback book features. For more information about the book visit: http://www.jofreeman.com/books/Berkeley.htm
Jo's other books include: The Politics of Women's Liberation (1975), winner of a 1975 prize from the American Political Science Association for the Best Scholarly Book on Women and Politics; five editions of Women: A Feminist Perspective (ed.). She has also edited Social Movements of the Sixties and Seventies (1983), and (with Victoria Johnson) Waves of Protest: Social Movements Since the Sixties. She has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. Read more by and about Jo at http://www.jofreeman.com and email her with comments and questions at joreen@jofreeman.com
Jo Freeman Writes: The press said there were 25,000 members of the National Guard in town. I believe it. They were everywhere. The day before the inauguration, chartered busses were bringing them in in droves. Some individuals were friendly. Some just wanted me to scoot. I’ve been to half a dozen inaugurations, though I only had press credentials for 1993. Usually you can find someplace from which to watch the parade. This year I watched it all on TV. Overall, law enforcement went from under-response to the January 6 riot to over-reaction. They closed things down as though they were expecting an armed invasion and not just a few hundred cult fanatics. more »
There were only three black lawyers in the entire state of Mississippi and white lawyers wouldn’t take these cases. They were assisted by law students, for which this was a summer job. Gil was one of those students, having completed his first year at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. He returned committed to becoming a public interest lawyer. He joined the Pittsburgh ACLU, and after graduation, became its first executive director. About a quarter of the book is about his work with the ACLU. In 1970 Gil moved to Arizona to become Assistant Dean of the ASU law school. He stayed to raise a family while involved with social justice issues. This book tells you about more than his legal work. You learn a lot about his ancestors and his girlfriends. more »
"This book is primarily based on one hundred oral histories of outstanding women lawyers commissioned by the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. Impressed by Norgren's other books on women lawyers, two members of the Commission offered to make the transcripts available if she would write another book. Norgren explores childhood influences, law school experiences, and the various types of practice that these women engaged in. Until 1972, most law schools had quotas on women, usually about 7 percent, if they admitted any at all. Law professors told them that they were taking a man's place. But the fact that Amy Coney Barrett, who was born in 1972, could become a Supreme Court Justice while raising seven children is evidence of how far it has declined as a barrier to having a successful career." more »
Jo Freeman writes: Her first passion was cheerleading, which she pursued in high school and college. In many ways, she spent her life as a cheerleader, first for her team, then for her causes. Her second passion was leadership. She served as president of Tuskegee Institute’s student government and chose her successor when the rules did not permit her re-election. Gwen liked being in charge. Gwen had a talent for making friends, from the President of Tuskegee Institute, to Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Bettina Aptheker and many lesser knowns. They opened doors, helping her find jobs, travel to interesting conferences in far away places and serve on boards. She did make a few enemies, but there appear to be remarkably few. more »
|
|
Jo Freeman writes: The Wall that Trump Built
Jo Freeman's Review of Gil Venable's Mississippi & After: A Life in Equal Justice Law
Jo Freeman Reviews Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers: Lives in the Law by Jill Norgren
Jo Freeman Reviews My Race to Freedom: A Life in the Civil Rights Movement By Gwendolyn Patton
