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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
This book packs a lot of punch into 145 pages. The eleven 2019/20 Presidential debates allowed more women than ever before to stand up and be heard...Along the way the women were often attacked, though not so viciously as when they ran for President. Trump called Warren ‘Pocahontas’. The press said Klobuchar was a mean boss. Williamson was dismissed as an aging hippie. Some of the women handled these attacks better than others – but that’s true of men as well. Above all, they had to deal with the issue of “electability” – could a woman, any woman, beat Trump. All told stories from their lives to illustrate their themes. None were rags-to-riches stories. Nor did they go into politics the old-fashioned way, by inheriting an office from a male relative. They worked their way up the political ladder, though some had doors opened for them while others had to pound on those doors. In her final chapter Gutgold asks “Did Six Women Running for President 2020 Change the Rhetoric of Women and Presidential Politics?” To find out her answer, you’ll have to read the book.
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Jo Freeman writes: If you enjoyed listening to Elizabeth Warren during the 2019/20 Presidential debates or if you applauded her on the campaign trail, you will love this book. It’s one very long campaign speech. In six chapters she entertains readers with stories of her youth, her family, her dog, her plans, her policy proposals, and a few insights... Not until the final chapter on being “A Woman” does she begin to tie her experiences together. She ran into a lot of glass ceilings and broke some of them, but never escaped the “discrimination that lasts a lifetime.” She talks about care giving and abortion, as well as the consequences of unequal pay and limited job opportunities for women... As her final story, Warren writes about a little girl she met on the selfie line in St. Paul Minnesota, in 2019. That girl told her “You better win... I’ve been waiting for a girl president since.... since... since kindergarten.” more »
Jo Freeman Reviews: Mazie Hirono's first four years in the Senate were relatively uneventful, as she dug down and learned the job. When Trump became President, Hirono pulled out her sword. His acts, appointments and words represented everything she disliked. There’s a lot on the Kavanaugh hearings where, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she questioned Kavanaugh about his alleged sexual assaults. There’s also a lot on immigration (one of her pet issues) and the “Chinese virus.” Hirono’s political career coincided with the rise of political women from bit players to major leaguers. Her stories illustrate the forward steps as well as the backward ones. This book is a tribute to success, both hers and that of other women. more »
Jo Freeman Writes: Fr Walter founded the Selma Inter-Religious Project, a support organization for civil rights activists. He and his wife lived in Tuscaloosa, probably the most racially liberal town in Alabama. One of his main projects was turning the Freedom Quilting Bee, a co-operative established by local black women, into a major business. With his New York ties, Walter was able to send the quilts to NYC to be auctioned. Publicity and promotion led to munificent prices which the Alabama women used to improve their lives and that of their children. The business lasted until 2012. more »
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Jo Freeman Reviews Electing Madam Vice President by Nichola D. Gutgold
Jo Freeman Reviews Elizabeth Warren's New Book: Persist ("I have a plan for that")
Jo Freeman Reviews Mazie's Hirono's Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter's Story
Jo Freeman Reviews From Preaching to Meddling: A White Minister in the Civil Rights Movement
