National Interviews

Recorded in Houston, Texas during the National Women’s Conference November 18-21, 1977, these interviews reflect perspectives from across the country, including some of the 1,440 delegates elected at the state conferences. The collection includes approximately 550 participants’ views on issues important to women and reactions to the conference itself. The voices document the diversity sought at the conference and include interviews across the social and political spectrum.

Click on any name to read or listen to their interview. As digital preservation work continues, more interviews will be added.

Lois Aarons	From Brooklyn, NY Lived in Austin, TX 30 Lesbian Director of Staff for the Center for Battered Women in Austin
L. Abernathy	Houston, TX City government employee Pro-ERA
Maria Ackerman	Haines, Alaska Tlingit woman Attended conference to demonstrate Chilkat blanket weaving
John P. Adams	Washington, DC Staff member of United Methodist Church Board of Church and Society Security consultant for IWY
Mike Alewitz	Resident of New Orleans 26 Socialist muralist Member of Socialist Worker’s Party Pro-Women’s Movement
Ruth Ann Alexander	Brookings, South Dakota Delegate from SD Professor of English at South Dakota State University Discusses stereotypes of rural women
Ernie Attwell	Houston, Texas African-American business owner
Marya Attwood	Arkansas 26 Lesbian Hotel housekeeper Discusses harassment and violence against lesbians
Taunya Lovell Banks	Houston, TX Official observer Lawyer Member of Black Women for Social Change Vice-president of the Black Women Lawyer’s Association of Houston
Cathy Banner	Organizer for the ERA America Benefit Supporter of women’s rights
Dorothy Barker	Texas Christian Democrat Anti-ERA Views on same-sex lifestyles
Lois Black	Syracuse, New York Psychologist and Director of Affirmative Action, Syracuse University
Barbara Bornstein	Social worker from New Jersey Married with two young sons Reproductive health issues
Margaritte Boye	Washington state Pharmacist
Mavis Brady	US Virgin Islands Educator
Wilma Brady	Educator Representing the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’is
Shirley Bronson	Delegate from California Civil Servant Pro-ERA Discusses women in the workplace
Michelle Brown	Houston, TX Steelworker African-American
Teresa Tellez Brown	Hawaii Mexican-American Active in NOW and the Women’s Equity Action League (WEAL) Former aid worker and science/technology program adviser in South American countries
Keller Bumgardner (Barron)	Columbia, SC Delegate from SC Board member of League of Women Voters Active in the Equal Rights Ratification Coalition of South Carolina
Madeline Burke	Baton Rouge, LA 43 Employed in real estate
Patricia Hill Burnett	Michigan Artist Served as President, Michigan chapter of NOW and served on national board of NOW
Maria Canfield	From Laredo, TX Living in Houston 41 Mexican-American community activist Member of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Sue C. Pungen Carberry	San Diego, CA Media Task Force Chair of San Diego NOW Member of IWY press staff PhD Candidate in Human Behavior
Gwendolyn Carey	Social worker from Houston 29 years old Pro-ERA
Mary Margaret Carney	Indiana Involved in the Indiana women’s movement Women’s equity education in education and honor societies for educators
Irene Carr	Union/labor issues
Stanley Cassar	Ridgefield, CT Worked in Long Island African-American Deputy EEOC Officer for Naval facility
Janice Cate	Bellevue, WA Peace activist Official observer Member of Church Women United and WILPF
Joleen Cate	Washington, delegate’s assistant Native American, age 28 Evergreen State College student
Alicia M. Payan Cedillos	Chicana caucus member
S.M. (Solita) Chase	Houston, TX 29 African-American Social work student at Texas Southern University Case manager for Aid for Dependent Children program
Naomi Christensen	Hastings, Iowa Delegate-at-large Worked on rural women’s issues United Methodist Women member
Judy Christianson	California Substance abuse educator
Eldridge Cleaver	From Arkansas Living in Stanford, California 42 Writer, lecturer, and political activist Early leader of the Black Panther Party
Claudia Cole	Roselle Park, NJ Worked at Kean College President of Union County NOW chapter Feminist organizer since late 1960s
Roxanne Conlin	Des Moines, Iowa Delegate Workshop leader on marriage, divorce, and separation Discusses ERA
Becky Copple	Lincoln, NE 19 University of Nebraska student NOW member
Jean Marshall Crawford Clarke	Virginia Delegate Lawyer
Ellen Coppedge	Fort Valley, GA 30 Concerned about ERA Against same-sex marriage
Wilma Crumley	Lincoln, NE Professor of Journalism, University of Nebraska Pro-ERA
Lydia Cruz	New Jersey Delegate Puerto Rican
Anne Culhane	New Jersey Delegate Puerto Rican
Melerson Guy Dunham	Tylertown, MI 73 Retired professor from Alcorn A&M College Alternate delegate from Mississippi Active in civil rights and women’s organizing
Paula Dyan	Atlanta, GA 27 Master’s student in Psychology at West Georgia College Sex worker Organizer for sex worker union PASSION (Professional Association Seeking Sexual Identification Observant to Nature)
Alice Eckelhawk	Native American Minority activist
Zenobia Ellis	Kansas City, MO 50 Supervisor for the Department of Agriculture Delegate from Missouri
Rene Epstein	Daughter inspired activism
Hedy Ferreria	Massachusetts Alternate delegate Union organizer
Mary Finnerty	Springfield, VA Attended Pro-Family Rally Secretary of March for Life Discusses Human Life Amendment
Nancy Cusick Fox	Washington, DC Artist and instructor
Franciscan Priest	New Jersey Worked to help prostitutes in New York City Pro-women’s rights and reproductive freedom, with the exception of abortion
Dorothy Franklin	South Carolina Delegate NAACP
Jacqueline Frost	Charlotte, NC 30 Director of Purchasing and Import for Carolina Color & Chemical Company Served as Southern Regional Director of NOW for 3 years
Ranelle Funk	Louisville, KY President of Concerned Citizens of Louisville Active in conservative women’s movement Anti-ERA
Carol Gaddy	Little Rock, Arkansas Feminist Official observer with the Arkansas delegation Worked in employment agencies
Dottie Geare	Virginia Community college counselor Rural women issues
Ruth Bader Ginsburg	Supreme Court Justice
Lucy Gonzalez	California Military wife Filipino activist
Carol Greenspan	Missouri Professor of Chemistry and Medicine Conservatism in the South
Eleanor Haney	Delaware & Minnesota Feminist theologian and activist PhD from Yale
Larry Hatteberg	Kansas Reporter Male observor
Helen Havens	Houston, TX 42 Episcopal Priest Helped organize interfaith worship for IWY participants
Betty Hickey	Nebraska Psychologist Mental health care
Dianne Jackson	Brooklyn, NY & Sumter, SC 28 African-American Domestic violence survivor Vice chair of the board of directors of Center for the Elimination of Violence in the Family
Gloria Julagay	From Brooklyn, NY Lived in Buena Park, California Delegate from California Filipino American woman Founded an Asian American center in Orange County
Gretchen Kafoway	Ardmore, Oklahoma 55 Conservative activist Secretary of the Church of the United President of the Latin Council of Catholic Women
Eva Lee	Nuclear physicist Volunteer at conference
Jean Maack	Illinois Biochemist
Elise MacBride	Nebraska Engineer Emigrated to U.S. from Ireland at age 2
Rose Marie McDuff	California Delegate African-American minister
Olive Merlin	Jackson, Michigan Director of Vocational Education VP of the Michigan Federation of Business & Professional Women’s Clubs Pro-ERA
Kate Millett	Saint Paul, MN 43 Feminist writer, artist, educator, and activist Author of Sexual Politics (1970)
Sherrie L. Moran	Chesapeake, OH 32 Public information specialist with the Army Corps of Engineers NOW organizer
Sandra Murphy	Fort Wayne, Indiana A feminist and member of the organization Fort Wayne Feminists Co-director, Women’s Studies Program at Purdue University
Kathy Parker	Phoenix, Arizona Previously opened a women’s center in the Australian Outback Long-term feminist activist
Viola Peterson	Michigan Supporter of Native American rights Commissioner of Michigan Commission on Indian Affairs Partly pro-plan
Theola Petteway	Texas Social worker Women’s and African-American organizations
Christine Nestrase (with Laura Polla Scanlon)	New York Activist for working class women
Joan Neuwirth	New Jersey delegate 47 years old Civil Servant Feminist
Otoria O’Rear	Lexington, Kentucky African-American Civil rights and women’s rights activist
Linda Ragsdale	Illinois Pro-ERA Social worker
Amy Raskin	Houston, Texas High school student Volunteer at the Conference
Bea Rodriguez	Kansas Mother of eight Chicana activist
Nancy Sablan	Guam Delegate Pro-women’s rights/anti-feminist label
Keith Sanborn	Wichita, Kansas Husband of Kansas delegate Helped organize Kansas state level conference
Ann Savage	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma A feminist delegate who opposes the conservative attitude of the overall delegation Homemaker and President of the Oklahoma League of Women Voters
Laura Polla Scanlon (with Christine Nestrase)	New York President of the National Congress of Neighborhood Women Representing working class women’s issues
Betty Bone Schiess	New York Chaplain at Syracuse University Episcopal priest, one of the first to be ordained in US
Paula Seddon	Illinois (Chicago) Amtrak driver, age 32 Union member
Belen Serra	From Ponce, Puerto Rico Social Worker Dean of Studies at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras
Meri M. Smith	Business and Professional Women’s Club Activist
Jean Stapleton	California Commissioner, International Women’s Year Actress, most notably as Edith Bunker on “All in the Family”
Laurie Steiner	Alabama Doctoral student in Houston
Nancy Sterling	Houston, Texas Moderate feminist Discusses the exhibits and attitudes of Houstonians towards the conference
Judy Stietly	Pennsylvania Physical therapist Enlisted in the Army
Joanne B. Thomas	From Salt Lake City, Utah Mormon Radio Show Host
Irene Tinker	Professor Women and Gender Studies
Mollie Tremain	Therapist Mother of 6 Earning PhD
Grace Ware	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania African-American social worker and consultant and PhD student Education, health, and the unequal treatment of white and black communities
Edna Williamson	Tillatopa, Mississippi 43 Delegate at Large Retirement home nurse