Sisterhood Salon
In a series of 30 minute conversations, held at various times during the day, Henry, Cotera and Garcia Merchant will engage with veterans of IWY/NWC 1977 as reflection, as witness and as the action that bridges yesterday’s feminist consciousness with today’s issues of culture, gender and justice. Featured guests invited and/or already scheduled to appear include people in Diana's photographs who have made the history such as "Baby" ERA McCarthey, now all grown up and about to open a museum of women's history; Gloria Steinem, who held ERA in the White House when the report was delivered; ERA's mother Judy McCarthey, who was a delegate; and other delegates, Commissioners, and staff: Rhea Mojica Hammer, Rose Marie Roybal, Rita Elway Brogan, Elizabeth Holtzman, Billie Jean King; conference coordinator Rabbi Leah (then Lee) Novick; Suzy Chaffee, Melba Tolliver, Jo Freeman, Peggy Kokernot Kaplan, Sylvia Ortiz, Michelle Cearcy, Dottie Arceneaux Starr, Lucy Komisar, Joan Roth. All conference attendees are invited to drop in and share the conversation.
A significant contingent of Chicana/Latina attendees to IWY/NWC 1977 were led by three Chicana/Latina Commissioners, Cecelia Preciado Burciaga (Stanford University), Rhea Mojica Hammer (National Women’s Political Caucus) and Carmen Votaw (MANA, National Association of Puerto Rican Women). In 2017, we mourn the loss of two of these trailblazing women, Cecelia (2014) and Carmen (2016), however, Rhea (now Ruth) at 91, still represents the fiery determination all three displayed during those four days in Houston. Much of the Chicana/Latina history of this Conference and the resulting outcomes of the Plan of Action can be seen in the archival recovery work now being produced by the scholars of this activist legacy.
