Florence Howe papers (MS.2011.003)

Biographical/Historical Note

Florence Rosenfeld Howe was an American author, publisher, literary scholar, and historian who was also a leader of the contemporary feminist movement.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 17, 1929, Howe was the daughter of Samuel Howe, a taxi driver, and Frances Stilly Rosenfeld, a bookkeeper who later worked for an aeronautics manufacturer. In 1943, Howe was admitted to Hunter College High School in Manhattan, ranked among the top public schools in the country. She graduated high school early and attended Hunter College, earning a BA in English in 1950. While there, she formed an interracial and interfaith sorority with friends and was elected student body president. She went on to earn an MA in English from Smith College in 1951 and a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin in 1954. She also received honorary doctorates from New England College (1977), Skidmore College (1979), and DePauw University (1987).

Howe held positions at Hofstra University, Queens College, Goucher College, the State University of New York, and the City University of New York. During her early career, Howe taught women's studies courses before such a program ever existed in higher education. While leading the way in the feminist movement, Howe was also a staunch supporter of the civil rights movement. In 1963, she joined Goucher College students in organizing a protest demonstration against a segregated movie theater near Morgan State College, a historically Black institution. And in 1964, she volunteered to teach African American children in a Jackson, Mississippi, freedom school. She was also a fierce opponent of the war in Vietnam, signing a public statement declaring her intention to refuse to pay income taxes in protest against the war in 1967.

In 1970, Howe founded The Feminist Press, "an educational nonprofit organization founded to advance women's rights and amplify feminist perspectives." Authors whose titles have been published or republished by the Feminist Press include Zora Neale Hurston, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Barbara Ehrenreich, Willa Cather, Alice Walker and the members of the Russian feminist performance group Pussy Riot. From 1972–1982, Howe also assisted in editing the Women's Studies Quarterly, a peer-reviewed journal. In 1973, she took on the role of President of the Modern Language Association after previously serving as Chair of the MLA's Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession in the '60s.

Howe wrote several books, including The Conspiracy of the Young (1970) and The Impact of Women's Studies on the Curriculum and the Disciplines (1980), both coauthored by her then husband, Paul Lauter. Her essays were collected in a book entitled Myths of Coeducation: Selected Essays, 1964–1983 (1984). In addition, she edited various titles including With Wings: An Anthology of Literature by and About Disabled Women (1987); Traditions and the Talents of Women (1991); and No More Masks: An Anthology of Poems by Women (1993).

Howe passed away on September 12, 2020 in New York at the age of 91.