Campus Programming Expands on Women's Issues

In 1976, with funding from the Danforth Foundation, UMass faculty organized a Women's Studies Colloquium Series called “Fantasy and the Female.” According to the Women’s Studies newsletter that spring, events included a panel on Fantasy’s Role in Literary Expression with Lee Edwards, Arlyn Diamond and Joyce Berkman; a talk by Margo Culley and Elizabeth Martin on medieval women saints; and a workshop with the Omaha Magic Theater. Performance artist and UMass graduate Judith Katz also brought her piece, “Temporary Insanity” to Bartlett Auditorium in May. Women’s Studies also helped spread the word, in the spring of 1976, about a Rape Awareness conference hosted by the UMass Rape Task Force and the Family Planning Council of Western Massachusetts. The evening presentation of that conference was given by Susan Brownmiller, author Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape. ¹⁶

March 6-12, 1977 brought a notable International Women’s Week program. The renowned jazz singer Betty Carter performed at the Fine Arts Center. Carter had started her career singing with bebop giants Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and throughout the seventies served as a mentor to many younger musicians who would go on to have successful careers of their own. Civil rights activist and writer Grace Lee Boggs, American Indian Movement activist Madonna Gilbert, educator and champion of low-income black students Barbara Sizemore, and many others spoke about their work. Workshops on health, international issues, politics, spirituality, and self defense were offered throughout the week. There was a children’s program and a women’s international film festival. The other colleges in the area also participated in the week’s activities by hosting speakers and workshops, including a Socialist-Feminist Symposium at Hampshire College. ¹⁷

¹⁶ Women’s Studies Newsletter Vol. 1 #3, April 1976

¹⁷ AF Papers, WOST 77 folder