Frontiers of Social Justice

Letters from Margaret Sanger on behalf of the American Birth Control League

Letters from Margaret Sanger on behalf of the American Birth Control League, 1921-1931, from the Theodore Dreiser papers, circa 1890-1965 (bulk: 1897-1955). Ms. Coll. 30

Margaret Sanger (1879-1966), a nurse, coined the term “birth control” and founded the American Birth Control League (later Planned Parenthood). Almost immediately after opening the first birth control clinic in 1916, she sold educational literature to an undercover policewoman, was arrested, and spent thirty days in prison at the Queens County Penitentiary. In 1921, she founded the American Birth Control League.  She wrote to the author Theodore Dreiser on the letterheads of New York Women’s Publishing Co., Inc., publishers of The Birth Control Review; American Birth Control League, Inc.; The Committee on Federal Legislation for Birth Control; and her own personal stationary.  Dreiser appears to have been a supporter of the movement as he contributed an article, “A Word Concerning Birth Control,” to be published in The Birth Control Review in 1921.

Letters from Mary Ware Dennett

Letters from Mary Ware Dennett, 1918-1919, from the Carl Zigrosser papers, circa 1891-1971.    Ms. Coll. 6

Mary Ware Dennet (1872-1947) was an advocate for suffrage, sex education, and access to contraceptives. She wrote a frank sex education pamphlet, “The Sex Side of Life;” was a proponent of the repeal of the Comstock Act (which banned her pamphlet from being mailed); was a leader in the establishment of the National Birth Control League in 1915 (becoming executive secretary in 1918 before resigning in 1919); and established the Voluntary Parenthood League in 1919.  She was arrested and indicted in 1928 and convicted in 1929 for her work with sex education, women’s rights, and birth control, but her conviction was over-turned in 1930.  She wrote to Carl Zigrosser, an American artist who was active in the New York anarchist movement, on the letterhead of both the National Birth Control League and the Voluntary Parenthood League requesting copies of The Modern School which Zigrosser edited and which published some of Dennet’s articles.

Sister, Vol. 9, No. 1 and Vol. 10, No. 1

Sister, Vol. 9, No. 1 and Vol. 10, No. 1, 1978-1979, in the Women’s Health Concerns Committee records, 1974-1984. Ms. Coll. 588

The Women’s Health Concerns Committee was created in the fall of 1974 by the Southeastern Region of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, in response to a concern that arose at the region’s 1974 Conference on Women and Health that there should be more communication between the government and women’s organizations. The Committee was created by Walter J. Lear, M.D., commissioner of Health Services, and placed under the direction of JoAnne Fisher Wolf, the region’s consultant on women and health. The Committee described itself as “a coalition of over 400 health organizations, women’s groups and individuals concerned about women’s health,” and the membership of the Committee included a high proportion of women who were active in multiple women’s health advocacy groups. In addition to records of the Committee, this collection also includes research and documentation collected by the Committee.

Photographs of the MomMobile

Photographs of the MomMobile in the Maternity Care Coalition records, 1960-2009 (bulk: 1980-2007). Ms. Coll. 760

The Maternity Care Coalition, founded in 1980 in Philadelphia, was devoted to preventing infant mortality.  The MomMobile Project was started in 1989 and aided low-income pregnant women, new parents, infants and their families. Still operating today, this program has provided services to more than 50,000 Philadelphia families.

Celebrate people's history: 100 posters

Celebrate people's history: 100 posters (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : Justseeds Artists' Cooperative, 2016). Portfolio NC1849.S54 C46 2016

The Green Belt Movement (GBM) was founded in 1977 by Professor Wangari Maathai, and works at the grassroots, national, and international levels to promote environmental conservation; to build climate resilience and empower communities, especially women and girls; and to foster democratic space and sustainable livelihoods.    Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011) was born in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya, in 1940. She earned a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964), a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966), and pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, before obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi, where she also taught veterinary anatomy. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region. This is one poster in a cloth-bound box set of 100 posters which documents the first 18 years in the Celebrate People’s History Poster series. This diverse set of posters brings to life critical moments in the history of the struggle for social justice. To that end, MacPhee asked artists and designers to illustrate events, groups, and people who have advanced the collective struggle of humanity and attempted to create a more equitable and just world. The posters tell stories from the subjective position of the artists, and are often the stories of underdogs, those written out of history. This poster was created by Ally Reeves from Tennessee.

We are the storm: climate portfolio

We are the storm: climate portfolio (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Culture Strike and Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, 2015).  Mapcase N8217.E28 W43 2015

“Don’t Frack With Me,” was created by Favianna Rodriguez, artist and activist from Oakland, California, with Movement Generation.  The portfolio is a collection of fine art prints depicting the powerful work of grassroots organizations and groups that are working to defend the most impacted communities against large-scale industrial fossil-fuel projects and helping to build resilience in communities affected by global warming.

Frontiers of Social Justice