1960-2020: Six Decades of Local Feminism Photos courtesy of the UF Archives
Story by Olivia deMontmorency
1970s 1972 - The Equal Rights Amendment is passed in the United States. However, it's not until Jan. 27, 2020 that Virginia becomes the 38th state to ratify it, more than three decades after the original 1982 deadline.
The Women’s Movement is commonly acknowledged as a national organization, but every community and city around the country plays an extensive role in reinforcing these ideas of equality and change. Gainesville is no exception. Many residents may be unaware that Gainesville has a rich history of feminism. Here’s a look at the local history of the feminist movement, the impactful organizations and the strong women who led them.
1960s 1963 - Gainesville Women for Equal Rights (GWER) was co-founded by Beverly Jones. According to the University of Florida Digital Collections, the community began to recognize the coalition after its members protested against segregation at the College Inn in October 1963. These women normally consisted of local students, wives, teachers and others who played a significant role in the desegregation of the library, Alachua General Hospital, the Boys Club and more.
1974 - The Rape Information and Counseling Service (RICS) is created and provides a 24-hour hotline for those experiencing any form of sexual abuse. Documentation from the UF Smathers Library states the RICS was started in a broom closet of a local Gainesville church, monitored at all times of the day. According to WomaNews, volunteers accompanied rape victims to the hospital, the police station, court and even provided getaways for women to escape town for the day or weekend. 1974 continued - The Gainesville Women’s Health Center is created by longtime advocate for women’s health, Byllye Avery. The Gainesville center, alongside four other centers, was for minority and low-income women facing unplanned/unwanted pregnancies. Documentation from the UF archives states Avery later established the Black Women's Health Imperative in Atlanta in 1984, which addresses reproductive rights of African American women. 1975 - Womanstore opens, Gainesville’s first feminist bookstore. Womanstore provided feminist literature as well as a space where women could leave their abusive homes and work on creating new policy and change for equality. 1977 - The University of Florida approves the Women’s Studies program as a new field of study.
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2000s
1980 - The Gainesville Commission on the Status of Women is founded to promote “gender equality and the empowerment of women." The local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People elects their first woman president, Dr. Joyce Cosby.
2002 - The Pride Community Center of North Florida opens in Gainesville, serving 13 counties around Alachua County. The center is devoted to serving the LGBTQ+ community through activities, resources and public education.
1982 - The local National Organization for Women (NOW) chapter is established. NOW addresses issues of activism such as reproductive rights, stopping violence against women, ending racism, stopping sex discrimination and economic inequality.
2002 continued - Cynthia M. Chestnut is the first African American woman elected to the Alachua County Commission.
1984 - Jean Chalmers is the first woman elected Mayor of Gainesville. Today, Chalmers works as a real estate agent and continues to advocate for gender equality. 1986 - Gainesville’s progressive newsletter and events calendar, the Gainesville Iguana is created. Founded by activists Jenny Brown and Joe Courter, the Gainesville Iguana, served as a resource for activists to rally around an event and share national information. The newsletter continues to distribute hard copies today (printed on recycled paper) around Gainesville and publish online.
Byllye Avery (1974)
2005 - The Latina Women's League is founded to provide a space for discussion of Latina women’s experiences as well as community service projects, activities and resources. 2017 - The iconic Women’s March on Washington takes place and Gainesville feminists participate. Many Gainesville locals attended the march in D.C., and others march in the local community, along with hundreds of other cities across the world. 2020 - The Gainesville Women’s March takes place where hundreds safely gather and march from Depot Park to Bo Diddley Plaza. The event was organized by University of Florida academic adviser Larah Doyle.
1987 - Cynthia M. Chestnut becomes the first African American woman elected to the Gainesville City Commission.
1990s 1990 - Cynthia M. Chestnut is the first woman elected to Florida House of Rep. from District 2 and the first African American elected from Alachua County. 1994 - Writer and radical feminist Kathie Sarachild begins teaching a “Feminist Activism” course at the University of Florida. Back in the 1960s, Sarachild coined the famous term “Sisterhood Is Powerful” and wrote the “Program for Feminist Consciousness-Raising.”
1968 - Beverly Jones and Judith Brown co-authored the feminist manifesto, “Toward a Female Liberation Movement,” which is later printed as a pamphlet and named the “Florida Paper.” Stetson University professor and historian Peggy Macdonald calls it “one of the most prominent local activities of its time.” The Florida Paper is considered to be one of the most popular publications on radical feminism, following iconic author Simone de Beauvoir. 1968 continued - The Gainesville Women's Liberation is founded by Judith Brown and Carol Giardina. It’s the first women's liberation group in the South. Brown and Giardina would later revive the organization in the mid-'80s.
1980s
1997 - The Gainesville Women's Health Center closes after 25 years of serving women in the community. The health center created a longlasting impact by putting medicine practices like the gentle female pelvic exam at the forefront of basic medical practices. Through its almost three decades of operation, Gainesville Women’s Health Center endured attacks from anti-choice protestors and legislative limitations on abortion rights, small business failures and more, according to the UF Digital Collections.
In 2020, Larah Doyle, an academic adviser from the Universit y of Florida, organized a Women's March from Depot Park to Bo Diddley Plaza.
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