Florence Rosenfeld Howe (March 17, 1929 – September 12, 2020) was an American author, publisher, literary scholar, and historian who is considered to have been a leader of the contemporary feminist movement.
Early life
Born in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
on March 17, 1929,
Florence Howe was the daughter of Samuel, a taxi driver,
and Frances Stilly Rosenfeld, a bookkeeper.
Howe loved learning from a young age. Her mother encouraged her daughter to follow a teaching career.
Education
In 1943, Howe entered New York City's highly selective
Hunter College High School.
[ She was one of only five young women from Brooklyn to do so. She graduated high school early and attended Hunter College. In 1949, she was awarded entrance to ]Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
, the elite academic organization which commends superlative academic achievement. Various people in power encouraged her to take graduate courses in literature and to become a college professor. After receiving a BA in English in 1950 from Hunter College, Howe entered Smith College and earned an MA in English in 1951. In 1954, Howe attended the University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
, resuming her work in graduate studies for art history and literature. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by DePauw University
DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the ...
in 1987.
Career
In 1960, Howe was employed as an assistant professor in the English department at a private women's college, Goucher College
Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...
, located in Maryland. She taught African American children in a Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
freedom school during 1964 and chaired the Modern Language Association commission on the Status of Women in the Profession. In 1964, Howe’s book Myths of Coeducation, featured one of her essays titled “Mississippi Freedom Schools: the Politics of Education.” In 1965, the essay was published in the Harvard Education Review. This essay written by Howe explains her journey with feminism and how she was able to relate issues such as education, race and politics within feminism. In 1967, she signed a public statement declaring her intention to refuse to pay income taxes in protest against the U.S. war against Vietnam. In 1970, Howe founded The Feminist Press
The Feminist Press (officially The Feminist Press at CUNY) is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes writing by people who share an activist spirit and a belief in ...
, "an educational nonprofit organization founded to advance women's rights and amplify feminist perspectives", the organization had published three books by 1973. In 1973, Florence Howe took on the role of President of the Modern Language Association after being voted in. In 1978, another essay written by Howe titled “Myths of Coeducation”, explains women's education and how it “functions within the patriarchal limits of the society in which it exists.” From 1972–1982, Florence Howe assisted in editing the Women's Studies Quarterly
''Women's Studies Quarterly'', often referred to as ''WSQ'', is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal of women's studies that was established in 1972 and published by The Feminist Press. The Feminist Press was founded by Florence Howe in 1970. ...
, a peer-reviewed journal. In 1977, Florence Howe was presented with an honorary doctorate in humane letters from New England College. In 1979, Florence Howe was presented with another honorary doctorate in humane letters, given by Skidmore College. Florence Howe was responsible in co-editing various literature pieces throughout the years, such as “With Wings: An Anthology of Literature By and About Disabled Women (1987); Traditions and the Talents of Women (1991); and No More Masks (1993).” In 1982, Florence Howe published the Feminist Scholarship: The Extent of the Revolution, a journal article in which she wrote about her findings with feminism in higher education. In the years 1983 and 1993, Florence Howe served as a U.S. Department of State Grantee. In 1987, Howe was employed as a professor of humanities at SUNY.
Personal life
Howe married three times during the 1950s–1960s, and took the last name of one of her husbands, Ed Howe. She married Paul Lauter in the 1960s and divorced him in 1987.[
In 1964, while living in ]Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, Florence Howe travelled to Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...
as a Freedom Summer volunteer and was tasked with serving as a teacher in a Freedom School for black children. There she met a 16-year-old girl, Alice Jackson, with whom she became close. Jackson came with her to Baltimore and Florence became her second mother, although an adoption was never formalized.[
Howe had no children of her own, and she was survived by Jackson, her two children and four grandchildren, who referred to Florence Howe as Baba.][
]
Death
Florence Howe died on September 12, 2020 in New York City, at the age of 91. She lived on the Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
in Manhattan, and prior to her death received hospice care for Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
.
The Florence Howe Award
The ''Florence Howe Award'' for feminist scholarship of the Women's Caucus for the Modern Languages is named in her honor. The Florence Howe Award is an annual feminist scholarship acknowledging two outstanding essays by members of the Women's Caucus, one from the field of English and one from a foreign language. The authors receive $250 and are honored at an event hosted by the Women’s Caucus at the annual MLA meeting.
Selected bibliography
Books
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* 30th anniversary edition.
* Introduction by Mari Jo Buhle
Mari Jo Buhle (born 1943) is an American historian and William J. Kenan Jr. University Professor Emerita at Brown University.
Early life and education
Buhle was born in 1943 as Mari Jo Kupski. She graduated from North Chicago Community High S ...
*
Chapters in books
* Introduction by Mari Jo Buhle
Mari Jo Buhle (born 1943) is an American historian and William J. Kenan Jr. University Professor Emerita at Brown University.
Early life and education
Buhle was born in 1943 as Mari Jo Kupski. She graduated from North Chicago Community High S ...
Other
She contributed the piece "The Proper Study of Womankind: Women's Studies" to the 2003 anthology '' Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium'', edited by Robin Morgan
Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...
.
References
External links
Florence Howe's Website
FP Founder Florence Howe
Information on the website of Feminist Press
Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution
from the Jewish Women's Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Florence
1929 births
American essayists
American feminists
American non-fiction writers
American tax resisters
Hunter College alumni
Hunter College High School alumni
2020 deaths
Smith College alumni
Writers from Brooklyn
State University of New York at Old Westbury faculty
Presidents of the Modern Language Association