Margaret Sloan-Hunter (May 31, 1947 – September 23, 2004) was a

Black feminist Black feminism is a philosophy that centers on the idea that "Black women are inherently valuable, that lack women'sliberation is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody else's but because our need as human persons for autonomy." Race, gen ...

, lesbian, civil rights advocate, and one of the early editors of ''Ms.'' magazine.

Early life

Margaret Sloan-Hunter was born in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

on May 31, 1947. She grew up in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

."Margaret Sloan-Hunter, noted feminist activist, writer and lecturer, succumbs" in ''Jet Magazine'', November 1, 2004.

Career

When Sloan-Hunter was 14, she joined the

Congress of Racial Equality The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about ...

(CORE), a group that worked on poverty and urban issues on behalf of the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

community in Chicago. At the age of 17, she founded the Junior Catholic Inter-Racial Council, a mix of suburban and inner-city students who talked about and worked on racial problems. In 1966, Sloan-Hunter worked with Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

at the

Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...

and in the "Open Housing Marches".Sloan-Hunter, Margaret. "Author Biography" in ''For Lesbians Only: A Separatist Anthology'',

Onlywomen Press Onlywomen Press (briefly known as The Women's Press) was a feminist press based in London. It was the only feminist press to be founded by out lesbians, Lilian Mohin, Sheila Shulman, and Deborah Hart. It commenced publishing in 1974 and was one ...

, 1988, , p. 588. Sloan-Hunter also became one of the first editors of ''

Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...

'', a magazine supporting the feminist movement. Along with editing, she traveled to speak on issues of sexism and racism throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Sloan-Hunter paired up with Jane Galvin-Lewis, a former writer of ''Ms.'', to challenge racism and sexism as interlocking oppressions. To get involved further, Sloan-Hunter and Galvin-Lewis paired up with

Florynce Kennedy Florynce Rae Kennedy (February 11, 1916 – December 21, 2000) was an American lawyer, radical feminist, civil rights advocate, lecturer and activist. Early life Kennedy was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to an African-American family. Her ...

in 1973 to speak on college campuses around the country. Their events became places for other black feminists to find each other and create support groups. This led Sloan-Hunter, Kennedy, and others to create the NBFO or

National Black Feminist Organization The National Black Feminist Organization (NBFO) was founded in 1973. The group worked to address the unique issues affecting black women in America.Wilma Pearl Mankiller. The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History, Houghton Mifflin Books, 1998 ...

. In the NBFO, many women worked to define the specific oppression black women face. Through the NBFO, Sloan-Hunter tackled some of the same race and feminist issues she grew up fighting for. In 1975, she and her daughter Kathleen Sloan moved to

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, where they established the Women's Foundation. She also helped organize the Berkeley Women's Center and the Feminist School for Girls. Sloan-Hunter was an intersectionality activist, fighting for African American, feminist, and lesbian causes. Sloan-Hunter published a book of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

called ''Black & Lavender'' in 1995. This was a series of thirty-eight poems written about Sloan-Hunter's life.

Education

Margaret Sloan-Hunter won many awards for public speaking in high school. Margaret Sloan-Hunter went on to Chicago City College and Malcolm X College to major in speech. After this, she received a degree in Women's Studies at Antioch University in San Francisco.

Portrayal in the media

The political activism of Sloan-Hunter was featured in the television show Mrs. America which aired on Hulu in the spring of 2020.

Death

Margaret died in Oakland, California, when she was 57 years old. On September 23, 2004, her family confirmed she faced a prolonged illness.

References

External links

A conversation with Margaret Sloan on Black Sisterhood for WNED public television series “Woman”, 1974
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sloan-Hunter, Margaret 1947 births 2004 deaths African-American women writers African-American writers American writers American feminists African-American feminists Feminist studies scholars Lesbian feminists American lesbian writers LGBT African Americans LGBT people from Tennessee People from Chattanooga, Tennessee Writers from Chicago Antioch University alumni 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century LGBT people