Ruthe Lewin Winegarten (August 26, 1929 – June 14, 2004) was an American author, activist, and historian.

Early life

Born Ruthe Lee Lewin in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

on August 26, 1929, she was the daughter of Charles and Celia (Cohen) Lewin. Winegarten attended

Forest Avenue High School James Madison High School, formerly Forest Avenue High School, is a public secondary school in Dallas, Texas (USA). Madison High School enrolls students in grades 9- 12 and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District. The school is a Dal ...

(known today as James Madison High School), receiving a scholarship to attend

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

. Lewin also attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where she received her bachelor's degree in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

in 1950, and was active in helping to get the first black student admitted to the University of Texas Law School. She later earned a master's degree in social work from the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...

and did coursework for a doctorate in history at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Career

Before moving back to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

in 1978, Winegarten worked for various social causes in Dallas, including serving as the southwest regional director of the Anti-defamation league of the

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...

, and as assistant director of the Jewish Welfare Federation in Dallas. She also was active in the North Dallas Democratic Women's Club and performed in musical spoofs with future Texas Governor Ann Richards. While researching a thesis paper in the 1970s at the University of Texas at Dallas, she compiled an

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

of Annie Mae Hunt. Later she and collaborators would edit these conversations, including Hunt's recollections of her grandparents' histories of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, into a popular book, ''I am Annie Mae: A Black Texas Woman in Her Own Words'' and then subsequently into a musical drama. After returning to Austin, Winegarten became director of Austin's Women's Center. In 1979, she was appointed as Curator of the Texas Women's History Project, which developed the touring exhibit "''Texas Women: A Celebration of History''" (now housed at Texas Woman's University). Later, Winegarten oversaw the addition of women to the exhibits in the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum in Austin. Winegarten twice won the Liz Carpenter Award, for her books ''Black Texas Women: 150 Years of Trial and Triumph'', and ''Capitol Women: Texas Female Legislators 1923–1999'' (with Nancy Baker Jones). The Liz Carpenter Award is given annually for the best scholarly book on the history of women and Texas published during the calendar year by the Texas State Historical Association. Winegarten was made a fellow of the TSHA in 2003. She authored or co-authored a total of 18 books, primarily on subjects in Texas women's history. The last of these was ''Las Tejanas: 300 years of History'' (with Teresa Palomo Acosta).

Personal life

Ruthe Lewin married Wendell Addington in 1948, Thomas W. Sanders in 1952, Alvin Winegarten in 1956, and Stanley Schneider in 1986. She bore three children, Martha Frances Addington, (1952–2007), Marc David Sanders (1954–2022), and Debra Lou Winegarten (1957– 2018).

Death and legacy

The Ruthe Winegarten Memorial Foundation for Women in Texas History, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was started by a group of her colleagues to carry on her work. The Foundation's website is: www.womenintexashistory.org. Winegarten died in 2004, of a

self-inflicted Self-Inflicted is the 8th album by Leæther Strip Leæther Strip is a Danish musical project founded on 13 January 1988 by Claus Larsen. Its influence has been most felt in the electronic body music and electro-industrial genres. Leæther St ...

gunshot wound. She had been living at an assisted-living facility and was in the early stages of

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

. Writings about Ruthe Winegarten include the book ''Mum's the Word'' (Austin, Texas: Sunbelt Media, 2001), and an obituary in ''Off Our Backs''.http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3693/is_200407/ai_n9430195
/ref> "Ruthe Winegarten" by Nancy Baker Jones, in Patrick L. Cox and Kenneth E. Hendrickson, Jr., eds., ''Writing the Story of Texas'' (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013).

Notes

Bibliography

External links

University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries (UTSA Libraries) Special Collections. {{DEFAULTSORT:Winegarten, Ruthe Lewin 1929 births 2004 suicides 2004 deaths American feminist writers Jewish feminists Jewish American historians Writers from Austin, Texas Suicides by firearm in Texas Southern Methodist University alumni University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni University of Texas at Arlington alumni American women historians 20th-century American women Historians from Texas 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women