Sally A. Alexander (born 1943) is an English historian and feminist activist.

Career

When she was sixteen, Alexander trained at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

as an actress. She completed a diploma in history at

Ruskin College, Oxford Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. It is named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) an ...

from 1968 to 1970, before earning a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in the same subject from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. While studying, she worked on ''The'' ''Black Dwarf'', a radical newspaper. She helped to organise the United Kingdom's first

National Women's Liberation Conference The National Women's Liberation Conference (or National Women's Liberation Movement Conference) was a United Kingdom initiative organised to bring together activists in the Women's Liberation Movement with the aim of developing a shared political ...

in 1970 at Ruskin College, as an activist with the

Women's Liberation Movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

. She was also an organiser of the 1970 Miss World protest. She was involved in several London Women's Liberation Workshops as well as the Night Cleaners Campaign (1970–72). Alexander was a founding editor of the ''

History Workshop Journal The ''History Workshop Journal'' is a British academic history journal published by Oxford University Press. ''History Workshop'' was founded in 1976 by Raphael Samuel and others involved in the History Workshop movement. Originally sub-titled "A ...

'', which was established in 1976, and was involved with '' Red Rag'', a socialist feminist magazine. She taught in the extramural department of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in the 1970s. She also taught history at the WEA and at Birkbeck College. She was a principal lecturer at the

University of East London , mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows , established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...

in history and cultural theory from 1992. She was also part of the advisory group for

Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several British femini ...

. As of 2018, Alexander is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

. Aside from feminist history, her academic interests include the history of other social movements, of memory, and of

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

in Britain."Professor Emeritus Sally Alexander"
''Goldsmiths, University of London''. Retrieved 23 November 2018.

Personal life

In the summer of 1964, Alexander married actor

John Thaw John Edward Thaw, (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor who appeared in a range of television, stage, and cinema roles. He starred in the television series '' Inspector Morse'' as title character Detective Chief Inspector ...

; they divorced four years later. She has a daughter from this marriage, actress Abigail Thaw.

Activism and legacy

Alexander is portrayed by

Keira Knightley Keira Christina Righton (; née Knightley, born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in both independent films and blockbusters, particularly period dramas, she has received several accolades, including nominations for ...

in the 2020 British comedy-drama '' Misbehaviour'' about the 1970 Miss World competition that Alexander and other members of the Women's Liberation movement disrupted with flour bombs. Alexander’s granddaughter Molly Whitmey made a cameo in the ''Endeavour'' episode "Oracle" in February 2020 as the younger version of Alexander.

Selected publications

* ''Becoming a Woman: And Other Essays in 19th and 20th Century Feminist History'' (London:

Virago A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word ''virāgō'' ( genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous' from ''vir'' meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix ''-ā ...

, 1994). * (Co-edited with Barbara Taylor) ''History and Psyche: Culture, Psychoanalysis, and the Past'' (Basingstoke:

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

, 2012).

References

External links

Sally Alexander talking about her role in the feminist disruption of the 1970 Miss World contest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Sally 1943 births Living people Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London Academics of the University of London Alumni of Ruskin College Alumni of University College London British historians Feminist historians